Reduction of the Beam Pointing Error for Improved Free-Space Optical Communication Link Performance

Abstract

Free-space optical communication is emerging as a low-power, low-cost, and high data rate alternative to radio-frequency communication in short-to medium-range applications. However, it requires a close-to-line-of-sight link between the transmitter and the receiver. This paper proposes a robust $\cHi$ control law for free-space optical (FSO) beam pointing error systems under controlled weak turbulence conditions. The objective is to maintain the transmitter-receiver line, which means the center of the optical beam as close as possible to the center of the receiving aperture within a prescribed disturbance attenuation level. First, we derive an augmented nonlinear discrete-time model for pointing error loss due to misalignment caused by weak atmospheric turbulence. We then investigate the $\cHi$-norm optimization problem that guarantees the closed-loop pointing error is stable and ensures the prescribed weak disturbance attenuation. Furthermore, we evaluate the closed-loop outage probability error and bit error rate (BER) that quantify the free-space optical communication performance in fading channels. Finally, the paper concludes with a numerical simulation of the proposed approach to the FSO link's error performance.