Performance Of Optical Communication Systems Research Articles

Performance limits in optical communications due to fiber nonlinearity

In this paper, we review the historical evolution of predictions of the performance of optical communication systems. We will describe how such predictions were made from the outset of research in laser based optical communications and how they have evolved to their present form, accurately predicting the performance of coherently detected communication systems.

BER Performance of an Optically Pre-amplified FSO System Under Turbulence and Pointing Errors With ASE Noise

The performance of a free space optical (FSO) communication system is significantly affected by various atmospheric turbulence conditions and pointing errors (PEs) apart from the additive noise, which is assumed to be Gaussian. Optical pre-amplifiers are an essential component of FSO systems for improving the receiver sensitivity. However, optical pre-amplification results in amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), which dominates the receiver thermal and shot noises. The square law photodetection process at the receiver in a FSO system necessitates the consideration of chi-square statistics for the decision variable contrary to the Gaussian approximation that is widely used in the literature. In this paper, we evaluate the bit error rate (BER) performance of a FSO system assuming non-return-to-zero on–off keying modulation in the presence of ASE noise under weak, moderate to strong, and very strong atmospheric turbulence regimes and PEs. We also derive asymptotic BER expressions for the considered FSO system for large values of the signal-to-noise ratio in terms of simple elementary functions. Further insight into the system is provided by performing a diversity analysis.

The Orbital Angular Momentum Spreading for Cylindrical Vector Beams in Turbulent Atmosphere

The cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) compose two circularly polarized vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) states with the opposite topological charge. We derived the probabilities for OAM of high-order CVB propagation through turbulent atmosphere. The calculated probabilities of OAM are based on the polarization insensitive element detection and phase perturbation coherence function assumption. The numerical calculation results show that the probabilities of OAM state spreading to neighbor states of CVBs through turbulent atmosphere increase with the propagation distance increase. Under the same conditions, the spreading of OAM for CVBs are weaker than Laguerre-Gaussian beam propagation through turbulent atmosphere. The results show that the OAM state of CVBs could improve the performance of optical communications systems in atmospheric turbulence.

Performance Studies of Underwater Wireless Optical Communication Systems With Spatial Diversity: MIMO Scheme

In this paper, we analytically study the performance of multiple-input multiple-output underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems with ON–OFF keying modulation. To mitigate turbulence-induced fading, which is amongst the major degrading effects of underwater channels on the propagating optical signal, we use spatial diversity over UWOC links. Furthermore, the effects of absorption and scattering are considered in our analysis. We analytically obtain the exact and an upper bound bit error rate (BER) expressions for both optimal and equal gain combining. In order to more effectively calculate the system BER, we apply Gauss-Hermite quadrature formula as well as approximation to the sum of lognormal random variables. We also apply the photon-counting method to evaluate the system BER in the presence of shot noise. Our numerical results indicate an excellent match between the exact and upper bound BER curves. Also, a good match between the analytical results and numerical simulations confirms the accuracy of our derived expressions. Moreover, our results show that spatial diversity can considerably improve the system performance, especially for channels with higher turbulence, e.g., a $3\times 1$ multiple-input single-output transmission in a 25 m coastal water link with a log-amplitude variance of 0.16 can introduce 8 dB performance improvement at the BER of 10−9.

BER Analysis of Coherent Free Space Optical Communication Systems with Holographic Modal Wavefront Sensor

Degradation of bit-error-rate (BER), caused by atmospheric turbulence, seriously hinders the performance of coherent Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems. An adaptive optics system proves to be effective in suppressing the atmospheric turbulence. The holographic modal wavefront sensor (HMWFS) proposed in our previous work, noted for its fast detecting rates and insensitivity to beam scintillation, is applied to the coherent FSO communication systems. In this paper, based on our previous work, we first introduce the principle of the HMWFS in brief and give the BER of the coherent FSO with homodyne detection in theory, and then analyze the improvement of BER for a coherent FSO system based on our previous simulation works. The results show that the wavefront sensor we propose is better for weak atmospheric turbulence. The most obvious advantages of HMWFS are fast detecting rates and insensitivity to beam scintillation.

Modulation format dependence of digital nonlinearity compensation performance in optical fibre communication systems.

The relationship between modulation format and the performance of multi-channel digital back-propagation (MC-DBP) in ideal Nyquist-spaced optical communication systems is investigated. It is found that the nonlinear distortions behave independent of modulation format in the case of full-field DBP, in contrast to the cases of electronic dispersion compensation and partial-bandwidth DBP. It is shown that the minimum number of steps per span required for MC-DBP depends on the chosen modulation format. For any given target information rate, there exists a possible trade-off between modulation format and back-propagated bandwidth, which could be used to reduce the computational complexity requirement of MC-DBP.

Slant-path coherent free space optical communications over the maritime and terrestrial atmospheres with the use of adaptive optics for beam wavefront correction.

As a continuation of our previous work [Appl. Opt.54, 1453 (2015)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.54.001453] in which we have studied the performance of coherent free space optical (FSO) communication systems operating over a horizontal path, in this paper we study the coherent FSO system operating over a general slant path. We evaluated system bit-error-rate (BER) in the case when the quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation format is applied and when an adaptive optics (AO) system is employed to mitigate the air turbulence effects for both maritime and terrestrial air transmission scenarios. We adopted a multiple-layer scheme to efficiently model the FSO slant-path links. The atmospheric channel fading was characterized by the wavefront phase distortions and the log-amplitude fluctuations. We derived analytical expressions to characterize log-amplitude fluctuations of air turbulence by asserting the aperture averaging within the frame of the multiple-layer model. The obtained results showed that use of AO enabled improvement of system performance for both uplinks and downlinks, and also revealed that it is more beneficial for the FSO downlinks. Also, AO employment brought larger enhancements in BER performance for the maritime slant-path FSO links than for the terrestrial ones, with an additional striking increase in performance when the AO correction is combined with the aperture averaging.

Optical Communication in Space: Challenges and Mitigation Techniques

In recent years, free space optical communication has gained significant importance owing to its unique features: large bandwidth, license-free spectrum, high data rate, easy and quick deployability, less power and low mass requirements. FSO communication uses the optical carrier in the near infrared band to establish either terrestrial links within the Earth's atmosphere or inter-satellite or deep space links or ground-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground links. However, despite the great potential of FSO communication, its performance is limited by the adverse effects viz., absorption, scattering, and turbulence of the atmospheric channel. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on various challenges faced by FSO communication system for ground-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground and inter-satellite links. It also provides details of various performance mitigation techniques in order to have high link availability and reliability. The first part of the paper will focus on various types of impairments that pose a serious challenge to the performance of optical communication system for ground-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground and inter-satellite links. The latter part of the paper will provide the reader with an exhaustive review of various techniques both at physical layer as well as at the other layers i.e., link, network or transport layer to combat the adverse effects of the atmosphere. It also uniquely presents a recently developed technique using orbital angular momentum for utilizing the high capacity advantage of the optical carrier in case of space-based and near-Earth optical communication links. This survey provides the reader with comprehensive details on the use of space-based optical backhaul links in order to provide high-capacity and low-cost backhaul solutions.

Underwater Optical Wireless Communications With Optical Amplification and Spatial Diversity

This letter investigates the performance of underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) systems employing optical pre-amplification as well as multiple receivers to exploit the advantages of spatial diversity. Numerical results are further provided to evaluate the error performance of pre-amplified single-input multiple-output UOWC systems when ON-OFF keying modulation is utilized. Our results reveal that the proposed system configuration can indeed offer significant system performance enhancements in terms of the attainable bit-error rate.

On the Maximum and Minimum of Double Generalized Gamma Variates With Applications to the Performance of Free-Space Optical Communication Systems

In this paper, we derive the exact statistical characteristics of the maximum and the minimum of two modified double generalized gamma variates in closed form in terms of Meijer's G-function, Fox's H-function, the extended generalized bivariate Meijer's G-function, and H-function, in addition to simple closed-form asymptotic results in terms of elementary functions. Then, we rely on these new results to present the performance analysis of 1) a dual-branch free-space optical selection combining (FSO SC) diversity and 2) a dual-hop (DH) FSO relay transmission system over double generalized gamma fading channels with the impact of pointing errors. In addition, we provide asymptotic results of the bit error rate (BER) of the two systems at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. Computer-based Monte Carlo simulations verify our new analytical results.

Investigation of solar noise impact on the performance of underwater wireless optical communication links.

We investigate the effect of environmental noise, caused by solar radiations under water, on the performance of underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems. Presenting an analytical and generic model for this noise, we examine its impact on the link performance in terms of the bit error rate (BER). This study is conducted for different photo-detector types in the aim of highlighting practical limitations of establishing UWOC links in the presence of subsea solar noise. We show how the solar noise can impact the performance of UWOC links for relatively low operation depths. The results we present provide valuable insight for the design of UWOC links, which are likely to be established at relatively low depths. They can be exploited not only for the purpose of practical UWOC system deployment but also for in-pool experimental set-ups, since they elucidate the effect of ambient light on the measurements.

Scintillation recording and playback in free-space optical links

The performance of a free-space optical (FSO) communication system is strongly affected by optical scintillation. Scintillation fades can cause errors when the power on a detector falls below its noise floor while surges can overload a detector. The very long time scale of scintillation compared to a typical bit in an FSO link means that error-correcting protocols designed for fiber optic links are inappropriate for FSO links. Comparing the performance effects of different components, such as photodetectors or protocols, such as forward error correction, in the field is difficult because conditions are constantly changing. On the other hand, laboratory-based turbulence simulators may not really simulate the effects of long-range propagation through the atmosphere. We have investigated a different approach. Scintillation has been measured during field tests using FSO terminals by sending a continuous wave beam through the atmosphere. A high dynamic range photodetector was digitized at a 5-KHz rate and files of the intensity variations were saved. Many hours of scintillation data under different environmental conditions and at different sites have been combined into a library of data. A fiber-optic-based scintillation playback system was then used in the laboratory to test modems and protocols with the recorded irradiance files. This enabled comparisons using the same atmospheric conditions allowing optimization of such parameters as detector dynamic range. It also allowed comparison and optimization of different error correcting protocols.

Impact of nonzero boresight pointing errors on the performance of a relay-assisted free-space optical communication system over exponentiated Weibull fading channels.

The impact of nonzero boresight pointing errors on the system performance of decode-and-forward protocol-based multihop parallel optical wireless communication systems is studied. For the aggregated fading channel, the atmospheric turbulence is simulated by an exponentiated Weibull model, and pointing errors are described by one recently proposed statistical model including both boresight and jitter. The binary phase-shift keying subcarrier intensity modulation-based analytical average bit error rate (ABER) and outage probability expressions are achieved for a nonidentically and independently distributed system. The ABER and outage probability are then analyzed with different turbulence strengths, receiving aperture sizes, structure parameters (P and Q), jitter variances, and boresight displacements. The results show that aperture averaging offers almost the same system performance improvement with boresight included or not, despite the values of P and Q. The performance enhancement owing to the increase of cooperative path (P) is more evident with nonzero boresight than that with zero boresight (jitter only), whereas the performance deterioration because of the increasing hops (Q) with nonzero boresight is almost the same as that with zero boresight. Monte Carlo simulation is offered to verify the validity of ABER and outage probability expressions.

Outage performance of multihop free-space optical communication system over exponentiated Weibull fading channels with nonzero boresight pointing errors

The outage performance of the multihop free-space optical (FSO) communication system with decode-and-forward (DF) protocol is studied by considering the joint effects of nonzero boresight pointing errors and atmospheric turbulence modeled by exponentiated Weibull (EW) distribution. The closed-form analytical expression of outage probability is derived, and the results are validated through Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, the detailed analysis is provided to evaluate the impacts of turbulence strength, receiver aperture size, boresight displacement, beamwidth and number of relays on the outage performance for the studied system.

Performance analysis of free space optical system with spatial modulation and diversity combiners over the Gamma Gamma atmospheric turbulence

Atmospheric turbulence is a major impairment that degrades the performance of free space optical (FSO) communication systems. Spatial modulation (SM) with receive spatial diversity is considered as a powerful technique to mitigate the fading effect induced by atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, the performance of free space optical spatial modulation (FSO-SM) system under Gamma–Gamma atmospheric turbulence is presented. We studied the Average Bit Error Rate (ABER) for the system by employing spatial diversity combiners such Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) and Equal Gain Combining (EGC) at the receiving end. In particular, we provide a theoretical framework for the system error by deriving Average Pairwise Error Probability (APEP) expression using a generalized infinite power series expansion approach and union bounding technique is applied to obtain the ABER for each combiner. Based on this study, it was found that spatial diversity combiner significantly improved the system error rate where MRC outperforms the EGC. The performance of this system is also compared with other well established diversity combiner systems. The proposed system performance is further improved by convolutional coding technique and our analysis confirmed that the system performance of MRC coded system is enhanced by approximately 20dB while EGC falls within 17dB.

Performance of free space optical communication systems over exponentiated Weibull atmospheric turbulence channel for PPM and its derivatives

In this paper, we have characterized the performance of an intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD), free space optical (FSO) communication system in terms of average symbol error rate (SER) over exponentiated Weibull (EW) atmospheric turbulence channel. The system of interest uses on-off keying (OOK) and various pulse position modulation (PPM) schemes. Expressions to assess the SER performance of the modulation techniques under EW atmospheric turbulence channel are derived. Aperture averaging effect on SER performance is also presented. Numerical results are displayed for mentioned modulation techniques and compared graphically under weak, moderate and strong turbulence regime. The simulation results exhibit that for the same peak power, differential amplitude pulse position modulation (DAPPM) provides superior performance than the other modulation schemes considered in this paper.

Performance Improvement by Pre-Amplifying with Erbium, Ytterbium Doped Devices Link Extenders of Fiber to the Home

This paper analyzes the performance of hybrid gigabit passive optical network (GPON) and wireless communication (FSO) system using EDFA and EYDWA as pre-amplification configuration to compensate the losses due to the fiber cable and the free space channel for 2.5 Gb/s of data. The performance for both amplifiers has been compared on the basis of distance, FSO range and number of users, however the results of simulation show enhancement offered by EYDWA as compared as EDFA amplifier. This amplifier was able to reach transmission distance over 245 Km optical fiber and 1Km range FSO with best BER value around 10 -9 and good eye diagram. Whereas, the fiber distance has been limited to 64 Km by using EDFA amplifier.

Spectrally efficient TWR‐aided free‐space optical communication over turbulent channel with generalized pointing error

AbstractIn this paper, the performance of two‐way relay assisted optical wireless communication is analysed. The optical wireless communication system performance is corrupted by atmospheric‐induced turbulence and the generalized pointing errors. A three node, dual hop, bi‐directional system employing decode‐and‐forward relaying phenomena are considered. The conventional one‐way relay assisted system is spectrally inefficient because of the half duplex losses incurred, whereas the proposed two‐way relay assisted system achieves spectral efficiency by managing bi‐directional communication in two time slots, thus maximizing the achievable rate of the network. The closed‐form expressions of probability density function for composite Gamma–Gamma turbulence impaired by generalized pointing errors are derived. Furthermore, we provide the closed‐form expression of cumulative distribution function of the equivalent end‐to‐end signal‐to‐noise ratio. In capitalizing on these derived statistics, we conduct outage and error rate analysis of the considered system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Propagation of an optical vortex carried by a partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian beam in turbulent ocean.

The analytical formulas for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode probability density, signal OAM mode detection probability, and spiral spectrum of partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams with optical vortices propagation in weak horizontal oceanic turbulent channels were developed, based on the Rytov approximation theory. The effect of oceanic turbulence and beam source parameters on the propagation behavior of the optical vortices carried by partially coherent LG beams was investigated in detail. Our results indicated that optical turbulence in an ocean environment produced a much stronger effect on the optical vortex than that in an atmosphere environment; the effective range of the signal OAM mode of LG beams with a smaller ratio of the mode crosstalk was limited to only several tens of meters in turbulent ocean. The existence of oceanic turbulence evidently induced OAM mode crosstalk and spiral spectrum spread. The effects of oceanic turbulence on the OAM mode detection probability increased with the increase of radial and azimuthal mode orders, oceanic turbulent equivalent temperature structure parameter, and temperature-salinity balance parameter. The spatial partial coherence of the beam source would enhance the effect of turbulent aberrations on the signal OAM mode detection probability, and fully coherent vortex beams provided better performance than partially coherent ones. Increasing wavelength of the vortex beams would help improve the performance of this quantum optical communication system. These results might be of interest for the potential application of optical vortices in practical underwater quantum optical communication among divers, submarines, and sensors in the ocean environment.

Saturation in cascaded optical amplifier free‐space optical communication systems

The performance of a free-space optical (FSO) communication system in a turbulent atmosphere employing an optical amplifier (OA) cascade to extend reach is investigated. Analysis of both single and cascaded OA FSO communication links is given and the implications of using both adaptive (to channel state) and non-adaptive decision threshold schemes are analysed. The benefits of amplifier saturation, for example in the form of effective scintillation reduction when a non-adaptive decision threshold scheme is utilised at the receiver for different atmospheric turbulence regimes, are presented. Monte Carlo simulation techniques are used to model the probability distributions of the optical signal power, noise and the average bit error rate due to scintillation for the cascade. The performance of an adaptive decision threshold is superior to a non-adaptive decision threshold for both saturated and fixed gain preamplified receivers and the ability of a saturated gain OA to suppress scintillation is only meaningful for system performance when a non-adaptive decision threshold is used at the receiver. An OA cascade can be successfully used to extend reach in FSO communication systems and specific system implementations are presented. The optimal cascade scheme with a non-adaptive receiver would use frequent low gain saturated amplification.