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The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems

Article  in  Journal of Optical Communications · August 2014

DOI: 10.1515/joc-2014-0004

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 J. Opt. Commun. 2014; aop

Sushank Chaudhary* and Angela Amphawan

The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical

Systems
Abstract: Complementing wireless radio networks with to  operate in microwave/millimeter frequency band so
free-space optics (FSO) achieves high data rates by modu- that the spectral congestion is avoided in lower frequency
lating radio subcarriers over an optical carrier without bands. This requires a large number of base stations to
expensive optical fiber cabling, enabling a pervasive
­ support the service area which increases the cost and
­platform for reaching underserved areas. In this paper, system complexity. To reduce the system cost of mobile
we  review the main features of FSO for terrestrial and network, radio over fiber (RoF) technology may be de-
inter-satellite communications. Simulations of 1 Gbps
­ ployed by interconnecting several base stations to a
data transmission through FSO links in both terrestrial and central station using an optical fiber. RoF involves modu-
inter-satellite communications have been investigated to lating radio frequency (RF) subcarriers onto an optical
highlight potential atmospheric challenges in FSO. carrier for transmission over an optical fiber network.
Optical fibers are valuable in RoF systems for achieving
Keywords: free-space optics (FSO), inter-satellite commu- high bandwidth and low signal loss, in addition to immu-
nication, atmospheric turbulences, radio-over-free-space nity to electromagnetic interference [2]. RoF requires the
optics (Ro-FSO) use of sharing of expensive equipment responsible for
coding–decoding, multiplexing-demultiplexing, frequency
PACS® (2010). 42.79.-e up-down conversion from the centralized station to all
the base stations [3]. This results in reduction in cost and
DOI 10.1515/joc-2014-0004 system complexity.
Received January 16, 2014; accepted July 24, 2014. Nevertheless, optical fibers between various base sta-
tions may not be readily installed for deployment of RoF
and recabling may be complex. Furthermore, new fiber

1 Introduction installations may increase RoF deployment cost and delay

network rollout. FSO has become attractive to researchers
as it provides the valuable features that are vital to trans-
Mobile radio networks have made tremendous strides in
fer traffic to the fortitude of optical fiber [4]. In addition,
the last decade alongside the demand for more bandwidth
FSO provides secure transmission because of negligible
in an increasingly information-driven economy. The total
interception by using point-to-point laser signals in con-
number of mobile subscribers in 2013 reported by the In-
junction with lower errors than that of optical fiber trans-
ternational Telecommunications Union (ITU) is 7.5 billion
mission. High capacity, low power consumption, light
[1]. The rapid increase in traffic has incurred a substantial
weight, small sizes and low price for inter-satellite applica-
strain on mobile radio networks. This entails allocation of
tions are other merits of FSO implementations [5–6]. The
limited and expensive radio frequency (RF) spectrum to
integration of FSO and radio technology provides assuring
operators a progressive challenge for the ITU due to the
solutions as it incorporates the high data rates of optical
explosive growth of the subscribers annually. Exorbitant
signals, allows more flexibility in deployment, avoids high
RF licensing has driven cellular network operators to
upfront costs and saves on the deployment time [7–11].
­accommodate more users by reducing the cell size and
FSO may be broadly classified into FSO for terrestrial
communication and FSO for inter-satellite communica-
*Corresponding author: Sushank Chaudhary: InterNetworks tion as shown in Fig. 1. This paper reviews the main fea-
Research Laboratory, School of Computing, Universiti Utara tures of FSO for terrestrial communications as well as
Malaysia, Sintok 6010, Malaysia. ­inter-satellite communications. FSO simulations for trans-
E-mail: sushankchaudhary@gmail.com
mission of 1 Gbps data through an FSO link are delineated
Angela Amphawan: InterNetworks Research Laboratory, School
of Computing, University Utara Malaysia, Sintok 6010, Malaysia;
as an attempt to illustrate possible signal degradations in
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of an FSO link. The rest of the paper is organized as follows:
Technology, Cambridge, USA Section 2 describes FSO for terrestrial communications
2   S. Chaudhary and A. Amphawan, The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems

FSO transmission systems [23]. Orthogonal frequency di-

vision multiplexing (OFDM) is a mature technology for
combating multipath fading in FSO. Hence, by adopting
OFDM in FSO, long haul transmissions with higher data
rate may be achieved [24–28]. Mode division multiplexing
is a more recent development in FSO systems [29–32]. In
an experiment, transmission of 4 × 42.8 Gbps is reported
Fig. 1: Classification of optical wireless transmission
by employing MDM scheme over FSO [33]. In another ex-
periment, 3 × 100 Mbps data is transmitted over FSO link
by MDM [34].
whilst Section 3 describes FSO for inter-satellite commu- FSO fulfills the quality requirements of broadband
nications. Section 4 describes Ro-FSO systems and the networks but there are some limitations that degrade its
need for a more ubiquitous wireless system. The main performance. The most dominant factor is atmospheric
points are concluded in Section 5. conditions such as fog, dust, snow or rain, resulting in
scattering, absorption and deviations that debilitate the
transmission paths. In an experiment, an investigation
2 FSO for terrestrial communication of modulation format is done by transmitting 10 Gbps of
data through an FSO link [35]. The attenuations signifi-
The idea of wireless optical communication originated cantly influence the transmission of signal through the
in early 800 BC, as the ancient Greeks used fire beacons atmosphere and are described as follows:
for the transfer of information from one place to another. (a) Fog attenuation: The atmospheric fog attenuation
In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell [12] invented ‘photo- is persisted by the Beer–Lambert law which states that the
phone’ which uses sunlight to transmit voice signals attenuation due to fog and haze in the optical signal at a
through an unguided atmospheric channel over a dis- distance R is given by the following relation:
tance of 200 meters. In the early 1960’s, the invention of
−q
lasers revolutionized optical communication. In 1962, 3.912  λ 
A fog =   (2)
­researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology labs V (km)  λo 
exhibited the remarkable transmission of television signals
by employing gallium arsenide light emitting diode (GaAs where v defines the visibility in km, λ defines the wave-
LED) over the distance of 48 km [13]. In 1970, Nippon Elec- length of transmitting signals, λo defines the visibility
tric Company (NEC) of Japan demonstrated the first full ­reference at wavelength at λo in nm and q defines the size
duplex FSO link by using 632.8 nm He-Ne laser to compen- distribution coefficient of scattering. Kim and Kruze [36]
sate the traffic data up to a length of 14 km between the propose the different model for the calculation of value q
Yokohama and Tamagawa [13]. Several experiments from which is stated in Table 1.
the last decade further stimulated researchers in the field (b) Rain attenuation: Rain is also an important pa-
of FSO [14–21]. The link equation for FSO is given by the rameter to be considered while designing an FSO link. The
following equation [22]: equation [37] for specific rain attenuation is described by
the following relation:
d R2
PRecieved = PTransmitted 10 −αR/10 (1) αrair = 1.076R0.67 (3)
(d T + θ R)2
where R defines the rate of rainfall in mm/hr.
where dR defines receiver aperture diameter, dT defines
­aperture diameter of the transmitter, θ defines the beam
divergence, R defines the range of link and α defines the
Table 1: Kim and Kruse models
atmospheric attenuation.
Today FSO is commercially available in the market,
Kim model Kruze model
supporting data rates up to 1.25 Gbps and are designed to
work in almost all reliable atmospheric conditions over 1.6 if V > 50 km 1.6 if V > 50 km
1.3 if 6 km < V < km 1.3 if 6 km < V < km
the link of 3.5 km. Efforts are continuously increasing in
0.16V + 0.34 if 1 km < V < 1 km 0.585 V1/3 if V < 0.5 km
order to boost the capacity of FSO systems by using wave- V − 0.5 if 0.5 km < V < 1 km
length division multiplexing (WDM) and integrated fiber/
  S. Chaudhary and A. Amphawan, The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems   3

Table 2: Values of b and α from Fig. 3(a) and (b) that under clear weather conditions,
the FSO link will prolong to 800 m with acceptable SNR
Type of snow b α and received power, but when the atmospheric attenua-
Dry snow 0.000102λ + 5.50 1.38 tions changes due to fog, rain, snow etc, the connectivity
Wet snow 0.0000542λ + 3.79 0.72 of an FSO link is decreased. For the fog condition, the FSO
link will prolong to 500 m whereas for the rain condition,
the FSO link prolongs to 350 m. The link connectivity of
(c) Snow attenuation: The equation for the snow at- FSO for snow is reported as 250 m with acceptable SNR
tenuation is given by the following relation [38]: and received power. The scintillation effect is also mea-
sured in Fig. 3(c) and (d), which indicates that a 14 dB in
λsnow = α.Sb (4) SNR degrades when the scintillations vary from low to
high. Also the FSO link prolongs to 600 m under the effect
where S describes the rate of snowfall in mm/hr and α & b
of low scintillation as compared to high scintillation for
are given according to ITU recommendations as shown in
which the FSO link will prolong to only 350 m with accept-
Table 2.
able SNR and received power.
(d) Scintillation effect: Scintillations are also a domi-
nant factor in FSO both in terrestrial communication as
well as space communication as the optical signal is fluc-
tuated by the transient dips caused due to change in re- 3 FSO for inter-satellite
fractive index of the medium. Atmospheric scintillation
is given by the following equation:
communication
7/6 In addition to terrestrial communication, FSO also has a
 2π 
A scintt =2 ∗ 23.17  106  ∗ cn2 ∗ l611 (5) significant role in space applications. In 1977, European
 δ  Space Agency (ESA) started the program semiconductor
laser Inter-satellite link experiment (SILEX) to realize the
where δ is the wavelength in nm, l is the range in meter
communication between satellites in space [40]. This
and cn2 is the refractive index parameter.
program, which came to actual operations in 2003, led to
In this work, we have transmitted a 1 Gbps data by
result in making the ESA globally recognized in space
using a NRZ modulation technique through an FSO link
inter satellite communication links. The basic application
for ground applications as well as inter-satellite appli­
of FSO as inter-satellite is shown in the Fig. 4. SILEX is
cations which is modeled by OptiSystemTM software as
based on a combination of two optical communication
shown in the Fig. 2.
payloads i.e. French Earth observation spacecraft. SPOT-4
The value of cn2 is stated as 10−16 for low turbulences,
and Advanced Relay and Technology Mission Satellite
10−14 for moderate turbulences and 10−12 for high turbu-
(ARTEMIS) which allows the data transmission of 50 Mbps
lences [39]. Fig. 3 depicts the SNR and received power
by using GaAlAs laser diodes [40].
under the atmospheric turbulences. It is clearly evident

Fig. 2: Implementation of FSO system as terrestrial application

4   S. Chaudhary and A. Amphawan, The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems

Fig. 3: SNR and received power against FSO as terrestrial link under atmospheric turbulences

Fig. 4: FSO as inter-satellite communication link

  S. Chaudhary and A. Amphawan, The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems   5

Fig. 5: SNR and received power against FSO as inter-satellite link

The basic link equation [41] for the inter-satellite is posed scintillation indexed for the identification of inten-
given by the following relation: sity fluctuation which are helpful in designing of inter-­
satellite links. In another experiment [43], the authors
2
 λ  have investigated the channel capacity for inter-satellite
PR = PT N TN R   G TG R L TL R (6)
 4π Z  optical links to realize the high speed communication and
proposed an optimum input distribution by maximizing
where PR defines the received power, PT defines trans­ mutual information for inter-satellite optical communica-
mitted power, NT is the optical efficiency of the trans­ tions in the presence of random pointing jitter. In another
mitter, NR is the optical efficiency of the receiver, λ is the experiment [44], the authors have reported enhanced
wavelength, Z is the distance between the transmitter and ­improvement in inter-satellite link by implementing the
receiver, GT and GR are the gain of the transmitter and re- square root module with data transmission rate of 2.5
ceiver telescope and LT and LR are the pointing loss factor Gbps. In another experiment [45], the authors used the
of transmitter and receiver respectively. series of micro ring resonators and an add/drop filter to
Many researchers have reported the development in generate a large bandwidth signal as localized multi wave-
FSO link for inter-satellite applications [42–45]. In a exper- length for inter-satellite communication.
iment [42], the authors has derived the probability density Data simulations were performed for FSO for inter-­
function of optical intensity in the receiver plane and pro- satellite communications using OptiSystem. Fig. 5 depicts
6   S. Chaudhary and A. Amphawan, The Role and Challenges of Free-space Optical Systems

Fig. 6: Radio over free space (Ro-FSO)

the SNR and total received power for the FSO as an inter- under the strong effect of atmospheric turbulences on
satellite link. The bandwidth for inter-satellite is investi- ground communication.
gated by transmitting a 1 Gbps data using again NRZ
­modulation technique. It is revealed from the Fig. 5(a) and
(b) that an improvement of 10 dB in SNR and −9 dBm in re- 5 Conclusion
ceived total power is noted after the transmission through
inter-satellite link having a span of 20 km when the link In this paper, simulations of 1 Gbps data transmission are
is  operated at 850 nm wavelength compared to the shown through both FSO as terrestrial and inter-satellite
1550  nm. The SNR and received power degrades when links under various atmospheric noises. The integration
the  pointing error is increased as shown in the Fig. 5(c) of radio signals to FSO leads to the reduction of deploy-
and (d). ment cost for the wireless operators and addresses the
“last mile” bottleneck in access networks. Nevertheless,
future work should alleviate the effects of atmospheric

4 Radio over free space optics link turbulence to achieve higher data rates to realize Ro-FSO
as a promising technology for future wireless networks.

In wireless networks, users require instant and efficient

connection to access various services at any time from any
location at a low cost. The advantages of FSO in terms of
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