Cooperative Optical Wireless Communication: A Perspective of Differential Reliability

The performance of optical wireless communications (OWC) can be improved by the virtual line-of-sight (LoS). In this study, we consider a paradigm in which the virtual LoS is provided by some unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In the scenario where strong atmospheric turbulence occurs, we derive the formulas of reliability and ergodic capacity. Moreover, we introduce a new protocol to improve the communication reliability. The analysis is conducted in terms of the differential reliability.