Two applications for teaching Telecommunication Engineering students the atmospheric effects on the optical channels. Applications in Astronomy, Mechanical Engineering and Telecommunications

Atmospheric turbulence is one of the limiting phenomena in interesting applications and fields such of optical telecommunications and Observational Astronomy. Both Telecommunication and Aerospace Engineering students may encounter those applications in their professional careers, thus, there is the necessity to introduce this phenomenon and its impact on those fields at the academic formation stage. In order to teach students of the principles and effects of the atmospheric turbulence in optical propagation, and to illustrate how to solve these problems, two different applications written in MATLAB© were developed. In this communication both applications and the theoretical background are presented, and the designed activity for Telecommunication Engineers is shown. Results obtained by students and their experience performing the activity are also presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Simulating atmospheric turbulence: Code development and educational applications

Earth atmosphere turbulence affects many areas of interest related with Space studies, such as optical communications or Astronomy. In fact, it is a key topic for such applications and, thus, it is important for students in aerospace and aeronavigation studies to get some knowledge of the basis of such phenomena, and how to compensate for it. The phenomenon of turbulence is tangent to many areas such as Optics, Meteorology, Fluid Dynamics, Astronomy, Space Science and Telecommunications, among others. To properly understand the effect of such phenomena on the propagation of an optical signal is imprescindible to properly evaluate and implement the corrections introduced with Adaptive Optics [1] and for understanding the limitations of optical free-space communications channels. The simulation of optical propagation through turbulence constitutes an intuitive and powerful tool for visualizing and understanding such phenomena. Within those ideas, a Final Degree Project, based on the development of simulation tools of atmospheric turbulence is carried out in the Escola d’Enginyeria de Telecomunicacions i Aeroespacial de Castelldefels (EETAC) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). In this communication the development of an application, written in MATLAB®, for the simulation of optical propagation through turbulent mediums is presented. The project consists of the development of a software based on scalar diffraction theory [2] and Kolmogorov’s turbulence theory for the generation of turbulent phases under specific meteorological conditions and the simulation of the propagation of an electromagnetic signal through them. With this tool, different applications are going to be analysed. As an example of application, at the moment this communication is presented, the code is capable of performing the reconstruction of the generated phase in terms of Zernike coefficients [3], providing key information for the understanding of the aberrations introduced by the turbulence and also for correcting them with a proper design. The communication first describes the main basis of the problem, in terms of scalar diffraction theory, and the structure of the application. Later, some results are presented and discussed. Finally, the application of the tool for adaptive optics, optical free-space communications and as an educational application for aeronavigation and aerospace students is discussed, with emphasis in the context of the different degrees, courses and subjects taught in the EETAC

Estudi de viabilitat d’un avió supersònic

Desenvolupar el disseny preliminar d’un nou avió supersònic i estudiar-ne la viabilitat. REQUERIMENTS INICIALS: Velocitat de creuer: entre Mach 2,0 i Mach 2,2. Passatgers: entre 80 i 100. Abast: entre 7.000 i 7.500 km

Estudi de viabilitat d’un avió supersònic

Desenvolupar el disseny preliminar d’un nou avió supersònic i estudiar-ne la viabilitat. REQUERIMENTS INICIALS: Velocitat de creuer: entre Mach 2,0 i Mach 2,2. Passatgers: entre 80 i 100. Abast: entre 7.000 i 7.500 km

Earthquake Design and Analysis of the Extremely Large Telescope M2 Cell

L’objectiu del treball és desenvolupar un anàlisi estructural del comportament de la cel·la i del mirall secundari (M2) del Extremly Large Telescope (ELT) per l’efecte d’un terratrèmol. Es seguiran les pautes marcades pel European Southern Observatory (ESO) i en aquestes condicions els requisits de l’estructura seran evitar la rotura del mirall i evitar desperfectes en la mateixa.The M2 cell is the secondary mirror structure of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). This telescope has been designed with the biggest primary focus diameter of the world and it’s going to be placed in Cerro Amazons, a remote observatory zone in Chile. Even though the optical conditions to observe the universe will be excellent, due to the geological nature of the area, the telescope can be summited to unpredictable and severe earthquake conditions. A linear FEM model of the M2 cell has been developed and a linear frequency and transient analysis have been carried out. The results are presented in this paper. However, the cell structure includes some non‐linear effects, which has proven to interfere with the results. Therefore, all of them have been individually studied and finally, some conclusions have been extracted

Earthquake Design and Analysis of the Extremely Large Telescope M2 Cell

L’objectiu del treball és desenvolupar un anàlisi estructural del comportament de la cel·la i del mirall secundari (M2) del Extremly Large Telescope (ELT) per l’efecte d’un terratrèmol. Es seguiran les pautes marcades pel European Southern Observatory (ESO) i en aquestes condicions els requisits de l’estructura seran evitar la rotura del mirall i evitar desperfectes en la mateixa.The M2 cell is the secondary mirror structure of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). This telescope has been designed with the biggest primary focus diameter of the world and it’s going to be placed in Cerro Amazons, a remote observatory zone in Chile. Even though the optical conditions to observe the universe will be excellent, due to the geological nature of the area, the telescope can be summited to unpredictable and severe earthquake conditions. A linear FEM model of the M2 cell has been developed and a linear frequency and transient analysis have been carried out. The results are presented in this paper. However, the cell structure includes some non‐linear effects, which has proven to interfere with the results. Therefore, all of them have been individually studied and finally, some conclusions have been extracted

Two applications for teaching and Telecommunication Engineering students the atmospheric effects on the optical channels. Applications in Astronomy, Mechanical Engineering and Telecommunications

Atmospheric turbulence is one of the limiting phenomena in interesting applications and fields such of optical telecommunications and Observational Astronomy. Both Telecommunication and Aerospace Engineering students may encounter those applications in their professional careers, thus, there is the necessity to introduce this phenomenon and its impact on those fields at the academic formation stage. In order to teach students of the principles and effects of the atmospheric turbulence in optical propagation, and to illustrate how to solve these problems, two different applications written in MATLAB© were developed. In this communication both applications and the theoretical background are presented, and the designed activity for Telecommunication Engineers is shown. Results obtained by students and their experience performing the activity are also presented