Route diversity analyses for free-space optical wireless links within turbulent scenarios

Free-Space Optical (FSO) communications link performance is highly affected when propagating through the time-spatially variable turbulent environment. In order to improve signal reception, several mitigation techniques have been proposed and analytically investigated. This paper presents experimental results for the route diversity technique evaluations for a specific case when several diversity links intersects a common turbulent area and concurrently each passing regions with different turbulence flows

Optical Communication Through Random Atmospheric Turbulence

In this paper we compare the theoretical performances of two schemes of optical communication through the atmospheric turbulence: (1) heterodyne detection and (2) video detection. The signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) in the output current of a detector are expressed for both schemes in terms of the correlation function of the refractive index fluctuations of the turbulence. The results of a separate theoretical analysis of optical wave propagation through a random turbulence are used in order to obtain a numerical estimate of the performance criterion (S/N)_(2)(S/N)_(1) in terms of the length of propagation through the atmosphere, the turbulence strength, the wavelength of the optical wave, and the diameter of the receiving aperture

Design, simulation and testing of the OOK NRZ modulation format for free space optic communication in a simulation box

This article deals with the construction of a modulator and demodulator for Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication. In FSO optics, the modulated optical signal is propagated in the constantly changing environment (atmosphere). The optical signal is strongly influenced by the actual composition of air, which is directly linked to the change in refractive index in the turbulent cells. This article examines primarily the appropriate modulation format for FSO. For this purpose, one type of an OOK-NRZ modulator and one type of a demodulator were designed. This article also describes the construction of two types of photo detectors (the high impedance and the transimpedance ones). All electronic constructions were tested in the MicroCap simulator and they were experimentally measured as well. For the OOK NRZ modulation the, maximum transmission speed achieved the value of 160~Mbps. Measuring the quality of the modulation formats was carried out under mechanical and thermal turbulences. The last part of this work gives the results of the measurements of fog influences

Experimental characterization and mitigation of turbulence induced signal fades within an ad hoc FSO network

Optical beams propagating through the turbulent atmospheric channel suffer from both the attenuation and phase distortion. Since future wireless networks are envisaged to be deployed in the ad hoc mesh topology, this paper presents the experimental laboratory characterization of mitigation of turbulence induced signal fades for two ad hoc scenarios. Results from measurements of the thermal structure constant along the propagation channels, changes of the coherence lengths for different turbulence regimes and the eye diagrams for partially correlated turbulences in free space optical channels are discussed. Based on these results future deployment of optical ad hoc networks can be more straightforwardly planned

M-QAM signal transmission at the photonically generated K-band over thermal-induced turbulent FSO links with different turbulence distributions

[EN] We present a theoretical and experimental study on the impact of different thermal-induced free-space turbulence distributions on the M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) signal transmission in radio frequency K-band over hybrid optical links of standard single mode fiber (SSMF) and free-space optics (FSO). Frequency multiplication using an external intensity modulator biased at the null transmission point has been employed to photonically generate radio signals at a frequency of 25 GHz, included for the frequency bands for fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks. Moreover, extensive simulations have been performed for 10 Gb/s with 4-, 16-, and 64-QAM over 5 km of SSMF and 500 m long FSO channels under scenarios with different turbulence levels and distributions. Proof-of-concept experiments have been conducted for 20 MHz with 4- and 64-QAM over 5 km of SSMF and 2 m long FSO channels under turbulence conditions. Both theoretical and experimental systems have been analyzed in terms of error vector magnitude (EVM) performance showing feasible transmission over the hybrid links in the received optical power range. Non-uniform turbulence distributions are shown to have a different impact on M-QAM modulation formats, i.e., turbulence distributions with higher strength in the middle of the FSO link reveal a 1.9 dB penalty when using 64-QAM signals compared to a 1.3 dB penalty using 4-QAM signals, whereas higher penalties have been measured when 4-QAM format is transmitted over turbulence distributions with larger magnitude in the second half of the FSO link. The results have been validated by theoretical predictions and lead to practical consequences on future networks' deployment.Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO 2017/103); Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (FOCAL RTI2018-101658-B-I00); Ministerstvo Prumyslu a Obchodu (FV30427) and within European Cooperation in Science andTechnology (CA16220).Vallejo-Castro, L.; Nguyen, D.; Bohata, J.; Ortega Tamarit, B.; Zvanovec, S. (2020). M-QAM signal transmission at the photonically generated K-band over thermal-induced turbulent FSO links with different turbulence distributions. Applied Optics. 59(16):4997-5005. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.390103S499750055916Zhang, R., Lu, F., Xu, M., Liu, S., Peng, P.-C., Shen, S., … Chang, G.-K. (2018). An Ultra-Reliable MMW/FSO A-RoF System Based on Coordinated Mapping and Combining Technique for 5G and Beyond Mobile Fronthaul. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 36(20), 4952-4959. doi:10.1109/jlt.2018.2866767Lee, C. H. (Ed.). (2017). 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A Novel Radio-Over-Fiber System Based on Carrier Suppressed Frequency Eightfold Millimeter Wave Generation. IEEE Photonics Journal, 9(5), 1-6. doi:10.1109/jphot.2017.2731620Khalighi, M. A., & Uysal, M. (2014). Survey on Free Space Optical Communication: A Communication Theory Perspective. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 16(4), 2231-2258. doi:10.1109/comst.2014.2329501Bloom, S., Korevaar, E., Schuster, J., & Willebrand, H. (2003). Understanding the performance of free-space optics [Invited]. Journal of Optical Networking, 2(6), 178. doi:10.1364/jon.2.000178Anderson, H. R. (2003). Fixed Broadband Wireless System Design. doi:10.1002/0470861290Ghassemlooy, Z., Popoola, W., & Rajbhandari, S. (2019). Optical Wireless Communications. doi:10.1201/9781315151724Borah, D. K., & Voelz, D. G. (2009). Pointing Error Effects on Free-Space Optical Communication Links in the Presence of Atmospheric Turbulence. 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Artificial Neural Network Utilization for FSO Link Performance Estimation

This paper describes FSO link performance prediction based on available meteorological data using different Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approaches. Several types of ANNs were compared and their performance were evaluated. The paper introduces an ANN application utilizing real delayed data. This approach has been validated to be more precise than common feed-forward neural networks

Investigation on iterative multiuser detection physical layer network coding in two-way relay free-space optical links with turbulences and pointing errors

Physical layer network coding (PNC) improves the throughput in wireless networks by enabling two nodes to exchange information using a minimum number of time slots. The PNC technique is proposed for two-way relay channel free space optical (TWR-FSO) communications with the aim of maximizing the utilization of network resources. The multipair TWR-FSO is considered in this paper, where a single antenna on each pair seeks to communicate via a common receiver aperture at the relay. Therefore, chip interleaving is adopted as a technique to separate the different transmitted signals at the relay node to perform PNC mapping. Accordingly, this scheme relies on the iterative multiuser technique for detection of users at the receiver. The bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed system is examined under the combined influences of atmospheric loss, turbulence-induced channel fading, and pointing errors (PEs). By adopting the joint PNC mapping with interleaving and multiuser detection techniques, the BER results show that the proposed scheme can achieve a significant performance improvement against the degrading effects of turbulences and PEs. It is also demonstrated that a larger number of simultaneous users can be supported with this new scheme in establishing a communication link between multiple pairs of nodes in two time slots, thereby improving the channel capacity

Terahertz wireless communication through atmospheric atmospheric turbulence and rain

This dissertation focusses on terahertz (THz) wireless communication technology in different weather conditions. The performance of the communication links is mainly studied under propagation through atmospheric turbulence and rain. However, as real outdoor weather conditions are temporally and spatially varying, it is difficult to obtain reproducible atmospheric conditions to verify results of independent measurements making it a challenge to measure and analyze the impact of outdoor atmospheric weather on communication links. Consequently, dedicated indoor weather chambers are designed to produce controllable weather conditions to emulate the real outdoor weather as closely as possible. To emulate turbulent air conditions, an enclosed chamber is developed into which air with controllable airspeeds and temperatures are introduced to generate a variety of atmospheric turbulence for beam propagation. To emulate varying rain conditions, an enclosed chamber is built in which pressurized air forces drops of water through an array of 30 gauge needles. In order to study and compare propagation features of THz links with infrared (IR) links under identical weather conditions, a THz and IR communications lab setup with a maximum data rate of 2.5 Gb/s at 625 GHz carrier frequency and 1.5 μm wavelength, are developed. A usual non return-to-zero (NRZ) format is applied to modulate the IR channel but a duobinary coding technique is used for driving the multiplier chain-based 625 GHz source, which enables signaling at high data rate and higher output power. The power and bit-error rate (BER) on the receiver side are measured, which can be used to analyze the signal performance. To analyze the phase change in the turbulence chamber due to the refractive index change induced by turbulence, a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with He-Ne laser at 632.8nm is developed. In the same weather conditions, the impact on THz in comparison with IR link is not equivalent due to the spectral dependence on atmospheric turbulence and rain. In the experiment, after THz (625 GHz) and IR (1.5 μm) beams propagate through the same condition, performance of both channels is analyzed and compared. Kolmogrov theory is employed to simulate the atmospheric turbulence which leads to attenuation of THz and IR signals. Mie scattering theory is employed to simulate the attenuation of THz and IR beams due to rain. Under identical turbulence conditions, THz links are superior to IR links. However, the performance of THz and IR links are comparable under identical rain conditions