Underwater Optical Communication in Turbid Waters for Different Wavelengths: Performance Evaluation

An important aspect for the development of systems used in underwater optical communications is the analysis of the light signal propagation in turbid waters. In this paper, we present a performance comparison between two different optical wavelengths, which propagate in waters with different levels of turbidity. The theoretical Bit-Error-Rate (BER) estimate is based on laboratory measurements of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Furthermore, the transmission performance was evaluated through the received optical power values. The results show similar performances for the two wavelengths tested (450 nm and 520 nm) in the case of clear water, while they demonstrate better results using the wavelength equal to 520 nm having used polluting substances Chlorophyll and Spirulina Algae.