Reciprocity-enhanced optical communication through atmospheric turbulence - part II: communication architectures and performance

Abstract

Free-space optical communication provides rapidly deployable, dynamic communication links that are capable of very high data rates compared with those of radio-frequency systems. As such, free-space optical communication is ideal for mobile platforms, for platforms that require the additional security afforded by the narrow divergence of a laser beam, and for systems that must be deployed in a relatively short time frame. In clear-weather conditions the data rate and utility of free-space optical communication links are primarily limited by fading caused by micro-scale atmospheric temperature variations that create parts-per-million refractive-index fluctuations known as atmospheric turbulence. Typical communication techniques to overcome turbulence-induced fading, such as interleavers with sophisticated codes, lose viability as the data rate is driven higher or the delay requirement is driven lower. This paper, along with its companion [J. H. Shapiro and A. Puryear, “Reciprocity-Enhanced Optical Communication through Atmospheric Turbulence–Part I: Reciprocity Proofs and Far-Field Power Transfer”], present communication systems and techniques that exploit atmospheric reciprocity to overcome turbulence which are viable for high data rate and low delay requirement systems. Part I proves that reciprocity is exhibited under rather general conditions, and derives the optimal power-transfer phase compensation for far-field operation. The Part II paper presents capacity-achieving architectures that exploit reciprocity to overcome the complexity and delay issues that limit state-of-the art free-space optical communications. Further, this paper uses theoretical turbulence models to determine the performance—delay, throughput, and complexity—of the proposed architectures.