Towards Cn2 parity between imaging-based simulation and measurement

Optical turbulence in the atmosphere causes defocus, blur, and wander of images captured over long distances, which can significantly degrade their quality. Turbulence is a manifestation of variations in the index of refraction, which are caused by local variations in air temperature, pressure, humidity, gas content, and other factors. Turbulence can be quantified by the refractive index structure function parameter C²_n. Simulation of images after propagation through an atmosphere of a specific C²_n, along with measurement of the observed C²_n from images, is thus of interest for a variety of agricultural, environmental, and defense applications. We discuss the generation of simulated imagery after propagation through an atmosphere of a defined C²_n using various algorithms, then examine methods to determine the observed C²_n from the generated images. Finally, we choose and test an algorithm to generate images and another to estimate C²_n, then compare and contrast the observed C²_n to the defined C²_n in each case to observe how the simulation method and measurement method perform.