Multiple HAPS-based space-air-ground network with FSO communication: a performance analysis

Abstract

Due to the fact that the existing generation of wireless communication cannot possibly keep up with the current traffic explosion and emerging applications, research and development on next-generation (i.e., sixth generation, 6G) wireless technologies is being carried out worldwide. In this regard, it is anticipated that the space-air-ground (SAG) network with free space optics (FSO) communication can provide the terabits per second throughput necessary to sustain various potential 6G applications.However, FSO communications are susceptible to atmospheric turbulence, pointing errors, and beam scintillation effects. To remedy the severe atmospheric effects, we propose a multiple high-altitude platform station (HAPS)-based SAG network with a HAPS selection scheme. For the proposed system, we have derived the closed-formexpressions for outage probability, average symbol error rate (SER), ergodic capacity, and outage capacity over M�laga distribution with pointing errors. Further, the asymptotic expressions for outage probability, average SER, and outage capacitywere derived to enhance the comprehension of the system froma practical standpoint. It is observed fromthe numerical results that the multiple HAPS-basedFSO system performs better than the existing HAPS-basedFSOsystems. � 2024 Optica Publishing Group.