Virtual Polarization Modulation: Enabling CSI-Free DCO-OFDM over Dynamic OWC Channels
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917351284277248 |
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| author | Cao, Tian Wang, Ping Wu, Tianfeng Wang, Kaile Song, Jian |
| author_facet | Cao, Tian Wang, Ping Wu, Tianfeng Wang, Kaile Song, Jian |
| contents | In dynamically varying optical wireless communication (OWC) links, conventional quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) requires frequent channel estimation and equalization, incurring pilot overhead and processing latency. This paper proposes a virtual polarization modulation (VPM)-based direct-current-biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) scheme that maps each data symbol onto the three-dimensional Stokes space and places its corresponding Jones vector across two adjacent OFDM subcarriers. Using a rotation-based analytical framework, closed-form symbol error rate (SER) expressions are derived for arbitrary spherical constellations, along with upper and lower bounds and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations. The framework is further extended to practical OWC scenarios with frequency-selective channels and atmospheric turbulence. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations validate the theoretical results. The results show that under practical OWC impairments, VPM outperforms QAM with least-squares (LS) channel estimation and minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalization. At a target SER of $10^{-5}$, 16-VPM achieves SNR gains of approximately 7.5 dB and 4 dB over equalized 16-QAM and 8-QAM, respectively, in frequency-selective channels, and a 6 dB advantage over equalized 16-QAM under atmospheric turbulence. By eliminating the need for channel state information, the proposed VPM-based DCO-OFDM provides a robust and low-latency solution for dynamic OWC links. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_17316 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Virtual Polarization Modulation: Enabling CSI-Free DCO-OFDM over Dynamic OWC Channels Cao, Tian Wang, Ping Wu, Tianfeng Wang, Kaile Song, Jian Optics Signal Processing In dynamically varying optical wireless communication (OWC) links, conventional quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) requires frequent channel estimation and equalization, incurring pilot overhead and processing latency. This paper proposes a virtual polarization modulation (VPM)-based direct-current-biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) scheme that maps each data symbol onto the three-dimensional Stokes space and places its corresponding Jones vector across two adjacent OFDM subcarriers. Using a rotation-based analytical framework, closed-form symbol error rate (SER) expressions are derived for arbitrary spherical constellations, along with upper and lower bounds and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations. The framework is further extended to practical OWC scenarios with frequency-selective channels and atmospheric turbulence. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations validate the theoretical results. The results show that under practical OWC impairments, VPM outperforms QAM with least-squares (LS) channel estimation and minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalization. At a target SER of $10^{-5}$, 16-VPM achieves SNR gains of approximately 7.5 dB and 4 dB over equalized 16-QAM and 8-QAM, respectively, in frequency-selective channels, and a 6 dB advantage over equalized 16-QAM under atmospheric turbulence. By eliminating the need for channel state information, the proposed VPM-based DCO-OFDM provides a robust and low-latency solution for dynamic OWC links. |
| title | Virtual Polarization Modulation: Enabling CSI-Free DCO-OFDM over Dynamic OWC Channels |
| topic | Optics Signal Processing |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.17316 |