Development and Performance Investigation of a Single-Channel 160 Gbps Free Space Optics Transmission Link Using Higher Order Modulation Scheme

This article reports the development of a high bit rate terrestrial free space optics (FSO) transmission link. Spectral-efficient polarisation division multiplexed-quadrature phase-shift keyed signals are used to transmit high bit rate data. Coherent receiver is proposed to ameliorate the demodulator performance under environmental conditions. Also, digital signal processing techniques at the receiver are used to mitigate the adverse channel effects on the information signal. The bit error rate analysis for different environmental conditions is carried out using numerical simulations and the results demonstrate reliable 160 Gbps transmission. The impact of atmospheric scintillation due to turbulent channel conditions on the link performance is also investigated. Further, the transmission performance is compared with previous reported studies which shows that the system demonstrates better achievable range and information bit rate performance. The reported work provides a suitable reference to realize bandwidth-efficient high-capacity FSO links under dynamic weather conditions.