Error performance of staircase codes for free space optical communications

In free space optical (FSO) communication systems, forward error-correction code(FEC) is used to correct random errors caused by noise and atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, we investigate the error correction performance of staircase codes for space FSO communication return links (satellite to ground). In particular, we compare the bit error rate performance of staircase codes with that of RS codes and LDPC codes. Simulation results show that staircase codes outperform LDPC codes and RS codes with the same code rates. Additionally, we investigate the performance of staircase codes with different component codes and decoding parameters. These findings provide valuable insights for selecting appropriate FEC for space FSO communication systems.