Estimation of BER for a PSK OFDM RoFSO Link with Relays Over

Exponentially Modeled Turbulence Channels with Pointing Errors

M.P. Ninos1, H.E. Nistazakis1,*, A.N. Stassinakis1, Ch. K. Volos2,
I.M. Kyprianidis2, I.N. Stouboulos2 and G.S. Tombras1

: Department of Electronics, Computers, Telecommunications and Control, Faculty of Physics,

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, 15784, Greece
e-mails: {ninmichail; enistaz; a-stasinakis; gtombras}@phys.uoa.gr.
2

: Physics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

e-mails: {volos; imkypr; stouboulos}@physics.auth.gr

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract

Radio-on-free-space-optical (RoFSO) communication systems are gaining significant research and

commercial interest due to their high bandwidth and high data rate transfer, along with their low operational
and installation cost without the requirement for fiber cable infrastructure or installation license. On the
other hand, due to the fact that the optical signal propagates through the atmosphere their performance
mitigates because of the signals attenuation during propagation and the irradiance fluctuations on the
receivers side due to the atmospheric turbulence effect. In this work we investigate the performance of a
RoFSO system which is using the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme with phase
shift keying (PSK) modulation and decode and forward (DF) relay node(s). We assume that the irradiance
fluctuations of the optical signal at the receiver can be modeled accurately, with the negative exponential
distribution and additionally, we are taking into account the pointing errors of the laser beam at the receiver
(i.e. spatial jitter) due to the misalignment of the trans-receiver system and the nonlinear characteristics of
the transmitters laser diode, as well. For such a RoFSO PSK OFDM we derive closed-form mathematical
expressions for the estimation of the average bit error rate (BER) performance of each single and for the
whole optical communication system with DF relays. Finally, using the derived expressions and systems
common parameter values, we present numerical results concerning its performance.
Keywords: Wireless optical communications, OFDM, Pointing errors, Atmospheric turbulence, Relays.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
The aforementioned effects, associated with the
atmospheric characteristics, imposed constraints on the
effective range of the free space transmission, rendering the
usage of repeaters indispensable in order to increase the
links length. Thus, in order to construct FSO links with
longer operational range, we are using multihop
architectures which are using either amplify and forward
(AF) or decode and forward relay (DF) relay nodes, [12],
[13].
The Radio-on-FSO (RoFSO) is a similar configuration to
the radio over fiber (RoF) links where the signal is conveyed
through the atmosphere. RoFSO can be used either as
alternative or complementary to the fiber cable network as a
high capacity wireless backhaul technology for cellular
networks, [13]-[17]. Here, we investigate a RoFSO link with
DF relays interpolated, using the OFDM scheme with phase
shift keying (PSK) modulation for each subcarrier taking
into account the atmospheric turbulence mitigation, the
signal attenuation and the nonlinear characteristics of the
transmitter laser diode (LD). For this setup closed form
mathematical expressions are derived for the estimation of
the systems performance by means of its average BER.
Moreover, numerical results are illustrated for realistic
parameter values of the PSK OFDM RoFSO link.

1. Introduction
The free space optical (FSO) communication systems have
been gaining popularity due to their high performance
capabilities along with their ease of deployment, lower
power consumption without the need of fiber cable
infrastructure and installation license. On the other hand,
their efficiency is affected significantly by the atmospheric
conditions. The propagation of the optical beam through the
atmosphere is impaired by the absorption and scattering
processes which subdivided into molecular and larger
particle size domains, leading to the attenuation of the
received signal strength. Another important mitigation effect
related to the specific path transmission is the turbulenceinduced scintillations which results in lower performance
characteristics for FSO system, [1]-[11].
The FSO links need an unobstructed line of sight for
transferring data between the transmitting and receiving
terminals. Thus, a very well aligned trans-receiver system is
a requirement to implement a reliable and effective
communication link. However, small movements of the
transmitter due to wind loads, building sway, etc., can cause
deflections of the optical beam from the aligned position
leading to additional signal fading, [7]-[11].
1

2 N +n
n

( -1) - ( -1) (5)

= 2 2n ( N - n +1) + N ( N - 5 ) + 2

2. Channel Model

The whole optical communication system consists of a

transmitter, a number of serial DF relay nodes and a
receiver. To begin with, the initial information is conveyed
through the atmospheric channel via orthogonal subcarriers.
The OFDM signal, which modulates the optical intensity of
the laser diode, after the up-conversion to the carrier
frequency fc is given as, [15]:

where = 9a32 mn6 2 L2tot Pt 2 I 2 256 . Next, from (4) and

assuming that the IMD and the total noise at the
denominator of (4) is Gaussian, we obtain the following,
approximation for the expected value of CNDRn,EX , by
averaging the noise and IMD over scintillation, [16]:

N 1

N 1

n=0

n =0

CNDRn ,EX

sOFDM ( t ) = sn ( t ) = X n exp i ( n + 2f c ) t , for 0 t < Ts (1)

CNDRn ( I ) =

(2)

f It ( I t ) = exp ( I t )

fIp ( I p ) =

(3)

2
2
0

I p

with 0 I p A0

(8)

where is the ratio between the equivalent beam radius at

the receiver and the pointing error displacement standard
deviation, i.e. spatial jitter, at the receiver and is given as
= Wz ,eq 2 S , [8]. The Wz,eq is the equivalent beam width
and is estimated through the expressions, = r

2Wz ,

A0 = erf ( ) , W = erf ( )W 2exp ( ) , where

erf(.) stands for the error function while the parameters r and
Wz represent the radius of the circular detection aperture at
the receiver and the waist of the beams Gaussian spatial
intensity profile, respectively, [9]-[11].
The combined PDF which includes the turbulence-induced
fading modelled with the NE distribution and the pointing
errors effect estimates through the following integral, [10]:
2

(4)

where 2n,IMD is the third order inter-modulation distortion

factor due to the nonlinear LD and is expressed as, [13]:

2
z ,eq

f comb,I ( I ) = f I|It ( I | I t ) f It ( I t ) dI t

(7)

Apart from the turbulence effect, the misalignment of the

optical beam between the transmitter and the receiver inserts
additional signal fading. The misalignment fading or
pointing errors effect is expressed through the following
probability density function, [10], [11]:

2 ( N 0 Ts + n2,IMD )

(6)

2 ( N 0 Ts ) AV + ( n2,IMD )
AV

The main mitigation factor for the performance of optical

wireless communications is the turbulence-induced
scintillations. The bit error rate is functionally related to the
received signal irradiance which for relatively short
distances fluctuates randomly, and thus follows a probability
distribution fIt(It). Extensive research has been conducted
throughout the years in order to be obtained analytical
descriptions of these irradiance fluctuations with appropriate
probability distribution functions (PDF). Some notable
proposed distribution models are the log-normal (LN), the
gamma-gamma (GG), the gamma, the negative exponential
(NE), the K, the I-K, etc. which are suitable for specific
turbulence conditions, [18]-[22]. Here, we are using the NE,
which is convenient for saturate atmospheric conditions. The
PDF of the NE distribution as a function It is given as, [22]:

where I0 = LtotPtI is the dc of the received photocurrent

i(t,I), is the PDs responsivity, while nopt is the AWGN
with
zero
mean
and
variance
N0/2,
with
N0 = 4KBTF/RL + 2qI0 + I02(RIN), [15]. In this expression, KB
is the Boltzmanns constant, T is the temperature, F is the
noise figure of the receiver, RL is the load resistor on the
PDs side, q is the electron charge and RIN stands for the
relative intensity noise process. Thus, the received
instantaneous carrier to noise plus distortion for each
subcarrier of the OFDM, CNDRn, is given as, [15]:

( mn Ltot PIt )

3. Turbulence and Pointing Errors

where, Pt, is the average transmitted optical power, a3

corresponds to the third order nonlinearity coefficient of the
LD and mn denotes the optical modulation index (OMI). The
received optical power in each DFs relay node receiver after
the atmospheric propagation is calculated by the equation
Pr(t) = P(t)LtotI + n(t), with Ltot being the total losses caused
by the atmospheric propagation, n(t) is the additive white
Gaussian noise (AWGN) of the channel and I represents the
total instantaneous normalized irradiance at the receiver
which is a product of two random variables It and Ip, i.e.
I = ItIp, where It stands for the dependence of the normalized
irradiance from the atmospheric turbulence effect, while Ip
represents its dependence on the alignment of the optical
beam due to the pointing errors [9]-[11]. The photo-induced
current at the photo detector PD is given as, [15]:
3
N 1
N 1

i ( t,I ) = I 0 1 + mn sn ( t ) + a3 mn sn ( t ) + nopt ( t )
n=0

n = 0

mn2 2 L2tot Pt 2 ( E [ I ])

where the symbol E[.] denotes the expected value.

where, n = 2n/Ts, n = 0,, N-1, determines the frequency

of each orthogonal subcarrier, Ts is the duration of the
OFDM symbols and Xn is the complex data symbol of the nth
subcarrier which is mapped according to the selected
modulation format, [15], [16]. In this work we assume Gray
Code mapping at the transmitter with PSK modulation. The
transmitted optical power due to the finite linear operating
range of the LD is as, [15]:
3
N 1
N 1

P ( t ) = Pt 1 + mn sn ( t ) + a3 mn sn ( t )
n=0

n = 0

2
IMD ,n

2
z

(9)

By solving the integral of (9) we derive the following

closed form mathematical expression for the combined PDF:
I
2
2
f comb ,I ( I ) = G12,2,0
A 2 1, 0
A0
0

5. Numerical Results

Here we present results which are obtained from (13) and

(15) with realistic parameter values concerning a typical
RoFSO link. Thus, N=1000 or 2000, = 0.8 A/W, while the
transmitted optical power Pt and the total losses for each link
are 20 dBm and -10 dB, respectively. The load resistor is 50
, RIN = -130 dB/Hz, T = 300 K and a3 = 910-4, [13], [15].

(10)

where G m,n
p,q [] stands for the Meijer function, [23], that is a
standard built in function which can be evaluated with most
of the well known mathematical software packages.
4. Total Average BER

A significant metric which provides an adequate description

of the telecommunication systems performance is the BER,
which depends on the modulation format and the SNR at the
receiver. By assuming that each of the N-subcarriers of an
OFDM system is modulated with PSK and assuming gray
code mapping at the transmitter and AWGN, the total BER
of each point to point link is given approximately as, [24]:
Pb,l

N 1 N 1

erfc CNDRn,l ( I ) sin

log 2 ( K ) n = 0
K

Fig. 1. BER estimation for a PSK OFDM RoFSO link with N = 1000,
and L = 2, as a function of the OMI value.

(11)

where K is the constellation number of the PSK. By

averaging over the NE turbulence with pointing errors we
obtain the average BER for each single RoFSO link as, [16]:
Pb ,l ,Av

N 1 N 1

erfc CNDRn ,l ( I ) sin f comb ,I ( I )dI (12)

log 2 ( K ) n = 0 0
K

From (10), (12), we derive the following closed form

mathematical expression for the average BER of a PSK
OFDM RoFSO communication link:
1 2 2 2

,
,0, 0.5 ,1

N
2
2
2 ,4
(13)

G5,4
2 log 2 ( K ) n = 0
2 1 2
0 ,0.5 , ,

2
2

1 2

Pb,l ,K PSK ,Av

N 1

Fig. 2. BER estimation for a PSK OFDM RoFSO link with N = 1000,
and L = 3, as a function of the OMI value.

where = CNDRn ,l EX 4 A02 sin 2 .

K
The total average BER of the whole optical
communication system which is comprised of L individual
hops can be estimated from [12], through the relation:
L
L

Pb ,tot ,Av = Pb ,l ,Av 1 2 Pb ,m ,Av

l =1
m = l +1

(14)

By substituting (13) into (14), we derive the closed form

mathematical expression for the average BER of a multi-hop
PSK OFDM RoFSO with DF relays, over NE turbulence, as:
Pb ,tot ,Av =

Fig. 3. BER estimation for a PSK OFDM RoFSO link with N = 2000,
and L = 2, as a function of the OMI value.

Furthermore, the r=0.1m and the calculations were

implemented with the two ratios of s/r i.e. 0.1, 0.4 and for
wz/r=1.5. These two values of s/r, correspond to different
strengths of the pointing errors effect. Finally the length of
each individual link is 2km, and L=2 or 3. By increasing the
hops number the link length increases, too. Thus, for two
hops, the total link length is 4km, for three hops is 6km, etc.
In Figs (1), (2) are shown the cases of a 16 or 64 PSK
OFDM RoFSO system with L=2 or 3, N=1000 over NE
turbulence channels with the two ratios, s/r. In Figs (3), (4)
are presented the corresponding results for N=2000.

N
N

n,m (15)
1
n,l m

2 log 2 ( K ) l =1 n = 0

log
K
(
)
n
=
0

= l +1
2

1 2

N 1

1 2

N 1

1 2 2 2

,
,0 , 0.5 ,1

2
.
where, n ,l = G52,,44 2

2 1 2
0 , 0. 5 , ,

2
2

modulation format for each subcarrier over a NE modelled

turbulence channel with misalignment fading. According to
the system configuration new closed form expressions are
derived for the average BER metric evaluation of each
individual link and for the whole multi-hop optical system,
as well. The numerical results are illustrated for
representative values of the wireless optical system, taking
into account the atmospheric turbulence, the pointing errors
and the number of individual links which comprises. It is
apparent that the increase in pointing errors deteriorates the
BER performance, a case that is repeated for the increase in
the number of individual links, which corresponds to a
proportional increment of the total length, i.e. longer link
length, of the multihop optical communication system.
Fig. 4. BER estimation for a PSK OFDM RoFSO link with N = 2000,
and L = 3, as a function of the OMI value.

Acknowledgement

This research was partially funded by the National and

Kapodistrian University of Athens, Special Account of
Research Grants no #10812.

6. Conclusions

In this work we investigate the performance of a multi-hop

RoFSO OFDM communication system with PSK
_____________________________
References

1. Z. Ghassemlooy, W.O. Popoola, Terrestrial Free-Space Optical

Communications, Book Chapter in Mobile and Wireless
Communications: Network Layer and Circuit Level Design, Eds
S. Ait Fares, F. Adachi, InTech, ISBN: 978-953-307-042-1,
2010.
2. H. Henniger , O. Wilfert, An Introduction to Free Space Optical
Communications, Radioengineering, Vol. 19, No. 2, , pp. 203212, 2010.
3. H.E. Nistazakis, G.S. Tombras, A.D. Tsigopoulos, E.A.
Karagianni, and M.E. Fafalios, Capacity estimation of optical
wireless communication systems over moderate to strong
turbulence channels, Journal of Communications and Networks,
Vol. 11, Iss. 4, pp. 387-392, 2009.
4. G. Ntogari, T. Kamalakis, T. Sphicopoulos, Performance
Analysis of Space Time Block Coding Techniques for Indoor
Optical Wireless Systems, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
Communications, Vol. 27, No. 9, 2009.
5. K. Prabu, S. Bose, D.S. Kumar, BPSK based subcarrier
intensity modulated free space optical system in combined
strong atmospheric turbulence, Optics Communications, Vol.
305, pp. 185-189, 2013.
6. M. Czaputa, S. Hranilovic, S.S. Muhammad and E. Leitgeb,
Free-space optical links for latency-tolerant traffic, IET
Communications, Vol. 6, Iss. 5, pp.507-513, 2012.
7. S. Dimitrov, S. Sinanovic, H. Haas, Clipping Noise in OFDMBased Optical Wireless Communication Systems, IEEE
Transactions on Communications, Vol. 60, No. 4, pp. 10721081, 2012.
8. W. Gappmair, S. Hranilovic, E. Leitgeb, Performance of PPM
on terrestrial FSO links with turbulence and pointing errors,
IEEE Commun. Lett., Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 468-470, 2010.
9. A. Garcia-Zambrana, B. Castillo-Vazquez, C. Castillo-Vazquez,
Asymptotic error-rate analysis of FSO links using transmit laser
selection over gamma-gamma atmospheric turbulence channels
with pointing errors, Optics Express, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 20962109, 2012.
10. H.G. Sandalidis, T.A. Tsiftsis, G.K. Karagiannidis and M. Uysal,
BER Performance of FSO Links over Strong Atmospheric
Turbulence Channels with Pointing Errors, IEEE
Communications Letters, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 44-46, 2008.
11. H.G. Sandalidis, T.A. Tsiftsis, G.K. Karagiannidis, Optical
Wireless Communications with Heterodyne Detection over
Turbulence Channels with Pointing Errors, Journal of
Lightwave Technology, Vol. 27, No. 20, pp. 4440-4445, 2009.
12. E. Morgado, I. Mora-Jimnez, J.J. Vinagre, J. Ramos and A.J.
Caamao, End-to-End Average BER in Multihop Wireless

13.

14.
15.

16.

17.
18.
19.
20.

21.
22.

23.

24.

Networks over Fading Channels, IEEE Transactions on

Wireless Communications, Vo. 9, No. 8, 2010.
H. E. Nistazakis, A. N. Stassinakis, S. S. Muhammad, and G. S.
Tombras, BER estimation for multi hop RoFSO QAM or PSK
OFDM communication systems over GammaGamma or
exponentially modeled turbulence channels, Elsevier Opt. Laser
Technol., vol. 64, pp. 106112, Dec. 2014.
H. Al-Raweshidy and S. Komaki: Radio Over Fiber
Technologies for Mobile Communications Networks, 1st ed.,
MA: Artech House, Norwell, 2002.
A. Bekkali, C.B. Naila, K. Kazaura, K. Wakamori and M.
Matsumoto, Transmission Analysis of OFDM-Based Wireless
Services Over Turbulent Radio-on-FSO Links Modeled by
Gamma-Gamma Distribution, IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol. 2,
No. 3, pp. 509-520, 2010.
H.E. Nistazakis, A.N. Stassinakis, H.G. Sandalidis and G.S.
Tombras, QAM and PSK OFDM RoFSO Over M-Turbulence
Induced Fading Channels, IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol. 7, Iss.
1, No 7900411, 2014.
A. Mostafa, S. Hranilovic, In-Field Demonstration of OFDMOver-FSO, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 24, No. 8,
pp. 709-711, 2012.
L.C. Andrews, R.L. Phillips, C.Y. Hopen: Laser Beam
Scintillation with Applications, SPIE Optical Eng. Press, 2001.
B. Epple, Simplified Channel Model for Simulation of FreeSpace Optical Communications, IEEE/OSA J. Opt. Commun.
Netw., Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 293-304, 2010.
H.E. Nistazakis, A.D. Tsigopoulos, M.P. Hanias, C.D.
Psychogios, D. Marinos, C. Aidinis, G.S. Tombras, Estimation
of Outage Capacity for Free Space Optical Links Over I-K and
K Turbulent Channels, Radioengineering, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp.
493-498, 2011.
H. Samimi, Coded subcarrier intensity modulated free-space
optical links over generalised turbulence channels, IET
Communications, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, pp. 335-342, 2014.
H.E. Nistazakis, V.D. Assimakopoulos, G.S. Tombras,
Performance Estimation of Free Space Optical Links Over
Negative Exponential Atmospheric Turbulence Channels,
OPTIK-International Journal for Light and Electron Optics, Vol.
122, pp. 2191-2194, 2011.
V.S. Adamchik, O.I. Marichev, The Algorithm for Calculating
Integrals of Hypergeometric Type Function and its Realization
in Reduce System, Proc. Int. Conf. on Symbolic and Algebraic
Computation, Japan, pp. 212-224, 1990.
J. Proakis: Digital Communications, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill,
2001.