Scintillation model of laser beam propagation in satellite-to-ground bidirectional atmospheric channels

► A scintillation model of laser beam propagation in satellite-to-ground atmospheric bidirectional channels was proposed. ► The frequency characteristics of the downlink were theoretically derived. ► The model parameters were obtained by fitting the measured results to the model. ► The proposed scintillation model can contribute to improving the fading simulation of satellite-to-ground communication links.