Free Space Optics

Adviser : Keang-Po Ho
Student : Chia-Hsun Wu

Outline
„ What is Free Space Optics (FSO) ?
„ History of Free Space Optics
„ How Free Space Optics works ?
„ FSO advantages and challenges
„ Some applications of FSO
„ Conclusion
„ Reference

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What is Free Space Optics (FSO)?
„ Free Space Optics communications, also
called Free Space Photonics (FSP) or
Optical Wireless, refers to the transmission
of visible and infrared (IR) beams through the
atmosphere to obtain optical communications.
Like fiber, Free Space Optics uses lasers to
transmit data, but instead of enclosing the
data stream in a glass fiber, it is transmitted
through the air.

History of Free Space Optics

„ In the late nineteenth century, Alexander Graham
Bell’s "photo-phone“
„ Late 1950‘s~early 1960's, several scientists theorized
and developed laser.
„ In the mid-1960's NASA initiated experiments to
utilize the laser as a means of communication
between the Goddard Space Flight Center and the
Gemini-7 orbiting space capsule.
„ In the early 1980's United States and its military
research.
„ Germany, France and Japan made significant
advancements in free space optics for satellite
communications.

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Historical Photos

How Free Space Optics works ?

„ “Telescope”
„ Low power infrared lasers: wavelength range
between roughly 750nm and 1600nm
„ Commercially available systems: 100Mbps to
2.5Gbps
„ Demonstration systems: 160Gbps

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Telescope

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Architecture

FSO Advantages
„ Requires no spectrum licensing, but power...
„ Can be deployed behind windows, eliminating
the need for costly rooftop rights
„ Virtually unlimited bandwidth
„ Low cost
„ Security

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 FSO Advantages (cont.)

¾ANSI: American National Standards Institute

¾IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission
¾The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) includes
the Center for Device and Radiological Health (CDRH)

FSO Advantages (cont.)

AEL: Accessible Emission Limit

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Security
„ FSO laser beams cannot be detected with spectrum
analyzers or RF meters.
„ FSO laser transmissions are optical and travel along a
line of sight path that cannot be intercepted easily.
„ The laser beams generated by FSO systems are
narrow and invisible, making them harder to find and
even harder to intercept and crack.
„ Data can be transmitted over an encrypted
connection adding to the degree of security available
in FSO network transmissions.

Challenges
„ Fog
„ Absorption
„ Scintillation
„ Scattering
„ Physical obstructions
„ Building sway/seismic activity

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 Fog (cont.)

Basic FSO Link Equation

Leave out optical efficiencies, detector noises, etc

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BER versus Range at 1.25Gbps

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BER versus Range at 100Mbps

Wavelength versus Attenuation

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Physics of Scintillation
„ Scintillation is the result of solar energy
heating small pockets of air to slightly
different temperatures, thereby creating
regions of varying refractive index along the
propagation path.
„ One parameter that is often used as a
measure of the scintillation strength is the
atmospheric structure parameter or Cn2.

Physics of Scintillation (const.)

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Physics of Scintillation (const.)

Some applications of FSO

„ Metro network extension
„ Last-mile access
„ Enterprise connectivity
„ Fiber backup
„ Backhaul
„ Service acceleration

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Topologies

Last-Mile Connectivity

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Power Control and Eye Safety
„ Mean-time between failures (MTBF) of 8
years or more.
„ Two factors influence the lifetime of a
semiconductor diode laser: (1) the average
operating temperature of the case of the
diode (2) the average operating output
optical power of the diode

Laser Reliability

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Eye Safety (cont.)

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Conclusion
„ Well-designed FSO systems are capable of
delivering 99.9% or better performance at
500-1000m ranges for the vast majority of
cities throughout the world.
„ But there are many problems which need to
solve.

Reference
„ H. A. Willebrand, and B. S. Ghuman, Fiber optics
without fiber, Spectrum, IEEE, vol.38, issue 8,
pp.40-45, Aug. 2001
„ S. Bloom, The physics of free-space optics,
Airfiber, Inc.
„ http://www.wcai.com/fsoalliance/
„ http://www.freespaceoptics.org/

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