Bit error rate analysis along a slanted path link between UAVs and Ground Stations

The performance of ground to satellite Free Space Optical (FSO) communication link is degraded due to the presence of atmospheric turbulence that causes fluctuations in both intensity and phase of the received optical signal. In this paper, bit error rate (BER) performance of FSO link using transmit diversity is investigated for coherent (sub-carrier BPSK and sub-carrier QPSK) and non-coherent (OOK and Q-PPM) modulation schemes in weak atmospheric turbulence channel. It is seen that multiple transmitting antennae help to overcome the turbulence induced fading effect. It is observed that sub-carrier BPSK modulation outperforms the other modulation schemes in terms of minimum SNR requirement for a given BER. Among non-coherent modulation schemes, Q-PPM performs better than OOK. However, as the level of Q in Q-PPM increases, its performance degrades and it becomes worse than OOK for certain values of atmospheric turbulence. Also, the effect of correlation among different transmitting antennae beams is analysed on the link performance.

Atmospheric turbulence (AT) induced crosstalk can significantly impair the performance of a free-space optical (FSO) communication link using orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing. In this paper, we propose a multiple-user detection (MUD) turbulence mitigation scheme in an OAM-multiplexed FSO communication link. First, we present a MUD equivalent communication model for an OAM-multiplexed FSO communication link under AT. In the equivalent model, each input bit stream represents one user’s information. The deformed OAM spatial modes caused by AT, instead of the pure OAM spatial modes, are used as information carriers, and the overlapping between the deformed OAM spatial modes are computed as the correlation coefficients between the users. Then, we present a turbulence mitigation scheme based on MUD idea to enhance AT tolerance of the OAM-multiplexed FSO communication link. In the proposed scheme, the crosstalk caused by AT is used as a useful component to deduce users’ information. The numerical results show that the performance of the OAM-multiplexed communication link has greatly improved by the proposed scheme. When the turbulence strength is 1 × 10−15 m−2/3, the transmission distance is 1000 m and the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 26 dB, the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of four spatial multiplexed OAM modes lm = +1,+2,+3,+4 are all close to 10−5, and there is a 2–3 fold increase in the BER performance in comparison with those results without the proposed scheme. In addition, the proposed scheme is more effective for an OAM-multiplexed FSO communication link with a larger OAM mode topological charge interval. The proposed scheme is a promising direction for compensating the interference caused by AT in the OAM-multiplexed FSO communication link.

To study the joint effects of turbulence and fog on free-space optical (FSO) communication, a joint fog-turbulence-pointing error probability model for FSO is derived based on the random fog channel, Malaga turbulence model, and pointing error model. The closed-form expressions for the average signal to noise ratio (SNR), outage probability, average bit error rate (BER), ergodic channel capacity, and moment generating function in FSO communication under intensity modulation/direct detection are derived based on the joint model. Based on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) working scenario, applying these expressions, the performance analysis of the inter-UAVs optical wave communication is implemented under the conditions for different beam widths, turbulence intensity and fog density and the pointing error caused by position, orientation, and jitter deviations. The calculated results are in good agreement with the Monte Carlo simulations. The analytical results for the average BER and outage probability show that the increase in beam width can significantly degrade the BER and outage probability, for the UAVs optical communication link. The analysis for the ergodic channel capacity shows that it increases with the increase of average transmission power; however, it increases slowly with the increase of beam width. And the increase in turbulence intensity, fog density, and drone jitter will degrade the communication performance of the system. Our study lays an important theoretical foundation for the development of FSO communication and UAV communication performance improvement in joint fog and turbulent environment.

In free space optical (FSO) communication links, atmospheric turbulence has a significant impact on the quality of a laser beam propagating through the atmosphere. Turbulence results in intensity scintillation, which can severely impair the operation of target designation and FSO communications systems. Two important parameters for describing quality of FSO communications systems are the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the bit error rate (BER). In this paper, using a modified model we analyze the effect of atmospheric turbulence on the SNR and BER for an FSO system in both weak and strong turbulence conditions.

Free Space Optical (FSO) communication is a low cost and license free high bandwidth access technique, is a primary research area from last few years. Atmospheric turbulence plays a vital role in degrading the link performance. This paper presents the model study on the effects of atmospheric turbulence in FSO links. The study is based on the most popular gamma-gamma model distribution. The theoretical model is simulated by varying the height of link and the results are plotted in Mathworks® MATLAB®. The research demonstrates that the effects of turbulence depend primarily on wind speed and height of established FSO link. After varying the height of link, the effects of atmospheric turbulence on link performance can be clearly seen. The result also plotted for the attenuation of signal with varying visibility range conditions.

An important consideration when deploying free-space optical (FSO) communication links over ultra long distances is the ability to actively steer the laser beam. FSO links are currently being researched as an attractive option for deep-space communication links or as a link to provide broadband communications to aircraft in-flight. In order to establish ultra long FSO links or to actively track FSO links between moving platforms, an active tracking system based on hybrid technology is essential. These hybrid systems are usually a combination of a mechanical gimbal and some array of active optical components. The presence of active optical components in a beam steering device is necessary to provide a high bandwidth while offsetting vibrations present on the mounting platform. This study compares three active beam steering elements that can be used in FSO transmitters and receivers. Performance characteristics of MEMS-based micro mirror arrays, acousto-optic modulators and steerable mirrors are analyzed and compared. A comparison of aperture size, range of motion, resolution and scanning speed is performed. Simulations in order to show the effects of vibration on various different length FSO links are run. A simulation in order to verify the ability of a fast steering mirror to offset vibration effects in a ground-to-UAV link is performed.

Availability analysis of free-space-optical links based on rain rate and visibility statistics from tropical a climate

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a possible future application for both civil and military use. The large amount of data generated by UAVs requires high data rate connectivity, which makes Free Space Optical (FSO) communications very suitable. In this paper, we consider a three-layer UAV network architecture, showing the use of a network of UAVs connected through FSO links for the delivery of collected data by sensor nodes.The UAV network is exposed such as the other types of networks to several types of attacks. In the frame of this work, we study a specific class of attacks that vises to insert erroneous collected data in inter-UAV FSO communication links. In order to detect this attack on the receiver, we propose to encrypt the collected data, sent on an inter-UAV FSO link, using a shifted optical codeword. Furthermore, we present a tolerance approach allowing to continue the collected data transmission in the presence of a packet insertion attack.

We propose a novel concatenated coding scheme combined Low Density Parity Check(LDPC) code and vertical Bell Labs layered space-time (VBLAST) code to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance for Free-space optical (FSO) communication links with On Off Keying(OOK) modulation. In the scheme, π-rotation encoding and belief-propagation (BP) decoding algorithm are employed in LDPC code, and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) soft-decision decoding algorithm is used for VBLAST code. Moreover, a joint iterative detection and decoding algorithm of VBLAST code and LDPC code is used to improve the overall link performance. At last, the BER of the proposed scheme over lognormal atmospheric turbulent fading channels is analyzed by using Monte Carlo method. The result shows that the BER of the proposed concatenated coding scheme is much improved than that only use VBLAST code scheme.

Free-space optics (FSO)-based, high-altitude plat form (HAP)-assisted backhaul network has recently attracted research efforts worldwide. Nevertheless, one of the critical concerns on HAP-assisted FSO links is cloud coverage, which may block the FSO connections completely. This paper explores a novel solution that uses multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) array. These UAVs are deployed to diverse the FSO link from HAP-to-ground base station (BS) to avoid cloud coverage. We assume the Fisher-Snedecor $\mathcal{F}$ model for the atmospheric turbulence and use a selection combing (SC) receiver to obtain signals from multiple UAVs. We analytically derive the probability density function (PDF) of the received end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by employing the moment matching method, which can obtain an accurate approximation of PDF to the product of $\mathcal{F}$ variables. Using the derived statistics, we investigate different system performance metrics, including outage probability, outage capacity, and average bit error rate (BER). Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are provided to validate analytical results.

Average Bit Error Rate (BER) expression of free-space optical (FSO) communication links with Airy beam as signal carrier under weak atmospheric turbulence and on–off keying modulation scheme is derived based on scintillation index of Airy beam and Exponentiated Weibull channel model. The average BER has been evaluated at different transverse scale factors and exponential decay factors of Airy beam and link distances. And comparison of the average BER of FSO links with Airy beam and Gaussian beam as signal carrier has been carried out. The simulation results show that the average BER of FSO links with Airy beam as carrier decreases with the increase of mean signal to noise ratio and increases with the increase of transmission distance. When the transverse scale factor is about 1.5 cm, a lower average BER can be obtained. And the smaller the exponential decay factor is, the lower the average BER is. Under the same atmospheric turbulence condition, the average BER of FSO links with Airy beam as carrier is obviously better than that of FSO links with Gaussian beam as carrier. The results of this research have some significance for the application of Airy beam in FSO system.

In this paper, the distant source communicates with the underwater destination using High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) and a triple-hop relay setup. In this setup, the source transmits information using hybrid Radio Frequency (RF)/Free Space Optical Communication (FSO) link to the decode-and-forward (DF) based relay at HAPS, which forwards the signal to the relay at the water surface using FSO link, which further transmits the signal to the underwater destination using Under Water Optical Communication (UWOC) link. Both the relays use DF relaying protocols. HAPS are used to increase the reliability of the system and range of transmission. FSO links offers a high bandwidth and better data rates than the RF links. But they often get affected by the atmospheric conditions, turbulence, and pointing errors. RF link on the other hand acts as a good complement to FSO links, thereby increasing the reliability of the system when both are used in parallel to transmit the information. UWOC link has several benefits like higher data rates, less attenuation and low power consumption in comparison to acoustic links. New statistical characteristics for the signal-to-noise-ration (SNR) of the proposed system are developed using which the outage probability of the system is derived. The numerical results shows that the outage probability of the system proposed gets affected by the RF shadowing, FSO turbulence parameters and turbulence parameters of UWOC links such as salinity, temperature gradient and bubble level concentration. Also the asymptotic analysis matched with the analytical results.

Free-space optical (FSO) communication is a cost effective and high data rate access technique, which has been proving itself a best alternative to radio frequency technology. FSO link provides high bandwidth solution to the last mile access bottleneck. However, for terrestrial communication systems, the performance of these links is severely degraded from atmospheric loss mainly due to fog, rain and snow. So, a continuous availability of the link is always a concern. This paper investigates the dreadful weather effects such as rain, fog, snow, and other losses on the transmission performance of FSO systems. The technique of using an array of receivers for improving the performance of FSO links is explored in this paper. It involves the deployment of multiple photo detectors at the receiver end to mitigate effects of various weather conditions. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated in terms of bit error rate, received signal power, Q- factor and height of eye diagram. The influence of various weather conditions of plain and hilly areas are taken into consideration and results are compared with conventional FSO links.

Availability analysis of terrestrial free space optical (FSO) link using visibility data measured in tropical region

One of the recent trends in communication is Free Space optics (FSO). These systems provide solution to the bottleneck problems of the RF communication systems, like Bandwidth scalability, cost effectiveness and portability. But, few of the challenging tasks in implementing this system are Line of sight, atmospheric conditions like fog, snow…etc. Actually the Coherent Optical OFDM orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CO OFDM) system in FSO is capable of transmitting data upto 0.22 km in dense fog weather conditions. This can be improved by reducing the fading due to free space. One of the efficient ways to reduce fading effects is spatial diversity. Spatial diversity will improve the received power and ensures the low Bit Error Rate (BER). The aim of this paper is to incorporate this Diversity technique into the FSO OFDM, so that an enhanced FSO link is established. The performance analysis is carried out in terms of BER, Constellation diagram, received power.