On the Performance of Free-Space Optical Systems over Generalized Atmospheric Turbulence Channels with Pointing Errors

On the Performance of Free-Space Optical Systems over Generalized Atmospheric Turbulence Channels with Pointing Errors Imran Shafique Ansari Generalized fading has been an imminent part and parcel of wireless communications. It not only characterizes the wireless channel appropriately but also allows its utilization for further performance analysis of various types of wireless communication systems. Under the umbrella of generalized fading channels, a unified performance analysis of a free-space optical (FSO) link over the Malaga (M) atmospheric turbulence channel that accounts for pointing errors and both types of detection techniques (i.e. indirect modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) as well as heterodyne detection) is presented. Specifically, unified exact closed-form expressions for the probability density function (PDF), the cumulative distribution function (CDF), the moment generating function (MGF), and the moments of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a single link FSO transmission system are presented, all in terms of the Meijer’s G function except for the moments that is in terms of simple elementary functions. Then capitalizing on these unified results, unified exact closed-form expressions for various performance metrics of FSO link transmission systems are offered, such as, the outage probability (OP), the higher-order amount of fading (AF), the average error rate for binary and M -ary modulation schemes, and the ergodic capacity (except for IM/DD technique, where closed-form lower bound results are presented), all in terms of Meijer’s G functions except for the higher-order AF that is in terms of simple elementary functions. Additionally, the asymptotic results are derived for all the expressions derived earlier in terms of the Meijer’s G function in the high SNR regime in terms of simple elementary functions via an asymptotic expansion of the Meijer’s G function. Furthermore, new asymptotic expressions for the ergodic capacity in the low as well as high SNR regimes are derived in terms of simple elementary functions via utilizing moments. All the presented results are verified via computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations. Besides addressing the pointing errors with zero boresight effects as has been addressed above, a unified capacity analysis of a FSO link that accounts for nonzero boresight pointing errors and both types of detection techniques (i.e. heterodyne detection as well as IM/DD) is also addressed. Specifically, an exact closed-form expression for the moments of the end-to-end SNR of a single link FSO transmission system is presented in terms of well-known elementary functions. Capitalizing on these new moments expressions, approximate and simple closed-form results for the ergodic capacity at high and low SNR regimes are derived for lognormal (LN), RicianLN (RLN), and M atmospheric turbulences. All the presented results are verified via computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations. Based on the fact that FSO links are cost-effective, license-free, and can provide even higher bandwidths compared to the traditional radio-frequency (RF) links, the performance analysis of a dual-hop relay system composed of asymmetric RF and FSO links is presented. This is complemented by the performance analysis of a dual-branch transmission system composed of a direct RF link and a dual-hop relay composed of asymmetric RF and FSO links. The performance of the later scenario