Turbulence Effects on the Receiver Operating Characteristics of a Heterodyne-Reception Optical Radar

The theory of atmospheric turbulence effects on the receiver operating characteristics of coherent optical radars is reviewed and the theoretical results for the target detection probability are numerically evaluated. Graphs and tables are presented of the glint target and speckle target detection probabilities as a function of the carrier-to-noise ratio at various false alarm probabilities for different turbulence log-amplitude variances. Experimental turbulence strength measurements are reviewed and used to determine typical log-amplitude variances. These results are combined with the detection probability calculations to predict the performance of a realistic infrared radar under a variety of turbulent propagation conditions. (Author)