Concepedia

Free Space Optics: Current Applications and Future Challenges

Aditi Malik, Preeti Singh

International Journal of Optics · 2015 · 264 citations · 17 references

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Open access

Concepts

TL;DR

Free‑space optics (FSO) uses line‑of‑sight optical transmission through air, space, or vacuum, offering high bandwidth without spectrum licensing, but its performance is affected by weather, obstructions, scattering, and turbulence. The paper reviews studies on weather conditions and mitigation techniques for FSO. It analyzes how these techniques reduce the impact of adverse atmospheric factors on FSO links. FSO provides economical, short‑term communication capabilities.

Abstract

FSO is a communication system where free space acts as medium between transceivers and they should be in LOS for successful transmission of optical signal. Medium can be air, outer space, or vacuum. This system can be used for communication purpose in hours and in lesser economy. There are many advantages of FSO like high bandwidth and no spectrum license. The transmission in FSO is dependent on the medium because the presence of foreign elements like rain, fog, and haze, physical obstruction, scattering, and atmospheric turbulence are some of these factors. Different studies on weather conditions and techniques employed to mitigate their effect are discussed in this paper.

References

17

Understanding the performance of free-space optics [Invited]

Scott Bloom, Eric J. Korevaar, John J. Schuster et al. · Journal of Optical Networking · 2003

+12

612 citations

Fiber optics without fiber

H. Willebrand, Baksheesh S. Ghuman · IEEE Spectrum · 2001

+14

249 citations

206 citations