Performance of a Coded Optical Communication System Using an APD (Avalanche Photo-Detector) Direct Detection Receiver

摘要

We examine the performance of an optical communication system using Q-ary Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) and an Avalanche Photo-detector (APD) direct-detection receiver. The improvement of communication performance by addition of error-correcting coding is investigated. The Chernoff bound and Ro, the computational cutoff rate, are the performance criteria for the uncoded and coded systems. Since the statistics of the avalanche mechanism are rather complicated, a Gaussian approximation of the channel is considered to determine when it can accurately predict communication performance. Performance is compared to that of the channel using a 100% quantum efficiency photomultiplier tube (PMT). Finally, communication performance of a block code and a convolutional code are examined analytically and by Monte Carlo simulation to substantiate theoretical results and estimate achievable performance.