Channel capacity analysis of a mixed dual-hop radio-frequency-free space optical transmission system with Málaga distribution

In this study, the channel capacity performance of a dual-hop asymmetric radio-frequency-free space optical (RF-FSO) communication system in the presence of pointing errors is presented. Here, both fixed-gain amplify and forward (AF) and decode and forward (DF) relays are considered. The RF link experiences Rayleigh fading and the FSO link experiences Málaga distributed turbulence channel. For this mixed RF-FSO cooperative system, novel mathematical expressions for cumulative distributive function (CDF) and the channel capacity are derived and performance is analysed with both fixed-gain AF and DF relays in the presence of pointing errors. In addition, the authors derive the asymptotic expressions for the CDF and the channel capacity derived earlier in terms of Meijer's G function in the high signal-to-noise ratio regime.