Turbulence mitigation by aperture averaging in wireless optical systems

Atmospheric turbulence can cause a significant performance degradation in free space optical (FSO) communication systems. We investigate the impact of aperture averaging on the performance of FSO systems under different atmospheric turbulence regimes. Performance evaluation is made in terms of the average bit-error-rate. In particular, we bring clearance on the impact of propagation model on the benefit of aperture averaging. The efficiency of channel coding for aperture averaging receivers is also discussed.