Modeling and Spatial Diversity-Based Receiving Improvement of In-Flight UAV FSO Communication Links

An in-flight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) free-space optical (FSO) communication channel model is proposed by considering the beam deviation of UAV under different motion states and phase distortion caused atmospheric turbulences. The influence turbulences on quality evaluated through screen Monte Carlo methods. When average bit error rate (BER) 10−5, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) should be increased from 13 dB to 20 when tilt angle increases 0 5 mrad. SNR up required variance wind σα2 2 performance FSO link can effectively improved spatial diversity receiving technology. BER lower than 10−5 obtained just with an if array four receivers used.