Rate-adaptive FSO links over atmospheric turbulence channels by jointly using repetition coding and silence periods

In this paper, a new and simple rate-adaptive transmission scheme for free-space optical (FSO) communication systems with intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) over atmospheric turbulence channels is analyzed. This scheme is based on the joint use of repetition coding and variable silence periods, exploiting the potential time-diversity order (TDO) available in the turbulent channel as well as allowing the increase of the peak-to-average optical power ratio (PAOPR). Here, repetition coding is firstly used in order to accommodate the transmission rate to the channel conditions until the whole time diversity order available in the turbulent channel by interleaving is exploited. Then, once no more diversity gain is available, the rate reduction can be increased by using variable silence periods in order to increase the PAOPR. Novel closed-form expressions for the average bit-error rate (BER) as well as their corresponding asymptotic expressions are presented when the irradiance of the transmitted optical beam follows negative exponential and gamma-gamma distributions, covering a wide range of atmospheric turbulence conditions. Obtained results show a diversity order as in the corresponding rate-adaptive transmission scheme only based on repetition codes but providing a relevant improvement in coding gain. Simulation results are further demonstrated to confirm the analytical results. Here, not only rectangular pulses are considered but also OOK formats with any pulse shape, corroborating the advantage of using pulses with high PAOPR, such as gaussian or squared hyperbolic secant pulses. We also determine the achievable information rate for the rate-adaptive transmission schemes here analyzed.