Calculation of average intensity via semi-analytic method

Abstract

We present a semi-analytic approach to the solution of the quadruple Huygens-Fresnel integral which is used to calculate the average receiver intensity of a source beam after it has propagated in a turbulent atmosphere. Our approach is based on a self-designed MATLAB function that reduces a quadruple integral to a single one by sequential operations using a form that is readily available from tables. In this manner exact numerical evaluations are obtained, whilst lengthy hand derivations are avoided. Additionally, the computation time of the new approach is not much different from that of the complete analytic solution. Two application examples are cited, also establishing agreement with our previously published results.