Performance analysis of a UAV-based IRS-assisted hybrid RF/FSO link with pointing and phase shift errors

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted wireless communication has recently become a promising technology to relax the line-of-sight requirement and also to provide a communication link in uncovered and remote areas. In this work, an alternate implementation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based IRS-assisted hybrid free space optics/radio frequency wireless communications is presented. Phase shift errors occur due to the presence of reflecting elements in the IRS and affect the reflected beam. We consider the effect of phase shift error along with atmospheric turbulence, which is modeled as gamma-gamma distribution. Furthermore, a statistical model is considered for pointing errors due to the position and orientation fluctuation of the mounted IRS on the UAV. We derive closed-form expressions of the average symbol error rate and spectral efficiency of the considered system, under the combined effects of atmospheric turbulence, pointing error, and phase shift error. In addition, we present asymptotic analysis of the average symbol error rate of the system in a high SNR region and evaluate the diversity order and coding gain. The derived results are further validated using Monte Carlo simulation. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group