Accepted Manuscript

A framework on the performance analysis of relay-assisted FSO

transmission systems

Behnam Ashrafzadeh, Amir Zaimbashi, Ehsan Soleimani-Nasab

PII: S0030-4018(19)30333-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2019.04.041
Reference: OPTICS 24040

To appear in: Optics Communications

Received date : 5 February 2019

Revised date : 10 April 2019
Accepted date : 11 April 2019

Please cite this article as: B. Ashrafzadeh, A. Zaimbashi and E. Soleimani-Nasab, A framework on
the performance analysis of relay-assisted FSO transmission systems, Optics Communications
(2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2019.04.041

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to
our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo
copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form.
Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the
content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 A Framework on the Performance Analysis of
Relay-Assisted FSO Transmission Systems

Behnam Ashrafzadeh, Amir Zaimbashi, and Ehsan Soleimani-Nasab

B. Ashrafzadeh and A. Zaimbashi are with the Optical and RF Communication Systems
(ORCS) Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of
Kerman, Kerman, 7616914111, Iran (e-mail: ashrafzadeh@eng.uk.ac.ir,
a.zaimbashi@uk.ac.ir.
E. Soleimani-Nasab is with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Graduate
University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, 7631818356, Iran (e-mail:
ehsan.soleimani@kgut.ac.ir).

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the performance of dual-hop relayed free-space op-

tical (FSO) transmission systems. To do this, the FSO links are modeled as the
Double Generalized Gamma (DGG) distribution with generalized pointing error
impairment and under both heterodyne detection (HD) and intensity modula-
tion with direct detection (IM/DD) methods. Using amplify-and-forward (AF)
fixed-gain relaying as well as channel state information (CSI)-assisted AF relay-
ing along with decode-and-forward (DF) relaying, we derive closed-form expres-
sions for the outage probability (OP), the average bit error rate (BER) and the
ergodic capacity (EC) in terms of the bivariate Fox-H function. Additionally,
we analyze high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) behavior of the OP and formerly we
derive the diversity order of the considered system. Numerical and Monte-Carlo
simulation results are provided to verify the accuracy of the obtained results.
Based on the high SNR analysis, we further provide a diversity gain analysis
and discuss the bottlenecks in the dual-hop FSO systems.
Keywords: Free space optical communications, double generalized gamma,
amplify-and-forward, decode-and-forward, outage probability, average bit error
rate, and ergodic capacity.

Preprint submitted to Optics Communications April 10, 2019

1. Introduction

Free space optical (FSO) communication systems have gained a growing re-
search interest due to their various features. These include high data rates due to
their very high bandwidth, high security level at the unlicensed optical spectrum,
robustness to electromagnetic interference, and the ease of deployment among
other communication systems. This promising technology is able to overcome
the spectrum scarcity issue in wireless communications systems [1]. However,
the performance of this line-of-sight technology can be seriously affected by its
limited range, turbulence-induced fading, pointing error (PE), and path loss
(PL). So far, several effective and interesting methods have been proposed to
overcome the limitations of FSO systems, such as employing multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO), multiuser diversity, spatial diversity, time diversity,
wavelength diversity, and Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)
techniques in FSO, e.g., in [2]-[3] . Anyway, to address the system performance
deterioration due to mentioned factors, the relay-assisted FSO system has re-
cently attracted significant attention. This approach can broaden the coverage
as well as increase the reliability of the communication link by converting a long
communication link into some short links.
Over the years, several statistical models have been proposed to model the
irradiance of the atmospheric channels. It has been known that the most widely
used statistical model for the random irradiance experienced over atmospheric
channels has been the log-normal distribution. Although the log-normal distri-
bution yields a good fit to the experimental data in weak turbulence conditions,
it fails to model moderate and strong turbulence conditions. In recent years,
Gamma-Gamma distribution has become a typical choice for statistical turbu-
lence channel model with its ability to better reflect a wider range of turbulence
conditions. However, it is known that Gamma-Gamma distribution also de-
viates from experimental data particularly in tails. Since the calculation of
detection probabilities for a communication system is primarily based on the
tails of the considered probability density function (pdf), under-estimation or

2
over-estimation of this part of pdf may significantly affect the accuracy of perfor-
mance analysis. To address this disadvantage, the Double Generalized Gamma
(DGG) distribution was proposed in [4]. It is based on the theory of doubly
stochastic scintillation and considers irradiance fluctuations as the product of
small-scale and large-scale fluctuations both of which follow generalized gamma
distribution. It has been shown in [4] that the DGG model not only is valid
under all range of turbulence conditions (weak to strong) but also includes most
of the existing statistical models for the irradiance fluctuations as special cases
[5, 6]. Therefore, in the following, we limit our focus to this unifying model and
review some works on the performance analysis of FSO transmission systems.
In the past decades, tremendous efforts have been devoted to studying the
FSO relaying system performance under both HD and IM/DD techniques em-
ploying DF or AF relaying techniques [7, 8]. In [9], closed-form bounds for the
performance analysis of dual-hop FSO systems with CSI-assisted AF relaying
were presented. In [10], closed-form expressions for the OP and BER of dual-hop
fixed gain FSO systems assuming AF relaying were presented. In [11], authors
investigated the performance metrics of dual-hop FSO systems with DF relaying
under DGG turbulence model. Ergodic capacity analysis of an AF relaying FSO
system under GG turbulence model was investigated in [12]. Upper bounds for
the performance analysis of a dual-hop FSO system with CSI-assisted AF were
derived in [13]. In [14], closed-form expressions for the OP and BER of DF
relaying FSO systems were presented. An experimental setup of an all-optical
10-Gbps dual-hop FSO system using an AF relay was presented in [15].
In this paper, we consider a dual-hop relaying FSO system where FSO links
experience different DGG fading encompassing the turbulence-induced fading,
atmospheric path loss, and generalized pointing error. In addition, here, the
effect of beam width, detector size, different jitters for the elevation and the
horizontal displacements and the effect of nonzero boresight errors are consid-
ered. In the relay node, different relaying strategies such as fixed gain and
CSI-assisted AF relaying and DF relaying are also considered. In the destina-
tion node, it is assumed that the photodetector can detect the signal following

3
either the heterodyne detection (HD) mode or the intensity modulation and di-
rect detection (IM/DD) mode. This is a practical but complicated setup which
has scarcely appeared in the literature. As such, in this paper, the statistics
of the end-to-end SNR, including the CDF, PDF, the moment generating func-
tion (MGF), and performance metrics like the end-to-end OP, average bit error
rate (BER) of non-binary modulation schemes and ergodic capacity (EC) are
derived and examined. We further pursue high SNR analysis to derive the di-
versity order. It has been shown that the diversity order strictly depends only
on the turbulence parameters of both FSO links, pointing errors and detection
methods in the FSO receivers. The obtained performance results can be con-
sidered as a generalization of the existing results in the literature [7]-[12]; since
the adopted FSO turbulence model is the most general ones.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Section II, we in-
troduce the channel and communication system model. The end-to-end SNR
statistics for fixed gain and CSI-assisted AF relaying as well as DF relaying
are derived in Section III. Closed-form expressions of OP, BER and EC assum-
ing fixed-gain and CSI-assisted AF relaying as well as DF relaying are derived
in Section IV. Section V gives some high SNR analysis and diversity order,
while Section VI presents some numerical and simulation results to illustrate
the mathematical formalism presented in the previous sections. Finally, some
concluding remarks are drawn in Section VII.
Throughout this paper, we use fh (.) and Fh (.) to denote the probability
density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random
variable (RV) h, respectively. The operator Pr(.) denotes probability, while E{.}
R∞
stands for expectation. Γ(n) = 0 e−t tn−1 dt is the gamma function [16, Eq.
(8.310.1)] and 1n = [1, 1, ..., 1] comprising of n terms.

2. System and Channel Model

As shown in Fig. 1, we consider a dual-hop optical communication system

where the source terminal S is communicating with the destination terminal D

4
 Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the system under consideration.

through the intermediate terminal R which acts as a relay. The two FSO hops
(i.e. S − R and R − D links) are assumed to be subject to path loss, pointing
error and independent but not necessarily identically distributed DGG fading
that accounts for both types of detection techniques (i.e. IM/DD as well as
HD). We nominate first and second links respectively as a and b. Furthermore,
we consider background noise which is modeled as additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN) with zero mean and variance N0 .

2.1. Channel Model

The signal transmission is subject to path loss, atmospheric turbulence and

pointing errors. The channel gain, I, can be explained as follows

I = Il It Ip (1)

where Il , It and Ip respectively account for deterministic atmospheric path loss

due to scattering and absorption, the turbulence-induced fading effect, and the
pointing error effect on the transmission hop.

2.1.1. Path Loss (Il )

The deterministic atmospheric path loss Il is modeled by using the expo-
nential Beers-Lambert Law as

Il (z) = exp (−σz) (2)

5
 3.912


λ −ρ
where z is the length of the propagation link and σ(λ) = V 550 is the
attenuation coefficient, which depends on the wavelength and the weather. λ is
the wavelength of transmitter in nm, V represents the visibility in km, and ρ is
a parameter related to V [17]. By utilizing the Kim model [18] the attenuation
coefficient σ for various weather conditions at a wavelength of 1550 nm can be
calculated and is given in table 1[19, 20].

Table 1: Visibility and Attenuation coefficients for different weather conditions.

Weather condition Visibility V (km) Attenuation σ (dB/km)
Very clear air 50 0.0647
Clear air/drizzle 20 0.2208
Haze 6 0.736
Light fog 2 4.285
Moderate fog 0.6 25.516

2.1.2. Pointing error (Ip )

As discussed in the Section I, we consider a general and comprehensive point-
ing errors model, where the effect of beam width, detector size, different jitters
for the elevation and the horizontal displacements and the effect of nonzero
boresight errors are considered. The geometric spread and pointing errors at-
tenuation can be approximated by [17]
!
2R2
Ip (R : z) ≈ A0 exp − 2 (3)
ωzeq

where R is the radial displacement at the receiver plane; ωzeq is the equivalent
√
πA0
beam width at the receiver defined as ωzeq = ωz2 2υ exp(−υ 2 ) , where ωz is the

2 pπ d
beam waist at distance z and A0 = [erf (υ)] where υ = 2 ωz with d being

the detection radius of the FSO receiver. For simplicity, the beam width ωz
can be approximated by ωz = θz, where θ is the transmit divergence angle
defining the increase in beam radius with a link distance. Let x and y represent
the horizontal displacement and the elevation, respectively. In such case, the
the radial displacement can be represented as R2 = x2 + y 2 . If x and y are
modeled as independent Gaussian RVs with different jitters for the horizontal

6
and vertical displacements, denoted as σx and σy respectively, and different
boresight errors in each axis of the receiver plane (say mx and my ), i.e., x ∼
N (mx ; σx ), y ∼ N (my ; σy ), then the radial displacement r at the receiver is
distributed according to the Beckmann distribution, represented as [21]

Z !
2π 2 2
r (R cos θ − mx ) (R sin θ − my )
fR (R)= exp − dθ (4)
2πσx σy 0 2σx2 2σy2

This can be accurately approximated by a modified Rayleigh distribution [21],

given by
 
R R2
fR (R) ' exp − , R>0 (5)
σ 2mod 2σ 2mod

 1/3
2 3m2x σx
4
+3m2y σy4 +σx
6
+σy6
where σmod = 2 . Now combining (3) and (5), and after
further algebraic manipulations, the PDF for the pointing error effect, Ip , can
be obtained as

ξ2 2
−1
fIp (Ip ) = 2 Ipξ , 0 ≤ Ip ≤ A mod (6)
Aξmod

ωzeq
where ξ = 2σ mod and A mod = A0 M , while M is a parameter that can be
derived as [21, Eq. (11-15)]
!
1 1 1 m2x m2y
M = exp − − − − (7)
ξ2 2ξx2 2ξy2 2σx2 ξx2 2σy2 ξy2

ωzeq ωzeq
where ξx = 2σx and ξy = 2σy .
Under the zero boresight pointing error case, we have mx = my = 0 , σx =
ωzeq
σy = σs , ξ = 2σs , M = 1, A mod = A0 , which is a special case of our general
case.

2.1.3. Atmospheric Turbulence (It )

The irradiance It can be modeled as It = It1 It2 , where It1 and It2 are
statistically independent random processes arising respectively from large scale

7
and small scale turbulent eddies. Each of them described by a generalized
Gamma distribution, It1 ∼ GG(α1 ; β1 ; Ω1 ) and It2 ∼ GG(α2 ; β2 ; Ω2 ), with β1
and β2 being shape parameters, whereas α1 , α2 , Ω1 , Ω2 are identified by using
the variance of small-scale and large-scale fluctuations [4]. The PDF of It can be
written as in [4, Eq. 5]. Similar to [22, Eq. (6-8)] and additionally considering
the atmospheric path loss effect, the distribution of I can be derived as [23, Eq.
(11)].

 
1 1 1− λ+σ  α2 λ
ξ 2 σ β1 − 2 λβ2 + 2 (2π) 2 λ σ σ λ
 λ σ Ω1 Ω 2 Il A mod κ1
fI (I)= G0,λ+σ+1
λ+σ+1,1 | 
Γ (β1 ) Γ (β2 ) I β1σ β2λ I κ2
(8)

h i
ξ2
whrere κ1 and κ2 defined as κ1 = [∆ (σ : β1 ) , ∆ (λi : β2 )] κ2 = v , κ1 ; and
Gm,n
p,q [.] is the Meijers-G function defined in [16, Eq. (9.301)]. So each FSO link
follows a unified DGG fading distribution with pointing error impairments and
path loss. Similar to [24, Eq. (9)], the instantaneous electrical SNR of the ith
hop for i ∈ {a, b} can be written as

ri
(Ii Pti ηi )
γi = (9)
N0

where ηi is an optical-to-electrical conversion ratio, N0 is the variance of

additive white Gaussian noise, Pti is the average transmitted optical power
from source or relay and ri is the parameter describing the detection technique
at the receiver ( ie. ri = 1 represents heterodyne detection, while ri = 2 stands
for IM/DD). Following similar steps as in [22, Eq. (9-11)] the PDF of γi can
be obtained as
  
  vi 
A3i vi ui ,0  γ  κ3i
fγi (γ) = Gri ,ui Ci   (10)
γ µri 
 κ4i

8
 r r
Here, µri = (ηPti E [Ii ]) i /N0 = (A ηPti Ili gi ) i /N0 is the average elec-
mod i
1/(α2 λi )
trical SNR of ith hop and gi = A1i B1i /(ξi2 + 1)A2i i ; α1i , α2i , β1i , β2i , Ω1i
and Ω2i are identified using the variance of the small and large scale fluctua-
tions of the laser beam from [25, Eqs. (18-20)] inserted in [4, Eqs. (8a, 8b, 9)].
β −1 β −1 ri (λi +σi )
β +β2i −2
ξi2 σi 1i 2λi 2i 2 (2π)1− 2 ri 1i
A3i = α2i λi Γ(β1i )Γ(β2i ) and λi and σi are positive integers
λi α1i
such as σi = α2i and other parameters are defined as ui = ri (1 + λi + σi ), vi =
 v
 β −1 β −1 (λi +σi )
A2i hi i A1i B1i ξi2 σi 1i 2 λi 2i 2 (2π)1− 2
α2i λi , Ci = (λ +σ ) , hi = 1/v , A1i = Γ(β1i )Γ(β2i ) ,
ri i i (1+ξi2 )A2i i
σ λ
β1 i β2 i Qσi +λi
1
A2i = λi σi σi λi , B1i = Γ
+ κ1i,j where κi,j is the jth-term
j=1 vi
λi σi Ω1i Ω2i
h i
ξ 2 +v
of κi . κ1i = [∆ (σi : β1i ) , ∆ (λi : β2i )], κ3i = ∆(ri : i vi i ) comprising of ri
 2 
ξ
terms, and κ4i = [∆ (ri : κ2i )] comprising of ui terms such that κ2i = vi , κ1i .
i

∆
Also mxi , myi , σxi , σyi are pointing error parameters of ith link. ∆ (x : y) =
y y+1 y+x−1 ∆
x , x , ..., x and [∆ (z : am )] = ∆ (z : a1 ) , ∆ (z : a2 ) ..., ∆ (z : am ) [11].
Moreover, by using [26, Eqs.(2.53, 2.54))], we can obtain the CDF of γi ,
which is given by
   

1/vi  [1, κ3i ] , 1, vi−1 1ri
Fγi (γ) = A3i Hruii+1,u
,1  Ci γ    (11)
i +1
µri [κ4i , 0] , vi−1 1ui , 1

   −1 
1/vi 
C [1, κ3i ] , 1, vi 1ri
Fγi (γ)=1−A3i Hruii+1,u
+1,0  i
γ  (12)
i +1
µri [0, κ4i ] , 1, v −1 1u 
i i

where Hm,n
p,q [.] is Fox-H function defined in [26, Eq. (1.2)] and has been widely

used in performance analysis of wireless communication systems [27]-[28].

2.2. End To End SNR

For fixed gain AF relaying, by defining G as the relay amplification gain, the
end-to-end SNR can be expressed as [29, Eq. (1)]

γa γb
γF = (13)
γb + CR

9
where γa represents the SNR of the first FSO hop (i.e. S − R link) and γb
represents the SNR of the second FSO hop (i.e. R − D link), while CR =
1/(G2 N0 ).
Moreover, the equivalent instantaneous SNR for the variable gain AF relay-
ing protocol can be expressed in terms of the harmonic mean of the first and
second hop instantaneous SNRs. It is given by

 −1
V γa γb 1 1
γ = ' + (14)
γa + γb + 1 γa γb

For DF relay, the end-to-end SNR can be derived as

γ D = min(γa , γb ) (15)

3. End To End SNR Statistics

3.1. Fixed Gain AF relaying

The CDF of the overall SNR for a dual-hop FSO system under both types of
detection techniques with pointing errors taken into account is derived in exact
closed-form as

Fγ F (γ) = 1 − A3a A3b × (16)

 


µ ra 
1/va  (1; 1, 1) : κ0 4a , va−1 1ua ; κ3b , vb−1 1rb
H0,1:0,u a ;ub +1,0  C1/v
a γ   
 

1,0:ua ,ra +1;rb ,ub +1 Cb b CR 
µrb
− : [0, κ0 3a ] , 1, va−1 1ra ; [0, κ4b ] , 1, vb−1 1ub

where κ03i = 1 − κ3i , κ04i = 1 − κ4i and Hp0,n 1 :m2 ,n2 ,m3 ,n3
1 ,q1 :p2 ,q2 :p3 ,q3
[.] is bivariate Fox-H
function (BFHF) defined in [30, Eq. (1.1)] and [26, Eq. (A.1)] whose MATLAB
implementation is presented in [31].

Proof. See appendix A.

Special cases: As a special case, for the FSO link when α1 = α2 = 1, Ω1 =

Ω2 = 1; the DGG turbulence reduces to Gamma-Gamma fading model. Also,
when we set mx = my = 0 , σx = σy = σs , the nonzero boresight pointing error

10
with modified Rayleigh distribution reduces to zero boresight pointing error
case. Therefore, it can be shown that the CDF in (16) simplifies to the Gamma-
Gamma turbulence channels with zero boresight pointing error obtained in [10,
Eq. (8)].

3.1.1. Probability Density Function

The exact closed-form expression of the PDF can be obtained by differen-
tiating (16) with respect to γ, resulting in PDF of γ F in terms of the BFHF
which is obtained as

A3a A3b
fγ F (γ) = × (17)
γ
 


µra 
1/v  (1; 1, 1) : κ0 4a , va−1 1ua ; κ3b , vb−1 1rb
0,1:0,ua ;ub +1,0  Ca a γ
H1,0:ua ,ra +1;rb ,ub +1 1/vb   
 


Cb C R
− : [1, κ0 3a ] , 1, va−1 1ra ; [0, κ4b ] , 1, vb−1 1ub
µrb

Proof. Similar to proof in the Appendix A, by utilizing [30, Eq. (1.1)] we can
Γ(s2 +1)
expand BFHF. Then by differentiating with respect to γ, writing s2 = Γ(s2 )

and employing [30, Eq. (1.1)], we can obtain the PDF.

3.1.2. Moment Generating Function

The MGF is defined as Mγ (s) = E[e−γs ]. It can be expressed in terms of
CDF using integration by parts as

Z∞
Mγ (s) = s exp(−γs)Fγ (γ)dγ (18)
0

By substituting (16) into (18), then by expanding BFHF using [30, Eq. (1.1)]
and then employing [16, Eq. (3.382.4)], the MGF of fixed gain AF relaying is
obtained as

Mγ F (s) = 1 − A3a A3b × (19)

 


µra s  0 −1 −1
1/v  (1; 1, 1) : κ ,
4a av 1ua ; κ ,
3b bv 1rb
H0,1:1,u a ;ub +1,0  Ca a γ 
1,0:ua ,ra +2;rb ,ub +1 C 1/vb C   
 

b R
− : [1,0,κ0 3a ], 1, 1,va−1 1ra ; [0,κ4b ], 1,vb−1 1ub
µ rb

11
3.2. CSI-Assisted AF relaying

The MGF of γi−1 , where γi−1 is the reciprocal of γi , is given by

Z ∞
−s
Mγ −1 (s) = exp( )fγi (γi )dγi (20)
i
0 γi

By substituting (10) into (20) and utilizing [26, Eq. (1.39)] to transform an
exponential function into Meijer’s-G function, we get
     
Z ∞    vi 
 1
0,1  γi   ui ,0  γ κ3i
Mγ −1 (s) = A3i vi γi−1 G1,0 Gri ,ui Ci   dγi (21)
i 
s − µri 
0 κ4i

The integral in (21) can be solved by using [32, Eq. (07.34.21.0012.01)] and
[26, Eqs. (1.58, 1.59)], yielding
  
1/v 
ui +1,0  Ca κ3i ; vi−1 1ri
Mγ −1 (s) = A3i Hri ,ui +1 s   (22)
i µr  [0, κ4i ] ; 1, vi−1 1ui

Based on (14), the MGF of γ V is given by [8]

Z ∞
√ √
Mγ (s) = 1 − 2 s J1 (2 sp)Mγa−1 (p2 )Mγ −1 (p2 )dp (23)
b
0

where Jv () is the vth-order Bessel function of the first kind [16, Eq. (8.411.1)].
By substituting (22) into (23) and utilizing [16, Eq. (9.34.1)] and [26, Eq.
(1.59)] to transform Bessel function into Fox-H function, and finally employing
[30, Eq. (2.3)], we get

Mγ V (s) = 1 − A3a A3b × (24)

 1/va 


Ca  −1 −1
µ s  ([0, 1] ; 1 2 , 1 2 ) : κ3a , va 1 r ; κ 3b , v 1r
H0,1:u a +1,0:ub +1,0  ra   −1 

a
 −1
b b


2,0:ra ,ua +1:rb ,ub +1 C 1/vb 
b
µ s
 − : [0, κ 4a ] , 1, v a 1 ua ; [0, κ 4b ] , 1, v b 1 ub
rb

12
 The CDF of end-to-end SNR based on the MGF is defined as
 
−1 1
Fγ (γ) = L Mγ (s) (25)
s

where L−1 (.) denotes the inverse Laplace transform operator.

Substituting the MGF in (24) into (25), an exact closed-form expression for the
CDF of end-to-end SNR of dual-hop FSO system using CSI-assisted AF relaying
method is obtained as

Fγ V (γ) = 1 − A3a A3b × (26)

 1/va 


Ca γ  −1 −1
0,0:ua +1,0:ub +1,0  µra
 (1; 1, 1) : κ ,
3a av 1 ra ; κ ,
3b bv 1rb
H1,0:r   −1 
 −1 

γ 
1/vb
a ,ua +1:rb ,ub +1 C
b
µr
 − : [0, κ4a ] , 1, va 1ua ; [0, κ4b ] , 1, vb 1ub
b

Proof. See appendix B.

Special cases: It can be shown that when α1 = α2 = 1, Ω1 = Ω2 = 1, mx =

my = 0 , σx = σy = σs , the CDF in (26) simplifies to [8, Eq. (12)]which were
obtained for Gamma-Gamma fading channels with zero boresight pointing error.

3.2.1. Probability Density Function

The PDF of γ V can be obtained by taking the derivative of (26) with respect
to γ as

A3a A3b
fγ V (γ) = × (27)
γ
 


Ca1/va γ  −1 −1
 ([0, 1] ; 1 2 , 1 2 ) : κ 3a , va 1 r ; κ3b , v 1r
H0,1:u a +1,0:ub +1,0  µra   −1 

a
 −1
b b


2,1:ra ,ua +1:rb ,ub +1 C 1/vb γ 
b
µrb
(1; 1, 1): [0, κ 4a ] , 1, va 1 ua ; [0, κ4b ], 1, vb 1 ub

Proof. By utilizing [30, Eq. (1.1)], we can expand the bivariate Fox-H function
Γ(1+s1 +s2 )
in (26). Then by differentiating with respect to γ, writing s1 + s2 = Γ(s1 +s2 )

and employing [30, Eq. (1.1)], we can obtain the PDF.

13
3.3. DF relaying

The CDF of the end-to-end SNR of DF relaying is derived by

Fγ (γ)=Fγa (γ)+Fγb (γ)−Fγb (γ)Fγb (γ)=1−Fγcb (γ)Fγcb (γ) (28)

where Fγc (.) is complementary CDF (CCDF) of γ. By substituting (11), when

i ∈ {a, b}, into (28) we can obtain the CDF of dual-hop FSO systems assuming
the DF relaying technique which is omitted due to space limitations.

3.3.1. Probability Density Function

Differentiating (28) with respect to γ results in the exact closed-form ex-
pression of the PDF of γ in terms of the BFHF that is given by

fγ (γ) = fγa (γ)Fγcb (γ) + fγb (γ)Fγca (γ) (29)

By substituting (10) and (11), when i ∈ {a, b}, into (29) the PDF of dual-hop
FSO systems assuming the DF relaying technique which is omitted due to space
limitations.

4. Performance Analysis

4.1. Fixed Gain AF Relaying

4.1.1. Outage Probability

The OP is defined as the probability that the end-to-end SNR falls below a
certain specified threshold, γth . An exact closed-form expression for the OP of
fixed gain relaying dual-hop FSO systems can be easily obtained by employing
(16) as follows

F
Pout (γth ) = Pr[γ F < γth ] = Fγ F (γth ) (30)

F
where Pout (γth ) denotes the CDF of γ F evaluated at γ = γth .

14
4.1.2. Average Bit Error Rate
The average BER of a variety of binary and non-binary modulation schemes
may be written in terms of the CDF of γ [10, Eq. (22)] as

n Z∞ n
δ X p X
P b= qk γ p−1 exp (−qk γ) Fγ (γ)dγ=δ I(p, qk ) (31)
2Γ (p)
k=1 0 k=1

where δ, p, qk and n represent different type of detection methods and modu-

lation schemes as given in [10]. We derive an exact closed-form expression for
the BER of fixed-gain AF relayed FSO communication system in terms of the
BFHF as follows

n
X
F
Pb = δ I F (p, qk ) (32)
k=1

where

1 A3a A3b
I F (p, qk ) = − × (33)
2 2Γ (p)
 


µra qk  0 −1 −1
1/va  (1; 1, 1) : κ 4a , va 1 u ; κ3b , v 1 r
0,1:1,ua ;ub +1,0
H1,0:ua ,ra +2;rb ,ub +1 C1/v
a  
a


b
 −1
b


Cb b CR  0 −1
µ
− : [p,0,κ 3a ], 1,1,v a 1 r a ; [0,κ 4b ], 1,v b 1 ub
rb

Proof. By substituting (16) into (31) and expanding BFHF using [30, Eq. (1.1)]
and formerly applying [16, Eq. (3.382.4)], we can obtain the BER.

4.1.3. Ergodic Capacity

The EC is defined as C̄ = E [log 2 (1 + cγ)] where c = 1 for heterodyne
detection and c = e/2π for IM/DD [33, Eq. (26)], [1, Eq. (7.43)]. By using part
by part integral, it can be rewritten in terms of the CCDF of γ as bellows

Z∞
c Fγc (γ)
C̄ = dγ (34)
ln (2) 1 + cγ
0

15
By substituting (16) into (34), expanding BFHF [30, Eq. (1.1)] and then ap-
plying [16, Eqs. (3.194.3, 8.384.1)], we obtain

A3a A3b
C̄ F = × (35)
ln (2)
   −1 


cµra  0 −1
1/va  (1; 1, 1) : [1, κ 4a ] , 1, va 1ua ; κ 3b , v 1 r
0,1:1,ua +1;ub +1,0
H1,0:ua +1,ra +2;rb ,ub +1 C1/v
a   
 −1
b b


Cb b CR  0 −1
µ
− : [1,0,κ 3a ], 1,1,v a 1 r a ; [0,κ 4b ], 1,v b 1 u b
rb

4.2. CSI-Assisted AF Relaying

Using CSI-assisted AF relaying, the OP can be obtained using (26) as

V
Pout (γth ) = Pr[γ V < γth ] = Fγ V (γth ) (36)

4.2.1. Average Bit-Error Rate

By substituting (26) into (31), then expanding BFHF utilizing [30, Eq. (1.1)]
and applying [16, Eq. (3.382.4)], the BER of CSI-assisted AF relayed FSO
communication system is derived by

n
X
V
Pb = δ I V (p, qk ) (37)
k=1

where

1 A3a A3b
I V (p, qk ) = − × (38)
2 2Γ (p)
 1/va 


Ca  −1 −1
0,1:ua +1,0;ub +1,0 µra qk 
 ([1 − p, 1] ; 1 2 , 1 2 ) : κ3a , va 1r ; κ3b , v b 1 r


a b
H2,0:r a ,ua +1;rb ,ub +1 C
1/vb
  −1 
 −1
b
µr qk
 − : [0, κ4a ] , 1, v a 1ua ; [0, κ 4b ] , 1, v b 1 ub
b

4.2.2. Ergodic Capacity

By substituting (26) into (34), expanding BFHF [30, Eq. (1.1)] and then
formerly using [16, Eqs. (3.194.3, 8.384.1)], the EC of dual-hop FSO system
assuming CSI-assisted AF relaying is given in (39) at the top of next page.

16
 A3a A3b 0,ua +1:1,1:ub +1,0
C̄ V = H (39)
ln (2) ua +1,ra +1:1,2:rb ,ub +1
  
cµra     


 Ca1/va  [1, κ0 4a ] ; 1, va−1 1ua , 1, va−1 1ua : (1, 1) ; κ3b , vb−1 1rb 
C b µr 
1/v  −1   −1 
 −1 

b a 0
 [κ 3a ] ; va 1ra , va 1ra : ([1, 0] , 12 ) ; [0, κ4b ] , 1, vb 1ub
1/va
Ca µrb

Proof. See appendix C.

4.3. DF Relaying

4.3.1. Outage Probability

Using DF relays, the OP can be obtained using (28) as

D
Pout (γth ) = Pr[γ D < γth ] = Fγ D (γth ) (40)

4.3.2. Average Bit-Error Rate

By substituting (28) into (31), then expanding BFHF utilizing [30, Eq.
(2.3)], the BER of DF relayed FSO communication system is derived by

n
X
D
Pb = δ I D (p, qk ) (41)
k=1

where

1 A3a A3b
I D (p, qk ) = − × (42)
2 2Γ (p)
 1/va   −1 
 −1 

Ca 
(1−p;1,1): [1, κ3a ], 1, va 1 ra ; [1, κ 3b 1, vb 1rb
],
0,1:ua +1,0;ub +1,0
H1,0:r µr1/v
a qk 
b  −1 
 

a +1,ua +1;rb +1,ub +1 C

µr qk − : [0, κ4a ] , 1, va 1ua
b
; [0, κ4b ] , 1, vb−1 1ub
b

4.3.3. Ergodic Capacity

By substituting (28) in the definition of EC and utilizing [26, Eq. (1.43)],
then applying [34, Eq. (2.25.1/1)] along with [30, Eq. (2.3)], the EC of dual-hop
FSO systems assuming DF relaying is given in (43) at the top of next page.

17
 A3a A3b µra
C̄ D = 1/v
H0,ua +1:1,1:ub +1,0
ua +1,ra +1:1,1:rb ,ub +1 (43)
c ln(2)Ca a
  
cµra   0 −1
  −1   −1 
−1


 Ca1/va  0, κ 4a − va 1ua ; 1, va 1ua , 1, va 1ua : (0, 1) ; κ3b , vb 1rb 
C 1/vb µr     −1   −1 
 −1 

 0 −1
b
1/va
a
−1,κ 3a−va 1ra ; 1,va 1ra , 1,va 1ra : (0,1) ; [0,κ4b ] , 1,vb 1ub
Ca µ rb

5. High SNR Analysis

Since the derived exact closed-form expressions provide limited physical in-
sights, we now focus on the high SNR analysis and obtain diversity orders for
different relaying techniques.

5.1. Fixed Gain AF Relaying

We use an alternative complex form of CDF as

Z ∞  
CR γ
Fγ (γ) = Fγa (γ) + fγa (x + γ)Fγb dx (44)
0 x

By substitution (12) and (10) into (44) and following the proof in Appendix A,
we obtain

   


 [1, κ3a ] , 1, va−1 1ra
Fγ F (γ) = A3a Hruaa+1,u
,1 Ca1/va γ   
 + A3a A3b ×
a +1
µra 
 [κ4a , 0] , va−1 1ua , 1

(45)
 
 −1 

µra  0 −1
1/va  (1; 1, 1) : κ ,
4a av 1 ua ; [1, κ 3b ] , 1, vb 1rb
H0,1:0,u a :ub +1,1 Ca γ 
1,0:ua ,ra +1:rb +1,ub +2C 1/vb C   
 

0 −1 −1
b
µ
R

−: [0, κ 3a ] , 1, va 1 r a
; [1, κ 4b , 0] , 1, v b 1ub
, 1
rb

Here we consider two cases. 1) The same turbulence conditions in both hops
are considered. 2) Different turbulence conditions in each hop are considered.
For the first one by using the same approach as in [35, sec. IV] along with [36,
Theorems (1.7, 1.11)] and [36, Eqs. (1.5.9, 1.8.4, 1.4.6, 1.8.9)] and after some

18
algebraic manipulations, we end up with

u
Q a
P
ua Γ([κ4a ]k −[κ4a ]l )  va [κ4a ]l
Ca1/va
Fγ∞F (γ)
k=1,k6=l
= A3a r
Q a µra γ
l=1 Γ([κ3a ]k −[κ4a ]l )[κ4a ]l
k=1
2u
Qa
Pa
2u (
Γ [κ4a ,κ4a ]k −[κ4a ,κ4a ]l ) (46)
+A23a
k=1,k6=l,l+u
2r
Qa
l=1 ( )
Γ [κ3a ,κ3a ]k −[κ4a ,κ4a ]l [κ4a ,κ4a ]l
k=1
 1/v

va [κ4a ,κ4a ]l 1/v
1/v
(−1)ua +2l+1 va Ca a Cb b CR γ Ca1/va Cb b CR γ
× l!(ua +l)! µra µrb ln( µra µrb )

The diversity order determines the slope of the OP and BEP versus average
SNR curve at asymptotically high SNR in a log-log scale. When the average
electrical SNR of both FSO links (i.e. µra , µrb ) go to infinity, the diversity order
of first case can be achieved as follows
 
ξa2 α1a β1a α2a β2a
Gd = min , , (47)
ra ra ra

This indicates that the diversity order is a function of first hop turbulence
parameters (α1a , β1a , α2a and β2a ), pointing error of first hop (ξa ) and detection
method in the relay (ra ).
When the average electrical SNR of the first link (i.e. µra ) goes to infinity
for a fixed and finite-valued average SNR in the second link (i.e. µrb ), diversity
order is derived which is the same as (47). However, when the average electrical
SNR of the second link (i.e. µrb ) goes to infinity for a fixed and finite-valued
average SNR in the first link (i.e. µra ), diversity order is equal to

Gd = 0 (48)

This indicates an error floor meaning that the OP/BEP curves will saturate at
high SNRs and increasing the SNR does not improve the system performance.
For the second case, by using the same approach as the first case, using
[36, Eqs. (1.5.9, 1.8.4)] and after some algebraic manipulations we obtain the
asymptotic CDF given in (49) at the top of the next page.

19
 Q
ua
ua Γ (κ4a,k − κ4a,l ) !va κ4a,l
X k=1,k6=l
1/v
Ca a γ
Fγ∞F (γ) = A3a + A3a A3b ×
Q
ra
µra
l=1 Γ (κ3a,k − κ4a,l ) κ4a,l
k=1
 Q
ua Q
ub  
Γ (κ4a,k − κ4a,l ) Γ κ4b,k − va !va κ4a,l
X ua vb κ4a,l 1/va 1/v
 k=1,k6=l k=1 Ca Cb b CR γ
 Q
ra Q
rb  
va µra µrb
l=1 Γ (κ3a,k − κ4a,l ) Γ κ3b,k − vb κ4a,l κ4a,l
k=1 k=1
Q
ua   Q
ub 
Γ κ4a,k − vb
Γ (κ4b,k − κ4b,l ) !vb κ4b,l
ub
X va κ4b,l 1/v 1/v

k=1 k=1,k6=l Ca a Cb b CR γ 
+   Q 
Q
ra
vb
rb
µra µrb
l=1 Γ κ3a,k − va κ4b,l Γ (κ3b,k − κ4b,l )κ4b,l
k=1 k=1

(49)

When the average electrical SNR of both FSO links (i.e. µra , µrb ) go to
infinity, the diversity order of second case is obtained as
2 
ξ α1a β1a α2a β2a 2ξb2 2α1b β1b 2α2b β2b
Gd =min a , , , , , (50)
ra ra ra rb rb rb

This indicates that the diversity order is a function of first hop turbulence
parameters (i.e. α1a , β1a , α2a and β2a ), second hop turbulence parameters (i.e.
α1b , β1b , α2b and β2b ), pointing error of first and second hops (i.e. ξa , ξb ) and
detection method in the relay and destination (i.e. ra , rb ).
When the average electrical SNR of the first link (i.e. µra ) goes to infinity
for a fixed and finite-valued average SNR in the second link (i.e. µrb ), diversity
order is derived which is equal to
 
ξa2 α1a β1a α2a β2a ξb2 α1b β1b α2b β2b
Gd = min , , , , , (51)
ra ra ra rb rb rb

Finally, when the average electrical SNR of the second link (i.e. µrb ) goes to
infinity for a fixed and finite-valued average SNR in the first link (i.e. µra ),

20
diversity order is equal to

Gd = 0 (52)

5.2. DF Relaying

The end-to-end SNR of DF relaying is a tight upper bound for the end-
to-end SNR of CSI-assisted AF relaying. This bound becomes exact at high
SNRs. Therefore, they have the same behavior at high SNR and the same
diversity order. By utilizing [36, Eqs. (1.5.9, 1.8.4)] and after some algebraic
manipulations, the asymptotic CDF of ith hop for i ∈ {a, b} becomes

Q
ui
ui Γ (κ4i,k − κ4i,l ) 1/vi !vi κ4i,l
X k=1,k6 =l Ci γ
Fγ∞ (γ)=A3i (53)
i Qri
µri
l=1 Γ (κ3i,k − κ4i,l ) κ4i,l
k=1

Therefore, based on (28) the asymptotic CDF of the end-to-end SNR is given
by

Fγ∞ (γ)=Fγ∞
a
(γ)+Fγ∞
b
(γ)−Fγ∞
a
(γ)Fγ∞
b
(γ) (54)

When the average electrical SNR of both FSO links (i.e. µra , µrb ) go to infinity,
the diversity order of DF relaying is derived as
 
ξa2 α1a β1a α2a β2a ξb2 α1b β1b α2b β2b
Gd = min , , , , , (55)
ra ra ra rb rb rb

This indicates that the diversity order is a function of both hops turbulence
parameters (i.e. α1a , β1a , α1b , β1b , α2a , β2a , α2b and β2b ), pointing error of
both hops (i.e. ξa , ξb ) and detection method in the relay and destination (i.e.
ra , rb ). Unlike the fixed gain AF relaying, both hops have the same impact on
the diversity order.
When the average SNR in either first or second FSO link (µra or µrb ) is kept

21
fixed and the other SNR is varied, diversity order is derived which is equal to

Gd = 0 (56)

This indicates that the effect of other link with non-infinity SNR becomes dom-
inant.

6. Numerical Results And Discussions

In this section, we provide some numerical results to illustrate the mathe-

matical formalism presented above and prove its correctness by means of Monte
Carlo simulations. In real circumstances, the possibility that each hop will expe-
rience dissimilar turbulence conditions is very high. This is because turbulence
can be localized within a small area due to the different thermal flows in close
vicinity of buildings, in open and semi-open urban and suburban areas, heating
from air conditioning units, etc. Therefore, unlike similar past works, in this
paper, we assume that each hop can experiences both different and similar tur-
bulence regimes [37]. Without loss of generality, we assume equal average SNR
for both links, µra = µrb = SNR . For the FSO link, we consider the following
parameters respectively for strong, moderate and weak turbulence conditions
[4]:

•α1=1.8621, α2 =1, β1 =0.5, β2 =1.8, Ω1 =1.5074, Ω2 =0.928,

•α1=2.169, α2=1, β1=0.55, β2=2.35, Ω1=1.5793, Ω2=0.9671,

•α1=2.1, α2 =2.1, β1=4, β2 =4.5, Ω1 =1.0676, Ω2 =1.06.

Figure 2 illustrates the OP performance of a dual-hop FSO system assum-

ing IM/DD detection. The analytical expressions are based on (30), (46) and
(49) which correspond to exact and asymptotical expressions for fixed gain
AF relaying. We assume the system configuration similar [38] Table I, which
are used in many practical terrestrial FSO communication systems. We con-
sider d = 0.1, ωz = 1 ,σx = σy = 0.01, mx = my = 0.064 and consequently

22
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2

10 -3 (Strong,Strong)
(Strong,Weak)
(Moderate,Strong)
(Moderate,Weak)
10 -4 (Weak,Strong)
(Weak,Moderate)
High SNR
Monte-Carlo Simulation
10 -5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
SNR (dB)

Figure 2: Outage probability of fixed gain AF relaying for various turbulence conditions versus
average SNR of the FSO links.

23
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2

(Strong,Strong)
(Strong,Moderate)
10 -3 (Weak,Strong)
(Moderate,Moderate)
(Moderate,Weak)
(Weak,Moderate)
10 -4 (Weak,Weak)
High SNR
Monte-Carlo
Simulation
10 -5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
SNR (dB)

Figure 3: Outage probability of CSI-assisted AF relaying for various turbulence conditions

versus average SNR of the FSO links.

ξ = ξa = ξb = 7.76. The OP is illustrated with respect to SNR. It is observed

that the simulation results are in excellent agreement with the derived expres-
sion in (30) indicating its accuracy. The high SNR expressions in (46) and (49)
can very efficiently predict the exact OP. Here, only the dominant terms of (46)
and (49) are considered which yield excellent tightness across the moderate and
high SNR ranges. As expected, the performance gets better respectively for the
strong, moderate and weak atmospheric turbulence conditions. The diversity
orders from highest toward lowest outage curves are equal to 0.46, 0.46, 0.59,
0.59, 0.928 and 1.19 which also confirm our derived expressions in (47) and (50).
This indicates that the first hop’s condition is more effective than second hop.
Figure 3 shows the OP performance of a dual-hop FSO system assuming
CSI-assisted AF relaying and IM/DD detection method versus SNR. The an-
alytical expressions are based on (36) and (54) which correspond to exact and

24
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2

(ξa = 0.48, ξb = 0.48)

-3 (ξa = 0.48, ξb = 0.80)
10
(ξa = 0.80, ξb = 0.48)
(ξa = 0.80, ξb = 0.80)
(ξa = 0.95, ξb = 0.95)
(ξa = 1.41, ξb = 1.41)
10 -4 (ξa = 2.23, ξb = 2.23)
(ξa , ξb → ∞)
Monte-Carlo
Simulation
10 -5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
SNR (dB)

Figure 4: Outage probability for various values of ξ under moderate/strong turbulence con-
ditions and fixed gain AF relaying versus average SNR of FSO links.

asymptotical expressions. We consider ξ = ξa = ξb = 7.76. It is observed that

the simulation results are in excellent agreement with the derived expression in
(36) indicating its accuracy. The high SNR expression in (54) can very efficiently
predict the exact OP. As expected, the performance gets better for the strong,
moderate and weak atmospheric turbulence conditions, respectively. The diver-
sity orders from highest toward lowest outage curves are equal to 0.46, 0.46,
0.59, 0.59 and 4.2 which also confirm our derived expression in (55). Unlike the
Fig. 2, both hops’ SNRs have a significant impact on the performance at high
SNRs.
Figure 4 provides the OP performance comparison over moderate-strong
turbulence conditions and zero boresight pointing error under the assumption
of the heterodyne detection method for both hops versus average SNR of the
FSO links. Fixed gain AF relaying is assumed. As observed, performance

25
 10 0
Average Bit Error Rate (BER)

10 -1

10 -2

10 -3

64 QAM (HD)
10 -4 16 QAM (HD)
16 PSK (HD)
BPSK (HD)
10 -5 CBFSK (IM/DD)
BFSK(OOK)(IM/DD)
Monte-Carlo Simulation
10 -6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
SNR (dB)
Figure 5: Average BER of different modulation schemes under strong turbulence conditions
versus average SNR of the FSO links.

improves as the effect of the pointing error decreases. For example, to achieve
an OP = 10−2 , 24 dB is required when ξa = ξb = 1.02 while this increases
to 60 dB when ξa = ξb = 0.56. The diversity orders from highest toward
lowest outage curves are equal to 0.31, 0.31, 0.63, 1.04, 1.19, 1.19 and 1.19. As
observed, the pointing error condition of the first hop is more important than
the second hop. Additionally, after a certain point, we can’t achieve better
performance and diversity order by increasing ξa and ξb which also confirm our
derived expression in (50).
Figure 5 demonstrates the average BER performance of dual-hop FSO sys-
tems for different modulation schemes over strong turbulence conditions versus
average SNR of the FSO links. The analytical correctness of (32) is verified by
simulations for several modulation techniques including 64-quadrature ampli-
tude modulation (64-QAM), 16-phase shift keying (16-PSK), 16-QAM, Binary

26
 10 0
AF(CSI)-HD
AF(CSI)-IM/DD
End-to-End Outage Probability

DF-HD
DF-IM/DD
10 -1 Monte-Carlo Simulation

10 -2

10 -3

10 -4
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
SNR(dB)

Figure 6: Outage probability for various detection methods in both hops under weak turbu-
lence conditions versus average SNR of the FSO links.

PSK (BPSK), coherent binary frequency shift keying (CBFSK) and binary FSK
(BFSK). It can be observed that among PSK and QAM modulations, BPSK
yields the best performance; while 64-QAM has the worst one. Also, 16-QAM
outperforms 16-PSK, as expected. Moreover, FSK modulations have the worst
performance.
Figure 6 demonstrates the OP performance of dual-hop FSO systems assum-
ing IM/DD and HD methods over weak turbulence conditions with respect to
the average SNR of the FSO links. Here, we compare the OP of CSI-assisted AF
relaying in (36) with DF relaying in (40). We consider σx = σy = 0.035, mx =
my = 0.01, and ξ = ξa = ξb = 1.41. It can be observed that heterodyne de-
tection performs much better than the IM/DD technique. For example, in the
case of AF relaying, to achieve an OP of 10−3 , an SNR of 16 dB is required for
the HD method while this increases to 31 dB in the case of IM/DD method. As

27
 18
(ra = 1, rb = 1)Het,Het
Ergodic Capacity (Bits/Sec/Hz)

16 (ra = 1, rb = 2)Het,IM/DD
(ra = 2, rb = 1)IM/DD,Het
14 (ra = 2, rb = 2)IM/DD,IM/DD
Monte-Carlo Simulation
12

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
SNR(dB)
Figure 7: Ergodic Capacity for various detection methods under strong turbulence conditions
for both hops versus average SNR of the FSO links.

expected, the expression of DF relaying in (40) is a tight lower bound for exact
expression of CSI-assisted AF relaying in (36). As observed, by decreasing µr ,
the performance degrades. More importantly, the exact OP of CSI-assisted AF
relaying is almost equal to numerical results which confirm our derived expres-
sion in (36).
In Figure 7 we compare the ergodic capacity of CSI-assisted AF relaying
under both heterodyne and IM/DD detection techniques over strong turbulence
conditions. Since the trends of EC are much similar to OP, Fig. 7 demonstrates
the accuracy of derived expression in (39). It can be observed that heterodyne
detection performs much better than the IM/DD technique. For example, to
achieve a 10 Bits/Sec/Hz, the required SNRs of HD-HD, HD-IM/DD, IM/DD-
HD and IM/DD-IM/DD cases are respectively equal to 38, 42, 42 and 45 dB.
Figure 8 shows the OP performance of dual-hop FSO systems assuming

28
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2
DF(µrb = 10dB)
DF(µrb = 20dB)
DF(µrb = 30dB)
DF(µrb = 40dB)
10 -3 AF(µrb = 10dB)
AF(µrb = 20dB)
AF(µrb = 30dB)
AF(µrb = 40dB)
Monte-Carlo Simulation
10 -4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
µra (dB)

Figure 8: Outage probability for AF and DF relaying techniques versus average SNR of first
FSO link µra SNR.

29
 10 0
DF(µra = 30dB)
DF(µra = 40dB)
End-to-End Outage Probability

DF(µra = 60dB)
10 -1
AF(µra = 30dB)
AF(µra = 40dB)
10 -2
AF(µra = 60dB)
Monte-Carlo Simulation

10 -3

10 -4

10 -5

10 -6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
µrb (dB)

Figure 9: Outage probability for AF and DF relaying techniques versus average SNR of
second FSO link µrb SNR.

IM/DD method over moderate and strong turbulence conditions for fixed gain
AF and DF relaying. We consider ξ = ξa = ξb = 7.76. The OP is illustrated
with respect to first link’s SNR (i.e. µra ). A fixed average SNR of the second
link is considered. As expected, by increasing µrb , the outage performance
improves. As observed, for the fixed gain AF relaying there is no error floor as
expected from our analytical derivation in (51). It is observed from this figure
that for DF relaying as well as CSI-assisted AF relaying, in contrast with fixed
gain AF relaying, there is an error floor here and a diversity order of zero is
obtained which verifies the derived diversity order expression in (56).
Figure 9 illustrates the OP performance of a dual-hop FSO system assuming
the HD method over moderate and strong turbulence conditions for fixed gain
AF and DF relaying. We consider ξ = 7.73. The OP is illustrated with respect to
second link’s SNR (i.e. µrb ). A fixed average SNR of the first link is considered.

30
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2

10 -3 (1.ξa = 0.85)
(2.ξa = 0.85)
(3.ξa = 0.93)
(4.ξa = 0.93)
10 -4
(5.ξa = 1.33)
(6.ξa = 1.33)
(7.ξa = 1.63)
10 -5 (8.ξa = 1.63)
(9.ξa = 2.73)
(10.ξa = 2.73)
Monte-Carlo
10 -6 Simulation

0 10 20 30 40 50
SNR (dB)

Figure 10: Outage probability for different boresights and jitter variances under weak tur-
bulence and DF relaying using IM/DD technique versus average SNR.

As expected, by increasing µra , the outage performance improves. It is observed

from this figure that, for all relaying protocols, an error floor takes place and
a diversity order of zero is obtained which verifies the derived diversity order
expressions in (52) and (56).
In Figure 10 we present the OP performance of dual-hop FSO system assum-
ing IM/DD over weak turbulence conditions and DF relaying. Here we consider
d = 10 cm and ωz = 10d. The pointing error parameters for the first link are
based on the table 2 and for the second link (mxb /d, myb /d) , (σxb /d, σyb /d) re-
spectively (0, 1) , (2, 1) and ξb = 2.79 are considered. It can be observed that as
the pointing error gets severe (i.e. the higher values of horizontal and vertical
boresights and jitter variances thus lower values of ξ) the OP increases and the
performance gets worse. In addition, we can see that the jitter variances is
more effective than boresights on the system’s performance. As expected, when

31
 Table 2: Pointing error parameters
µxa /d µya /d σxa /d σya /d ξ
Case 1 1 3 2 6 0.85
Case 2 3 1 6 2 0.85
Case 3 1 3 6 2 0.93
Case 4 3 1 2 6 0.93
Case 5 1 1 3 4 1.33
Case 6 1 1 4 3 1.33
Case 7 0 1 3 3 1.63
Case 8 1 0 3 3 1.63
Case 9 3 4 1 1 2.73
Case 10 4 3 1 1 2.73

we replace mxa and σxa with mya and σya and vice versa, the performance is
same. The diversity orders from highest toward lowest outage curves are equal
to 0.36, 0.36, 0.43, 0.43, 0.88, 0.88, 1.33, 1.33, 3.74 and 3.74 which also confirm
our derived expression in (51).
Finally, in Figure 11 the outage performance is investigated for different
weather conditions based on table 1. Also, we consider za = zb = 1 km, ξa =
ξb = 7.76 and equal average transmitted optical power from source and relay
(Pt ). As expected, the outage performance becomes better for lower path loss
coefficient values. In addition, due to the deterministic nature of the path
loss, the effect of path loss will simply manifest itself as the horizontal shift of
performance plots.

7. Conclusion

In this paper, we have investigated the performance of a dual-hop FSO

system where FSO links experience Double Generalized Gamma atmospheric
turbulence and generalized pointing error conditions. We have considered both
AF and DF relaying systems and derived exact closed-form expressions for the
outage probability, bit error probability and ergodic capacity. Our results are a
generalization of several previous results reported in the literature. In addition,
we have analyzed the asymptotical performance and derived diversity gains.
Assuming fixed gain AF relaying, when both links’ SNRs grow with no bound

32
 10 0
End-to-End Outage Probability

10 -1

10 -2

10 -3

10 -4

10 -5 Very Clear Air (σ = 0.0647 dB/km)

Clear Air (σ = 0.2208 dB/km)
Haze (σ = 0.736 dB/km)
10 -6 Light Fog (σ = 4.285 dB/km)
Monte-Carlo Simulation
10 -7
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40
Pt (dBm)

Figure 11: Outage probability for various weather attenuation coefficients under moderate
turbulence and DF relaying using HD technique versus average transmitted optical power.

33
or with constant average electrical SNR of the second FSO link, diversity gains
are available and their exact values depend on FSO turbulence parameters,
pointing error and detection method of both hops. On the other hand, for
the case of fixed gain relaying with a constant average SNR of first FSO link,
diversity order of zero is obtained (i.e., error floor takes place). This is due to
the fact that, the effect of the first FSO link becomes dominant. Similarly, a
non-zero diversity gain as a function of FSO turbulence parameters, pointing
error and detection method of both hops is obtained for CSI-assisted AF as
well as DF relaying when both links’ SNRs go to infinity. The diversity order
is equal to zero for a constant value of either first or second FSO link since the
effect of the limited SNR link becomes dominant.

Appendix A. CDF Of The End-To-End SNR For Fixed Gain AF Re-

laying

In this appendix, we derive the CDF of γ F . By utilizing [39, Eq. (13)], we

can write
Z ∞   
CR γ
Fγ (γ) = 1 − fγa (x + γ) 1 − Fγb dx (A.1)
0 x

Then by substituting (11) and (10) into (A.1), we obtain

  
Z∞  −1
1 x + γ  κ 3a ; v a
Fγ F (γ)=1−A3a A3b H ua ,0 C 1/va  
x + γ ra ,ua a µra  κ4a ; v −1
0 a
   −1  

 [1, κ3b ] ; 1, vb 1rb
× Hrubb+1,u
+1,0 C 1/vb CR γ   dx (A.2)
b +1 b
xµrb  [0, κ4b ] ; 1, v −1 1u 
b b

34
By expanding the Fox-H functions in (A.2) utilizing [26, Eq. (1.2)], the integral
in (A.2) becomes

Q
ua   Q
ub  
s1 s2
Z∞Z Z Γ κ4a,k − va Γ κ4b,k − vb Γ (−s2 )
−1 k=1 k=1
Q
ra   Q
rb  
4π 2 s1
0 C1 C2 Γ κ3a,k − va Γ κ3b,k − sv2b Γ (1 − s2 )
k=1 k=1
!s1 1/v
!s2
1/v
Ca a (x + γ) Cb b CR γ −1
× (x + γ) ds1 ds2 dx (A.3)
µra xµrb

where C1 and C2 are the s1 -plane and s2 -plane contours, respectively. Using the
change of integral variables, (A.3) can be written as

Q
ua   Q
ub  
s1 s2
ZZ Γ κ4a,k − va Γ κ4b,k − vb Γ (−s2 )
−1 k=1 k=1
Q
ra   Q
rb  
4π 2 s1 s2
C1 C2 Γ κ3a,k − va Γ κ3b,k − vb Γ (1 − s2 )
k=1 k=1
! !s2Z∞
1/va s1 1/vb
Ca Cb CR γ s1 −1 −s2
× (x + γ) x dxds1 ds2 (A.4)
µra µrb
0

By employing [16, Eq. (3.194.3)] we can solve the inner integral and (A.4)
becomes

Q
ua   Q
ub  
s1 s2
Z Z Γ κ4a,k − va Γ κ4b,k − vb Γ (−s2 )
−1 k=1 k=1
Q
ra   Q
rb  
4π 2
C1 C2 Γ (1 − s1 ) Γ κ3a,k − vsa1 Γ κ3b,k − s2
vb
k=1 k=1
!s1 1/vb
!s2
1/va
Ca γ Cb CR
× Γ (s2 − s1 ) ds1 ds2 (A.5)
µra µrb

Finally, by change of integral variable s1 → −s1 , using [30, Eq. (1.1)] and after
some simple algebraic manipulations, we get (16).

35
Appendix B. CDF Of The End-To-End SNR For CSI-assisted AF
Relaying

By substituting (24) into (25) and using the definition of BFHF by [30, Eq.
(1.1)] we obtain

 ua 
Q 
s1
ZZ Γ κ4a,k − Γ (−s1 )
 −1 −11 k=1
va
Fγ V (γ)=1−A3a A3b L  ra  
s 4π 2 Q s1
C1 C2 Γ κ3a,k − va
k=1
ub 
Q 
Γ κ4b,k − sv2b Γ(−s2 ) !s1 !
1/v s2
#
1/v
Γ (1 + s1 + s2 ) k=1 Ca a Cb b
×   ds1 ds2
Γ (1 − s1 − s2 ) Q
rb
µra s µrb s
Γ κ3b,k − sv2b
k=1
ua 
Q  ub 
Q 
s1 s2
ZZ Γ κ4a,k − va Γ (−s1 ) Γ κ4b,k − vb Γ (−s2 )
A3a A3b k=1 k=1
=1+ ra   rb  
4π 2 Q s1 Q s2
C1 C2 Γ κ3a,k − va Γ κ3b,k − vb
k=1 k=1
!s1 1/v
!s2
1/v
Γ (1 + s1 + s2 ) Ca a Cb b  
× L−1 s−s1 −s2 −1 ds1 ds2 (B.1)
Γ (1 − s1 − s2 ) µra µrb

  γ s1 +s2
Then by using [26, Eq. (2.12)] and the fact that L−1 s−s1 −s2 −1 = Γ(1+s1 +s2 ) ,

formerly by utilizing [30, Eq. (1.1)], we can rewrite (B.1) in terms of BFHF and
obtain the CDF.

Appendix C. Ergodig Capacity For CSI-assisted AF Relaying

By substituting (26) into (34) and then applying [30, Eq. (2.3)] to represent
the BFHF in terms of an integral involving the product of three Fox-H functions,

36
we obtain
  
Z 1/va 
cA3a A3b ∞
−1 ua +1,0 Ca x κ3a ; va−1
V
C̄ = x Hra ,ua +1 
ln (2) 0 µra [0, κ4a ] ; 1, v −1 1u 
a a
   ∞   
1/vb  −1 Z 
C x  κ ;
3b b v 1 x  (−, −)
× Hrubb,u
+1,0  b   H 0,0    dγdx
b +1
µrb [0, κ4b ] ; 1, v −1 1u  1 + cγ 0,1 γ  (0, 1)
b b 0

(C.1)

Using [26, Eq. (1.43)] for integrating with respect to γ and employing [36, Eq.
(2.8.4)] and [30, Eq. (2.3)], we get (39).

37
References

[1] S. Arnon, J. R. Barry, G. K. Karagiannidis, R. Schober, E. M. Uysal, Ad-

vanced Optical Wireless Communication Systems, Cambridge, U.K.: Cam-
bridge Univ. Press, 2012.

[2] M. Qin, L. Chen, W. Wang, Generalized selection multiuser scheduling for

the MIMO FSO communication system and its performance analysis, IEEE
Photonics Journal 8 (5) (2016) 1–9.

[3] P. Krishnan, U. Jana, B. K. Ashokkumar, Asymptotic bit-error rate analy-

sis of quadrature amplitude modulation and phase-shift keying with OFDM
RoFSO over M turbulence in the presence of pointing errors, IET Commu-
nications 12 (16) (2018) 2046–2051.

[4] M. A. Kashani, M. Uysal, M. Kavehrad, A novel statistical channel model

for turbulence-induced fading in free-space optical systems, J. Lightwave
Technol. 33 (11) (2015) 2303–2312.

[5] L. C. Andrews, R. L. Phillips, Laser beam propagation through random

media., Society of Photo Optical 152.

[6] N. D. Chatzidiamantis, H. G. Sandalidis, G. K. Karagiannidis, S. A. Kot-

sopoulos, M. Matthaiou, New results on turbulence modeling for free-space
optical systems,, in: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Telecommun., Doha, Qatar,
2010, pp. 487–492.

[7] M. Aggarwal, P. Garg, P. Puri, Ergodic capacity of SIM-based DF re-

layed optical wireless communication systems, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.
27 (10) (2015) 1104–1107.

[8] M. Aggarwal, P. Garg, P. Puri, Exact MGF-based performance analysis of

dual-hop AF-relayed optical wireless communication systems, J. Lightwave
Technol. 33 (9) (2015) 1913–1919.

38
 [9] M. Aggarwal, P. Garg, P. Puri, Dual-hop optical wireless relaying over
turbulence channels with pointing error impairments, J. Lightwave Technol.
32 (9) (2014) 1821–1828.

[10] E. Zedini, H. Soury, M.-S. Alouini, Dual-hop FSO transmission systems

over Gamma–Gamma turbulence with pointing errors, IEEE Trans. Wire-
less Commun. 16 (2) (2017) 784–796.

[11] H. AlQuwaiee, I. S. Ansari, M.-S. Alouini, On the maximum and minimum

of double generalized Gamma variates with applications to the performance
of free-space optical communication systems, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol.
65 (11) (2016) 8822–8831.

[12] M. Aggarwal, P. Garg, P. Puri, Exact capacity of amplify-and-forward

relayed optical wireless communication systems, IEEE Photon. Technol.
Lett. 27 (8) (2015) 903–906.

[13] L. Yang, X. Gao, M.-S. Alouini, Performance analysis of relay-assisted all-

optical FSO networks over strong atmospheric turbulence channels with
pointing errors, J. Lightwave Technol. 32 (23) (2014) 4011–4018.

[14] M. Aggarwal, P. Garg, P. Puri, Analysis of subcarrier intensity modulation-

based optical wireless DF relaying over turbulence channels with path loss
and pointing error impairments, IET Commun. 8 (17) (2014) 3170–3178.

[15] J. Libich, M. Komanec, S. Zvanovec, P. Pesek, W. O. Popoola, Z. Ghas-

semlooy, Experimental verification of an all-optical dual-hop 10 Gbit/s free-
space optics link under turbulence regimes, Opt. lett. 40 (3) (2015) 391–394.

[16] I. S. Gradshteyn, I. M. Ryzhik, Table of Integrals, Series and Products,

seventh Edition, Elsevier Inc., 2007.

[17] A. Farid, S. Hranilovic, Outage capacity optimization for free-space optical

links with pointing errors, J. Lightwave Technol. 25 (7) (2007) 17021710.

39
[18] Z. Ghassemlooy, W. Popoola, S. Rajbhandari, Optical wireless communi-
cations: system and channel modelling with Matlab ,
R CRC press, 2017.

[19] P. Kaur, V. K. Jain, S. Kar, Performance analysis of fso array receivers

in presence of atmospheric turbulence, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
26 (12) (2014) 1165–1168.

[20] P. Wang, R. Wang, L. Guo, T. Cao, Y. Yang, On the performances of

relay-aided fso system over m distribution with pointing errors in presence
of various weather conditions, Optics Communications 367 (2016) 59–67.

[21] R. Boluda-Ruiz, A. Garcı́a-Zambrana, C. Castillo-Vázquez, B. Castillo-

Vázquez, Novel approximation of misalignment fading modeled by Beck-
mann distribution on free-space optical links, Opt. Express 24 (20) (2016)
22635–22649.

[22] H. AlQuwaiee, I. Ansari, M. Alouini, On the performance of free-space

optical communication systems over double generalized Gamma channel,
IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. (JSAC) 33 (9) (2015) 1829–1840.

[23] G. N. Kamga, S. Aı̈ssa, Relay selection based hybrid RF/FSO transmission

over double generalized Gamma channels under outdated CSI and pointing
errors, in: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Commun. (ICC), IEEE, Kansas, MO,
USA, 2018, pp. 1–6.

[24] G. Djordjevic, M. Petkovic, A. Cvetkovic, G. Karagiannidis, Mixed rf/fso

relaying with outdated channel state information, IEEE Journal on selected
areas in Communications.

[25] M. Al-Habash, L. C. Andrews, R. L. Phillips, Mathematical model for the

irradiance probability density function of a laser beam propagating through
turbulent media, Optical Eng. 40 (8) (2001) 1554–1562.

[26] A. Mathai, R. K. Saxena, H. J. Haubold, The H-Function: Theory and

Applications, New York, NY, USA: Springer, 2010.

40
[27] E. Soleimani-Nasab, M. Uysal, Generalized performance analysis of mixed
RF/FSO cooperative systems, IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun. 1 (15)
(2016) 714–727.

[28] B. Asharafzadeh, E. Soleimani-Nasab, M. Kamandar, Outage analysis of

mixed rf/fso cooperative systems with multiple antennas and apertures, in:
2016 24th Telecommunications Forum (TELFOR), IEEE, 2016, pp. 1–4.

[29] E. Zedini, I. S. Ansari, M.-S. Alouini, Performance analysis of mixed

Nakagami-m and Gamma-Gamma dual-hop FSO transmission systems, in:
Proc. Int. Symp. Wireless Commun. Systems (ISWCS), Vol. 7, 2015, pp.
1–20.

[30] P. Mittal, K. Gupta, An integral involving generalized function of two

variables, Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences - Section A 75 (3)
(1972) 117–123.

[31] K. Peppas, A new formula for the average bit error probability of dual-
hop amplify-and-forward relaying systems over generalized shadowed fad-
ing channels, IEEE Wireless Commun. Lett. 1 (2) (2012) 85–88.

[32] Wolfram, The Wolfram functions siteAvailable:

http://functions.wolfram.com, 2016.

[33] A. Lapidoth, S. M. Moser, M. A. Wigger, On the capacity of free-space

optical intensity channels, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 55 (10) (2009)
44494461.

[34] A. Prudnikov, Y. Brychkov, O. Marichev, Integrals and Series, Volume 3:

More Special Functions, CRC, 1999.

[35] H. Chergui, M. Benjillali, S. Saoudi, Performance analysis of project-and-

forward relaying in mixed MIMO-pinhole and Rayleigh dual-hop channel,
IEEE Commun. Lett. 20 (3) (2016) 610–613.

41
[36] A. Kilbas, M.Saigo, H-Transforms: Theory and Applications, CRC Press,
2004.

[37] N. A. M. Nor, Z. Ghassemlooy, S. Zvanovec, M.-A. Khalighi, M. R. Bhat-

nagar, J. Bohata, M. Komanec, Experimental analysis of a triple-hop relay-
assisted FSO system with turbulence, Optical Switching Netw.

[38] F. Yang, J. Cheng, T. A. Tsiftsis, Free-space optical communication with

nonzero boresight pointing errors, IEEE Transactions on Communications
62 (2) (2014) 713–725.

[39] B. Asharafzadeh, E. Soleimani-Nasab, M. Kamandar, Performance analysis

of mixed DGG and generalized Nakagami-m dual-hop FSO/RF transmis-
sion systems, in: Proc. 24th Telecommun. Forum (TELFOR), 2016.

42