Performance evaluation of a DVB‐S2 system with a digital optical feeder link

Abstract

SummaryWe investigate the physical layer performance of a DVB‐S2 system with a digital optical feeder link. We consider three scenarios depending on how the DVB‐S2 modulator functionalities are distributed between the optical gateway and the satellite. Our main objective is to specify the residual bit error rate of the optical channel error correction scheme in order to ensure a quasierror free link to the users. To that end, we provide theoretical models and/or simulations results. In two scenarios, our results show that a residual bit error rate of 10−4 (assuming equally distributed errors) gives end‐to‐end physical layer performance compliant with the DVB‐S2 standard. This specification is much higher than typical values in practical systems.