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Analysis of 25 Gbps 4-QAM-modulated coherent OFDM-FSO link employing LDPC channel coding across diverse atmospheric scenarios

  • Sandeep J. Rajput ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Maulik B. Patel and Suhas H. Patel
Published/Copyright: September 15, 2025
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Abstract

Atmospheric turbulence and different environmental conditions severely reduce the performance and reliability of free-space optical (FSO) links. This paper describes a simulation-based analysis of signal quality of the proposed FSO link under various climatic conditions. It specifically examines the performance of a 25 Gbps 4-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)-based coherent optical OFDM (CO-OFDM) FSO system that is with and without the deployment of low-density parity-check (LDPC) channel coding. Several key performance indicators, such as bit error rate (BER), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), received power, distance of the link and general reliability are considered. Simulation outcomes confirm that the use of LDPC channel coding makes the system resist atmosphere attenuation and turbulence by a much higher margin; that is, lower BER, higher SNR, good amount of received power, and more extended reliable communication distance. These enhancements reflect the practical advantages of LDPC coding in FSO link performance in adverse environmental conditions.


Corresponding author: Sandeep J. Rajput, Government Engineering College, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, E-mail:

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: None declared.

  7. Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

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Received: 2025-05-21
Accepted: 2025-08-04
Published Online: 2025-09-15

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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