Performance enhancement of high-capacity coherent DWDM free-space optical communication link using digital signal processing

In this paper, 1.28 Tbps (32 × 40 Gbps) high-capacity DWDM-FSO link has been investigated for performance enhancement using coherent detection and digital signal processing (DSP). The DP-16QAM-modulated proposed DWDM-FSO link has been analyzed for both adverse weather and turbulent atmospheric conditions. It is observed that when link is subjected to strong turbulence along with adverse weather conditions, the DSP-aided coherent DWDM-FSO receiver achieves target bit error rate (BER) of 10−4 at signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 36.4 dB, while for similar conditions, the SNR requirements for IM/DD-based DWDM-FSO link shoots by 12.8 dB to 49.2 dB. Also, in terms of operational link range, the proposed link even under strong turbulent conditions serves 1.88 km, whereas IM/DD link was restricted to mere 1.12 km for target of BER of 10−4, thus producing a decent range increment of 760 m. The proposed link has been designed and investigated using OptiSystem™ 14.2.