Robust Beam Position Estimation with Photon Counting Detector Arrays in Free-Space Optical Communications

Optical beam center position on an array of detectors is an important parameter that is essential for estimating the angle-of-arrival of the incoming signal beam. In this paper, we have examined the beam position estimation problem for photon-counting detector arrays, and to this end, we have derived and analyzed the Cramer-Rao lower bounds on the mean-square error of the unbiased estimators of the beam position. Furthermore, we have also derived the Cramer-Rao lower bounds of other beam parameters such as peak intensity, and the intensity of background radiation on the array. In this sense, we have considered a robust estimation of the beam position in which none of the parameters are assumed to be known beforehand. Additionally, we have derived the Cramer-Rao lower bounds of beam parameters for observations based on both pilot and data symbols of a pulse position modulation (PPM) scheme. Finally, we have considered a two-step estimation problem in which the peak intensity and background radiation are estimated using a method of moments estimator, and the beam center position is estimated with the help of a maximum likelihood estimator.