Performance of PLL Synchronized Optical PPM Communication Systems

Receiver timing synchronization of an optical PPM communication system can be achieved using a phase-locked loop (PLL) if the photodetector output is properly processed. The synchronization performance is shown to improve with increasing signal power and decreasing loop bandwidth. The bit error rate performance of the PLL synchronized PPM system is analyzed and compared to that of the perfectly synchronized system. It is shown that the increase in signal power needed to compensate for the imperfect synchronization is small (less than 0.1 dB) for loop bandwidths less than 0.1 percent of the slot frequency.