Performance Analysis and Power Optimization for Spectrum-Sharing Mixed RF/FSO Relay Networks With Energy Harvesting

In this paper, the energy harvesting in mixed multiple-input-single-output radio frequency (RF)/free space optical (FSO) networks is studied. Assuming underlay mode, the secondary user (SU) source with limited battery communicates with its destination via a hybrid SU relay. The SU source harvests energy from both the hybrid relay and the primary network. The hybrid SU relay node is equipped with two antennas; one for energy transmission to the secondary user and the other for data reception. The SU source transmits its data over an RF link to the relay. Then, the relay decodes the SU data before retransmitting it to the SU destination over an optical link. The RF/FSO channels are assumed to follow Nakagami-m/Málaga-M fading models with pointing errors on the FSO link. Closed-form expressions for the exact outage probability, average bit error rate, and ergodic capacity are derived. For high signal-to-noise ratio values, closed-form expressions for the asymptotic outage probability and average bit error rate are derived. Based on the asymptotic results, a power allocation model is proposed to enhance the system outage performance. Some simulation and numerical results are employed to validate the derived expressions.