Performance evaluation of aeronautical uplink/downlink free-space optical communication system with adaptive optics over gamma–gamma turbulence channel

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the effect of adaptive optics corrections on the performance of an aeronautical free-space optical (FSO) system with bidirectional slant path uplink and downlink communication channels. The aeronautical FSO communication (FSOC) system operates in a gamma-gamma atmospheric turbulence channel and employs adaptive optics corrections for the distorted wave front of the Gaussian beam wave. The modulation type of the aeronautical FSOC system is chosen to be M-ary phase-shift-keying (PSK)-subcarrier intensity modulation (SIM) and the type of the employed photodetector is positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN). In analysis, the effect of system parameters such as zenith angle, the height of transmitter/receiver on the ground, M-ary level, filter bandwidth, link distance, and the adaptive optics correction modes on bit-error-rate (BER) are demonstrated.