BER Performance of FSO Links over Unified Channel Model for Pointing Error Models

In this paper, we investigate the bit error rate (BER) performance of single free-space optical (FSO) link over strong turbulence channel combined with various pointing error channel models. Considering atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors as main factors that deteriorate the link performance, we obtain unified finite series approximation of composite probability density function (PDF) which embraces generalized pointing models. By using these results, we conduct BER analysis of FSO link that accounts for both types of detection mechanism (i.e. intensity modulation/direct detection and heterodyne detection). Moreover, the simulation results confirm that the approximation expression can provide precise evaluation for BER performance of FSO communication systems.