Interference and noise analysis for hybrid FSO/RF-based 6G mobile backhaul

Abstract

Optical wireless communication, or free space optics, is a promising solution for backhauls in sixth-generation mobile systems. However, the susceptibility of optical links to weather conditions has led to FSO links being furnished with radio frequency (RF) backups. These Hybrid FSO/RF systems provide enhanced link availability but lead to RF resource wastage. Cognitive radio technology, in contrast, is well known for its optimal use of RF resources and may be combined with an FSO link to create a Cognitive Hybrid FSO/RF system. This work uses such a system to analyze a configuration for a mobile backhaul in sixth-generation mobile systems. This configuration can seamlessly coexist with established large scale RF cellular networks. The performance of this configuration is analyzed with respect to outage probability and average bit error by considering the impact of optical channel turbulence, misalignment loss, RF interference, and noise. Mathematical closed-form expressions are verified by simulations.