Kumar, A.Krishnan, P.2026-02-042022Optical and Quantum Electronics, 2022, 54, 1, pp. -3068919https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-021-03392-yhttps://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/22856The radio over the free space optical (RoFSO) communication system has become a popular research topic in 5G communication in recent years. Atmospheric turbulence typically degrades the performance of the RoFSO system. Multiple input multiple output, aperture averaging, error-correcting codes, and robust modulation are standard mitigation techniques used to reduce the effects of atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, Reed Solomon (RS) and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) coded binary shift keying (BPSK) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based RoFSO system is proposed for 5G applications. We introduced RS and BCH coding techniques for the first time in this proposed RoFSO system, and achieved an average bit error rate (ABER) of 10 - 6, at 40 dB, 17 dB, and 4 dB carrier to noise plus distortion ratio (CNDR) for the uncoded, RS coded, and BCH coded systems, respectively, under weak turbulence conditions. That is, when compared to the uncoded system, the proposed RS and BCH coded system provide transmit power gains of 13 dB and 34 dB, respectively. The ABER performance of the proposed coded RoFSO system is investigated and compared to an uncoded system under various turbulence, weather, and pointing error cases. In all turbulence regimes, weather conditions, and pointing error scenarios, the BCH coded system outperforms the RS coded and uncoded systems. The proposed RS and BCH coded system is energy efficient and may be useful in 5G implementation. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.Atmospheric thermodynamicsAtmospheric turbulenceBinary phase shift keyingBit error rateEnergy efficiencyErrorsMIMO systemsOptical communicationOrthogonal frequency division multiplexingAverage bit-error ratesBose-chaudhuri-hocquenghemCoded systemFree space optical systemsFree-space opticalOrthogonal frequency-division multiplexingRadio over the free space opticalReed-SolomonUncoded systemWOC5G mobile communication systems