Measuring optical turbulence using cell counting algorithms

A method for measuring refractive index fluctuations as a measure of atmospheric turbulence along a laser path of a laser beam, said laser beam being transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver having an image plane, said method comprising the steps of:

• capturing, by a detector, an image that results when said laser beam is incident on said image plane;
• recording, by a recorder, the captured image;
• and
• performing, by a processor:
• A) preprocessing said captured recorded image from said image plane to limit a number of pixels of said captured recorded image, said preprocessing step resulting in an enhanced recorded image;
• B) counting the number of laser speckles at said enhanced preprocessed image;
• and,
• C) finding Fried's parameter r0, using the result of said step B as an indicator of the refractive index fluctuations along the path, and further as a measure of said atmospheric turbulence.

A system for measuring atmospheric turbulence along a path of a laser beam, comprising:

• a transmitter for transmitting the laser beam along the path;
• a receiver having an image plane;
• a detector for capturing an image that results when said laser beam is incident on said image plane;
• a recorder connected to said receiver for recording said captured image;
• and,
• a processor connected to said recorder, said processor having non-transitory instructions for preprocessing the captured recorded image to limit a number of pixels of said image from said captured recorded image, to result in an enhanced preprocessed image that only includes said limited number of pixels, and counting the number of speckles in said enhanced preprocessed image, and finding Fried's parameter r0, using the counted number of speckles, as an indicator of the atmospheric turbulence along the path.