Performance analysis of mixed Nakagami- m and Gamma–Gamma dual-hop FSO transmission systems

In this paper, we carry out a unified performance analysis of a dual-hop relay system over the asymmetric links composed of both radio-frequency (RF) and unified free-space optical (FSO) links under the effect of pointing errors. Both fixed and variable gain relay systems are studied. The RF link is modeled by the Nakagami-m fading channel and the FSO link by the Gamma-Gamma fading channel subject to both types of detection techniques (i.e., heterodyne detection and intensity modulation with direct detection). In particular, we derive new unified closed-form expressions for the cumulative distribution function, the probability density function, the moment generating function (MGF), and the moments of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of these systems in terms of the Meijer's G function. Based on these formulas, we offer exact closed-form expressions for the outage probability (OP), the higher order amount of fading, and the average bit error rate (BER) of a variety of binary modulations in terms of the Meijer's G function. Furthermore, an exact closed-form expression of the end-to-end ergodic capacity is derived in terms of the bivariate G function. Additionally, by using the asymptotic expansion of the Meijer's G function at the high-SNR regime, we derive new asymptotic results for the OP, the MGF, and the average BER in terms of simple elementary functions

On the Performance of Millimeter Wave-based RF-FSO Multi-hop and Mesh Networks

This paper studies the performance of multi-hop and mesh networks composed of millimeter wave (MMW)-based radio frequency (RF) and free-space optical (FSO) links. The results are obtained in cases with and without hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Taking the MMW characteristics of the RF links into account, we derive closed-form expressions for the networks' outage probability and ergodic achievable rates. We also evaluate the effect of various parameters such as power amplifiers efficiency, number of antennas as well as different coherence times of the RF and the FSO links on the system performance. Finally, we determine the minimum number of the transmit antennas in the RF link such that the same rate is supported in the RF- and the FSO-based hops. The results show the efficiency of the RF-FSO setups in different conditions. Moreover, HARQ can effectively improve the outage probability/energy efficiency, and compensate for the effect of hardware impairments in RF-FSO networks. For common parameter settings of the RF-FSO dual-hop networks, outage probability of 10^{-4} and code rate of 3 nats-per-channel-use, the implementation of HARQ with a maximum of 2 and 3 retransmissions reduces the required power, compared to cases with open-loop communication, by 13 and 17 dB, respectively.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

Performance analysis of RF-FSO multi-hop networks

We study the performance of multi-hop networks composed of millimeter wave (MMW)-based radio frequency (RF) and free-space optical (FSO) links. The results are obtained in the cases with and without hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Taking the MMW characteristics of the RF links into account, we derive closed-form expressions for the network outage probability. We also evaluate the effect of various parameters such as power amplifiers efficiency, number of antennas as well as different coherence times of the RF and the FSO links on the system performance. Finally, we present mappings between the performance of RF-FSO multi-hop networks and the ones using only the RF- or the FSO-based communication, in the sense that with appropriate parameter settings the same outage probability is achieved in these setups. The results show the efficiency of the RF-FSO setups in different conditions. Moreover, the HARQ can effectively improve the outage probability/energy efficiency, and compensate the effect of hardware impairments in RF-FSO networks. For common parameter settings of the RF-FSO dual-hop networks, outage probability 10^{-4} and code rate 3 nats-per-channel-use, the implementation of HARQ with a maximum of 2 and 3 retransmissions reduces the required power, compared to the cases with no HARQ, by 13 and 17 dB, respectively.Comment: Presented at IEEE WCNC 201