# EGC Reception for FSO Systems Under Mixture-Gamma Fading Channels and Pointing Errors

## TL;DR

This paper analytically evaluates the performance of equal gain combining reception in free-space optical systems affected by mixture-Gamma fading and pointing errors, providing new closed-form expressions for key metrics.

## Contribution

It introduces novel closed-form expressions for performance metrics of FSO systems considering mixture-Gamma fading and pointing errors, enhancing understanding of system behavior under complex channel conditions.

## Key findings

- Derived closed-form expressions for outage probability, bit-error rate, and scintillation index.
- Identified the impact of diversity order and pointing errors on system performance.
- Highlighted the significance of composite fading and misalignment effects on FSO communication reliability.

## Abstract

The performance of equal gain combining reception at free-space optical communication systems is analytically studied and evaluated. We consider the case when the total received signal undergoes independent and not necessarily identically distributed channel fading, modeled by the versatile mixture-Gamma distribution. Also, the misalignment-induced fading due to the presence of pointing errors is jointly considered in the enclosed analysis. New closed-form expressions in terms of finite sum series of the Meijer's $G$-function are derived regarding some key performance metrics of the considered system; namely, the scintillation index, outage probability, and average bit-error rate. Based on these results, some useful outcomes are manifested, such as the system diversity order, the crucial role of diversity branches, and the impact of composite channel fading/pointing error effect onto the system performance.