Comparison of Error Probability and Signal to Noise Ratio between a Coherent Heterodyne and a Photon Limited Laser Communications System,
Abstract
The error probability for a coherent heterodyne laser digital communications system is calculated for Poisson signal and local oscillator photon distributions and compared to a photon counting system. It is shown that under optimum conditions, the coherent heterodyne system requires more average signal photons per detection interval than the photon counting system for equal probabilities of error. For a binary communications system with equal zero or one transmit probability, an error probability of + or - 0.001 requires a power S/N approximately 24 for the coherent heterodyne system while only a S/N approximately 3.5 for the photon counting system. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 11, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0866869
Entities
People
- Denis J. Pistoresi
Organizations
- Boeing