Errors Rate Analysis of the Hybrid FSO/RF Systems over Foggy-Weather Fading-Induced Channel

In this paper, an exact errors rate analysis of the hybrid free-space optical/radio frequency (FSO/RF) system based on combining diversity is presented. The system’s errors rate is analyzed under the effects of the atmospheric turbulence, foggy weather, and the multipath fading channel. The Gamma-Gamma and the Nakagami-m models are used to characterize the atmospheric turbulence through the FSO link and the multipath fading over the RF link respectively. The performance of the hybrid system is examined by a new closed-form expression for the averaged bit errors rate under the considered channel effects. The simulation results show that the hybrid FSO/RF system can outperform both FSO and RF link only systems under different fog densities of the channel. The accuracy of the new analytical results is demonstrated by computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations.