Performance Improvement of the Free-Space Optical Communication Link Using Spatial Diversity Reception-Assisted OFDM Signals

Abstract

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology is presented for use in free-space optical (FSO) communications accompanied by the spatial diversity reception. Using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation formats, the OFDM signals show robustness to support high spectral efficiency and compatibility with the spatial diversity reception to improve receiver sensitivity. Compared with the single-carrier QPSK signal, the OFDM-QPSK signal with 64 sub-carriers can reduce the BER from 2.87 × 10−3 to 2.98 × 10−4 at the SNR of 6 dB. Using a two-aperture spatial diversity reception with OFDM, the BER can be reduced from 2.45 × 10−3 of a single receiver to 6.10 × 10−4 under moderate turbulence conditions. Under strong turbulence, the BER of the single receiver is 2.14 × 10−2. It can be improved to 1.16 × 10−3 by using four-aperture receivers, and even 6.87 × 10−4 by using six-aperture receivers. The optimized aperture number should be selected according to channel conditions.