Quantitative analysis of atmospheric channel characteristics for satellite-to-ground optical communication

Atmospheric channel conditions impose significant constraints on the performance of satellite-to-ground optical communications. To address the uncertainty in optical downlinks caused by atmospheric dynamics, this paper proposes a quantitative analysis framework for atmospheric channel characteristics. To characterize the mitigation of atmospheric turbulence by adaptive optics (AO), an empirical link model incorporating atmospheric effects and AO correction is derived and validated using in-orbit satellite-to-ground communication data. The Tashkurgan Optical Ground Station (OGS) on the Pamir Plateau is analyzed in this work. The results show that when both cloud cover and turbulence are considered, nighttime availability exceeds 59.8%. For daytime, cloud availability stands at 59.6%, and turbulence availability is promising, as turbulence remains relatively weak for 3 h after sunrise and 3 h before sunset.