{
  "abstract": "Direct water-to-air (W2A) optical communications experience strong beam refraction at the dynamic sea surface and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) instability. This letter proposes a novel and tractable statistical channel model for a vertical W2A link between an underwater node and an UAV under varying wind speeds, modeling wind-induced pointing errors with a Beta mixture fitted via the Expectation-Maximization algorithm. By accounting for link interruptions due to total internal reflection (TIR) and effective receiver field-of-view limitations, we derive closed-form expressions for the channel distribution and link outage probability. Our analysis reveals a fundamental TIR-induced outage floor limiting link reliability and providing insight for robust W2A system design.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2605.22861",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Mohamed Nennouche"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ikenna Chinazaekpere Ijeh"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mohammad-Ali Khalighi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/apnf1a8js21m5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2605.22861",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "apnf1a8js21m5",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22861",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "eess.SP"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2208|Optical Wireless Communication Technologies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7162284948",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.22861",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/apnf1a8js21m5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:19Z",
      "native_id": "2605.22861",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22861"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Statistical Characterization of Wind-Induced Beam Refraction and UAV Instability in Water-to-Air Optical Channels",
  "title_text": "Statistical Characterization of Wind-Induced Beam Refraction and UAV Instability in Water-to-Air Optical Channels",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/apnf1a8js21m5",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}