An 80 Gbps Integrated <scp>PDM</scp>‐<scp>OAM</scp>‐Enabled‐<scp>FSO</scp> Transmission for Implementing <scp>5G</scp> Services Under Riyadh Weather Conditions

ABSTRACT The surge in demand of high‐capacity wireless information transmission links has led to emergence of novel multiplexing techniques for free space optics (FSO) over the past few years. Two such important techniques are polarization division multiplexing (PDM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing. This article investigates the integration of PDM and OAM techniques in a FSO transmission system to enable 5G communication services in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. Four OAM beams () of 2‐polarization states of a single frequency laser beam are used to transport 10 Gbps data independently. A total of 80 Gbps net transmission rate is achieved. The visibility data for Riyadh city are collected from Saudi Meteorological Department and the attenuation coefficient is calculated using Kim, Kruse, and Al‐Naboulsi attenuation models. The performance of all the PDM‐OAM modulated signals is compared for the three‐attenuation models in terms of bit error rate, eye diagrams, and Q Factor of the signal at the receiver. The results show that using Kim and Kruse models, with attenuation of 0.62 and 0.64 dB/km, the maximum range of 3.8 km is achieved. This is, however, reduced to 2.4 km using Al‐Naboulsi model having attenuation of 2.03 dB/km with acceptable limits of Q Factor (∼6 dB) and BER (∼9).