Channel-aware outage modeling for dual-hop mixed optical wireless communication systems

Abstract This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the outage performance in a dual-hop mixed communication system that combines Free Space Optical (FSO) and Underwater Optical Communication (UWOC) links. The closed-form expressions of the outage probability of the system are derived, while considering practical channel conditions. Specifically, the FSO hop is modeled using Gamma–Gamma statistics to account for pointing errors and atmospheric turbulence, while the UWOC channel follows an Exponential Generalized Gamma (EGG) fading distribution to capture underwater impairments. To validate the analytical results, extensive numerical simulations are conducted, highlighting the impact of key parameters – such as path loss, scintillation, angle-of-arrival variations, water salinity, and pointing instability – on the performance of the considered system.