Performance Analysis of Hard-Switching Based Hybrid FSO/RF System over Turbulence Channels

• Main Authors: Hira Khalid, Sajid Sheikh Muhammad, Hector E. Nistazakis, George S. Tombras
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Computation
• Subjects: Free Space Optics (FSO); Gamma-Gamma distribution; Rayleigh fading; ergodic capacity; bit error rate; Outage Probability
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3197/7/2/28

The hybrid system of free space optic (FSO) and radio frequency (RF) has come forth as alternative good solution for increasing demand for high data rates in wireless communication networks. In this paper, wireless networks with hard-switching between FSO and RF link are analyzed, assuming that at a certain time point either one of the two links are active, with FSO link having higher priority. As the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of FSO link falls below a certain selected threshold, the RF link is activated. In this work, it is assumed that the FSO link follows Gamma-Gamma fading due to the atmospheric turbulence effect whereas RF link experiences Rayleigh fading. To analyze the proposed hybrid model, analytical expressions are derived for the outage probability, bit error rate and ergodic capacity. A numerical comparison is also done between the performances of the proposed hybrid FSO/RF model and the single FSO model.