The performance of a free-space optical (FSO) communication system is investigated when communication is established via a short-range, turbulent optical channel. The system under investigation utilizes on-off-keying (OOK) modulation combined with direct-detection to establish a duplex communication link. It is further assumed that the optical beam obeys a Gaussian profile. The received signal is detected using a p-i-n diode which is followed by a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA), limiting amplifier, and a clock/data recovery subsystem. Furthermore, it is assumed that optical front-end provides a relatively large aperture so that the impact of turbulence is somewhat mitigated and that the channel/system parameters result in a weak turbulent condition. The performance of the proposed system for a bit error rate of 10^-9 in the absence of forward error correction (FEC) is assessed in terms of probability of fade (PF), average number of fades per second (FPS), mean fade duration (MFD), mean-guard-to-mean-burst (MGMB) ratio, and mean time between fades (MTBF).

Date Published: 26 April 2002
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 4635, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIV, (26 April 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.464088

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4635:
Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIV
G. Stephen Mecherle, Editor(s)