Optical Communication System Performance with Tracking Error Induced Signal Fading

System performance is determined for an optical communication system using noncoherent detection in the presence of tracking error induced signal fading assuming 1) binary on-off modulation (OOK) with both fixed and adaptive threshold receivers, and 2) binary polarization modulation (BPM). BPM is shown to maintain its inherent 2-3 dB advantage over OOK when adaptive thresholding is used, and to have a substantially greater advantage when the OOK system is restricted to a fixed decision threshold.