End-to-end performance of mixed RF/UWOC system with AF protocol based on Mellin transform

This paper proposes an approach to analyze the performance of radio frequency/underwater wireless optical communication (RF/UWOC) systems using Mellin inverse transform. This analysis combines heterodyne detection (HD) and direct detection /intensity modulation (IM/DD). The RF link from land ground stations to relay stations follows the Nakagami-m distributed channel. The UWOC link from the relay station to the underwater vehicle is modeled using the double generalized gamma (GG) distribution with pointing errors. By employing the Fixed Gain Amplification and Forwarding (AF) protocol, the probability density function (PDF) of the RF/UWOC link is derived using the Mellin inverse transform, expressed in the form of the Meijer-G function. In addition, expressions for the outage probability and bit error rate of the mixed system were derived. Monte Carlo simulations validated the analysis results, which demonstrated the superior performance of HD technology.