Free Space Optical Communication

by

Charanpreet Singh (B00588008)

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ENGINEERING

Major Subject: Internetworking

at

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY Halifax, Nova Scotia April, 2013 Copyright by Charanpreet Singh, 2013

Dalhousie University Faculty of Engineering

Internetworking

The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and award a pass in INWK 6800 for the seminar entitled "Free Space Optical Communication" by Charanpreet Singh (B00588008) in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering.

___________________________ Dr. Shahzad Minhas

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY INTERNETWORKING PROGRAM

AUTHORITY TO DISTRIBUTE REPORT

Title: Free Space Optical Communication

The Internetworking Program may make available or authorise others to make available individual photo/microfilm or soft copies of this report without restrictions after 28 April 2013. The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material appearing in this report (other than brief excerpts requiring only proper acknowledgement in scholarly writing) and that all such use is clearly acknowledged.

Full Name of Author: Charanpreet Singh Signature of Author: Date: _________________________ __28 APRIL 2013___________

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLESvii LIST OF FIGURES.viii LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS.ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..x EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..xi

INTRODUCTION1

1.1 Definition 1 1.2 Why FSO .2 1.3 Factors Affecting FSO ..2 1.4 Summary .2
2 FSO- A PRESENT DAY COMMUNICATION3

2.1 Relevance of FSO3 2.2 Origin Of FSO..3 2.3 Architecture of FSO.3 2.3.1 Point-to-point architecture3 2.3.2 Mesh Architecture..4 2.3.3 Point-to-multipoint architecture4 2.4 Technologies Involved 5 2.4.1 Infrared data Association..5 2.4.2 Optical Telescopes.6

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2.4.3 Mercury laser Altimeter.6 2.5 Visible Light communication for LAN6 2.5.1 Example 1..7 2.5.2 Example 2..8 2.6 Summary.8

WORKING OF FSO.9

3.1 How FSO works.9 3.2 FSO design10 3.2.1 Transmitter type..11 3.2.2 Transmitter power...11 3.2.3 Beam divergence.12 3.2.4 Receiver diode types12 3.3 Free space Optical Link Equation..12 3.4 Summary 13

FSO ISSUES AND COMPARISON14

4.1 FSO Issues14 4.1.1 Wavelength.14 4.1.2 Atmospheric Attenuation14 4.1.3 Performance- Transmit power and receiver Sensitivity.14 4.2 Comparison...15 4.3 FSO Applications..15 4.4 Summary16

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES..17

5.1 Advantages..17 5.1.1 Ultra high bandwidth17 5.1.2 Rapid development type....17 5.1.3 Security.17 5.1.4 Reliability..18 5.1.5 Equipment.18 5.2 Disadvantages.18 5.2.1 Fog and absorption..18 5.2.2 Scattering.18 5.2.3 Seismic activity and scintillation..19 5.3 Development in FSO...19

iv

5.3.1 FSO in Space.19 5.3.2 FSO in Deep sea20 5.4 Summary.21

TYPES OF FSO.22

6.1 Full optical FSO...22 6.2 Hybrid FSO..22 6.3 Mobile FSO Systems22 6.4 Next generation Cellular networks...23 6.5 Satellite as FSO communication..23 6.5.1 Point to point transmission ...24 6.5.2 Point to multipoint transmission25 6.6 Advantages of satellite communication25 6.7 Disadvantages of Satellite communication25

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS26

7.1 Conclusion..26 7.2 Recommendation26 REFERENCES.27 BIBLIOGRAPHY28

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Comparisons between RF, FSO and Optical Fiber

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Point-to-Point Architecture Figure 2.2 Mesh Architecture Figure 2.3 Point-to-Multipoint Architecture Figure 2.4 visible light Communication Figure 2.5 Device showing visible light Communication Figure 2.6 Image Sensor Figure 3.1 working of FSO Figure 3.2 Working of FSO using Light Pulses Figure 3.3 Link equation of FSO Figure 5.1 Network of FSO channels Figure 6.1 full Optical FSO Figure 6.2 Satellite Communication

vii

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

FSO LAN LED FP DFB VCSEL

Free-Space Optical large Area Network Light emitting Diode Fabryperot Distributed-feedback Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. SHAHZAD MINHAS whose in-depth course discussion and delivering of contents of the courses brought about the successful completion of the INWK 6800 Seminar.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report gives the details about free-space optical communication. FSO communication is mostly used in the areas where it is impossible to set a physical connection. FSO is very useful these days in the aircrafts for making them to communicate at short distances. To make a connection between two buildings through wireless network, FSO is functional at that part. the type of services provide by FSO, cost and speed is described in this report. This report also tells about the technologies used in this FSO and their architecture in detail. At the end of report, I have described some advantages and disadvantages for using this service.

INTRODUCTION

Free space optical communication is known to be an optical communication based communication, which transmits data in free space using light propagation. Free space can be an air, vacuum or any outer space. Over the last two decades, free space communication (FSO) is becoming more popular over the Radio Frequency Communication. FSO provides secure and high bandwidth data communications. This project describes the gains and losses along transmitter path passing across medium to the receiver. This system has developed for high-speed communication systems. Basically free space optics is used to connect bridges and towers together with gigabit capacity and intrusion free data transmission. This technology can be installed anywhere in licensed-free global. FSO uses invisible beam of light to provide optical bandwidth connections. Data, voice or video can be sent over with the speed of 1.25 Gbps. This communication also authorizes optical communications with the speed of light. Mainly Free Space Optical communication is a line of sight communication that provides optical bandwidth connections to send and receive data, voice or video. This communications doesnt require fiber optics instead uses light for the transmission of data. FSO is used where it is unfeasible to make any physical connections. The invention of LASER transform into free space optics. FSO can offer Tb/s of throughput wirelessly.
1.1 Definition

Free-space optical communication in a technology that is based on light to transmits data in the field of computer networking. Free Space can be anything either vacuum or air. It also shows some similarities with the optical fiber by using optical fiber cable or transmission line.

2 This technology as very clear from the name is based and works where it is impossible to make physical connections. It can be due to high range of costs or impractical due to large distance.
1.2 Why FSO.

Free-space optical communication involves optical links such as infrared or laser light. There were cases in which the source and the transmitter fails to make a physical connection so, this wireless communication was taken into consideration. FSO can also travels to long distances through the space as name says. Previously, Infrared laser light was used but it was only applicable for short distances with low cost. Aircraft uses FSO to communicate to each other or to the main station. 1.3 Factors affecting FSO. The stability and quality of the links undoubtedly works perfect but it is mostly affected by the atmospheric conditions such as rain, fog or heat. It uses high sensitive detectors to travel through long distances and also uses low-pass filters with a cut-off frequency of 4 khz.

1.5 Summary This chapter gives us the outline of Free-space communication and tells various techniques which are used and why it is in great demand these days.

CH 2 FSO- A PRESENT DAY COMMUNICATION

2.1 Relevance of FSO With the increase in demand of High bandwidth and data services, new technologies are introduced to fulfill these demands. Network traffic is increasing at a rapid speed every year. Introduction of Internet and wireless based transmission has fulfill this demand to some extent. But the large companies are still in wait for high bandwidth applications as the last mile option. With the polishing technology for the current period, costs is also increasing. As a current option, FSO has find its place in the field of networking. 2.2 Origin of FSO Greeks first introduced the idea behind FSO in 8th century where they used light sourcefire, Transmission medium- atmosphere, and receiver as a human eye. It became more popular and in demand when Graham bell introduced telephone. He converted voice signals into telephone signals and transmitted over free space with a beam of light and named it as photophone. Now this turned into great technology by using it over thousands kilometers through wireless means at high bandwidth and data rate.

2.3 Architecture of FSO The architecture of FSO is of three types. 2.3.1 Point-to-point Architecture.

4 Point to point is a dedicated connection between two sites. It uses a single line and offers high bandwidth. This type of Free-space communication is less scalable.

Figure 2.1 Point-to-point Architecture.

2.3.2 Mesh Architecture In case of Mesh architecture, a single site is connected to other sites. This type of link has high redundancy but is more reliable. Other nodes can also be added later on.

Figure 2.2 Mesh Architecture 2.2.3 Point-to-multipoint Architecture

In point-to-multipoint architecture, we have lower bandwidth as it has multiple links on single node.

Figure 2.3 point to multipoint architecture.

2.4 Technologies Involved FSO mainly works for the buildings, which are at long distances and mostly work in the metropolitan areas. The links mainly involved are satellite, ground stations. Mainly optical communication involves fiber. Lasers can be taken into consideration for this type of communication. Free-space optical communication offers a guaranteed speed of 2.5 Gb/s. The first practical use of FSO is a military communication. The LASER when invented in 1960 revolution free space optics. The use of infrared can be useful as such for short distances. Infrared is of low costs but is useful in short distance areas. 2.4.1 Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

Infrared Data Association is an initial state of FSO communication. It was first used in aircrafts. To make a link between aircrafts, infrared was used but it was only for limited distance from 2 to 3 km. This type of link is highly stable but is the same time is also affected by some climatic conditions such as fog, rainfall, or heat. 2.4.2 Optical Telescopes. For a communication over a long distance, another device is used known as optical telescope. Optical telescope uses Beam expanders which were used by NASA to laser image of Mona Lisa to the Lunar reconnaissance Orbiter. The distance recorded was 240,000 miles. We can communicate over thousands of kilometers. 2.4.3 Mercury Laser Altimeter To record a two-way distance, a device was used called Mercury laser Altimeter. This laser was introduced for mercury orbit mission and it can communicate over 24 million kilometers. 2.5 Visible Light Communication for LAN The researchers for the LAN network also used LED based system. This system has been used as of its low cost and high bandwidth. Data can transmit over 100Mbit/s. In practical this system was used for controlling the traffic with LED lights. It is a wireless communication and uses visible light for communication.

Figure 2.4 Visible Light Communication.

It uses image sensors for receiving the incoming data in the right direction from the transmitter. Devices that use visible light communication are Indoor Navigation, control of Robots or Vehicles. 2.5.1 Example On the transmitter side, the intensity of LED light can be modulated by controlling its current. On other hand, for receiving side, the PIN Photo diodes are used.

Figure 2.5 Devices showing Visible Light Communication.

2.5.2 Image Sensor Camera that acts as transmitter continuously takes image of a scene by using LED light and on other hand receiver detects optical intensity at pixel as LED light is focused here.

Figure 2.6 Image Sensor.

2.6 Summary This chapter describes the different types of FSO and their functions. The type of technologies used in FSO is described in this chapter. Basically, Visible light is stressed and explained clearly with detail features and its uses by giving some actual facts.

CH 3 WORKING OF FSO
3.1 How FSO works To make a connection between receiver and the transmitter, FSO uses wireless means for making the connectivity. Signals are transmitted in the form of binary numbers and they then modulated into the light source. The light source can be anything either LED or Laser. These signals are transferred to the receiver side via light pulses and is received or sensed using photonic energy detector especially photo diode. In this case the technology used in the Line-Of-Sight communication and medium of transmission is free space or air. Optical systems if transmitting signals at short distances use INFRARED and for long distances, it basically relies upon LED/LASER diodes. In the present era, a Laser system can provide upto 622 Mb/sec of speed to travel a signal with proper reliability and accuracy.

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Figure 3.1 system showing working of FSO In the transmitter side, the data is modulated and transmitted using a laser. In the receiver side, optical signals are detected and converted to electric signals. Amplifiers are used to amplify the signal and are demodulated for the getting the original signal.

3.2 Free Space Optical Design In this section of FSO, I will discuss the various parts for creating a LASER BEAM, which carries information via Air. The main parts involved in this are:

11 3.2.1 Transmitter Type The main source by which the optical signal is modulated is Optical Light source. The light signal is modulated to generate a logical zero or one. So to transmit this signal over the short distance, Infrared is used and for long distances LED IS USED. LASER used is of three types.
FP- Fabryperot or DFB (Distributed-feedback laser is used for long distances). VCSEL Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser is used for wavelength of 850nm. It is low in cost and has high performance level.

Figure 3.2 working of FSO using Light pulses.

3.2.2 Transmitter Power

12 Transmitter power is the power for transmitting device. The device having more power has higher cost and more stability. 3.2.3 Beam Divergence Beam divergence shows the function of transmitting lens. If the beam is more focused then it has higher cost. Also if the diameter is larger the then it will give better image. 3.2.4 Receiver Diode Types Performance and cost of system depends upon the type of diode used. Here, we used photodiode is used to convert the incoming light signal into electrical signal. Gallium or arsenide detectors are used for longer wavelengths. This case is also same as higher the cost it will have higher sensitivity.

3.3 Free Space Optical Link Equation

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Figure 3.3 Link Equation of FSO

Preceived = received power Ptransmit = transmit power Areceiver = receiver area Div = beam divergence Range = link length 3.4 Summary This chapter gives us knowledge about the working of FSO. It also tells about the design and provides the function of various devices used in the communication. At the end we can see the Free space optical link equation.

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CH 4 FREE-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION ISSUES AND COMPARISON

4.1 FSO Issues FSO has made its place in the market of wireless communication and is a fast and reliable approach for using it on the practical basis. With emerging broadband, FSO seems to be a last mile. It offers high bandwidth, operational costs and are compatible with almost all the applications and markets. A balanced approach was used by the engineers to a optical wireless system to understand the difference between other systems available. Various elements were considered by the engineers while designing a FSO system are discussed below.

4.1.1 Wavelength The hardware used in the FSO can be divided into two categories as 800nm and 1550 nm. There were valid reasons for using 1550 nm wavelength as laser eye safety, compatibility with existing technologies and reduction in solar background radiation. 4.1.2 Atmospheric Attenuation FSO systems are designed for the heavy atmospheric attenuation especially by Fog. The systems having 1550 nm wavelength an transmit more than 50 times eye-safer. 4.1.3 Performance Transmit power and receiver sensitivity. The performance of Free-space optical systems can be defined by four main variables.

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Total transmitted Power. Transmitted Beamwidth. Receiving Optics collecting area. Receiving Sensitivity.

4.2 Comparison

Table 4.1 shows comparison between RF, FSO and Optical fiber. 4.3 FSO Applications Free-Space Optical communication has various applications. Mostly FSO is in great demand as it can be used anywhere where no physical connections can be set up. FSO include:-

16 Connecting various sites.

It can also be used to extend a fiber cable network between different buildings. Local loop bypass Backhaul Disaster recovery

4.4 Summary This chapter describes various issues which engineers faced during invention of FSO. This chapter also gives the comparison between various technologies used and the applications of FSO.

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CH 5 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

5.1 Advantages Various advantages of FSO are as follows:5.1.1 Ultra high bandwidth. Laser usually operate in Terahertz and ranges from 194 THz to 375 THz. The performance using this bandwidth is similar to fiber optic system with the speed of 622 Mbps to 1.25 Gbps. 5.1.2 Rapid Development Time. The development of FSO is worldwide. With the growth of technology and demand of high speed Internet, FSO systems are growing at rapid speed. Also, wireless makes it more easy and adjustable. 5.1.3 Security Free-Space Optical communication is more secure than any other wireless based Transmission. This can be because of the following reasons:
Spectrum analyzers cannot detect laser beams. To make a full-duplex transmission, it establishes a matching transmitter and receiver. So this interception is unlikely and difficult. The lasers are also Invisible due to which they are harder to find and crack. Data can be encrypted which makes it more secure and reliable.

5.1.4 Reliability

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To improve the quality or reliability of the FSO systems, it uses Adaptive Power Control to control the laser power dynamically. So if the weather is clear, the transmit power can be reduced but in bad conditions, the transmit power can be increased to make it more reliable. TEC also controls the temperature of Laser Transmitting diodes to maximize the reliability and lifetime of a system. 5.1.5 Equipment
It requires very few equipment to set up a FSO Link. It has an outdoor box that converts the signal from the LAN to FSO unit, controls it and manages the connection. Fiber optic cables are used to connect FSO to LAN.

5.2 Disadvantages There are also some disadvantages, which cannot be ignored as they are quite predictable. 5.2.1 Fog and absorption. The major disadvantage of FSO communication is a Fog. Fog shortens the FSO link and adds redundancies to the network. 5.2.2 Scattering When the wavelength collides with scatter, scattering occurs. Scattering is determined by the size of scatter. Scattering is mainly of two types.

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Rayleigh Scattering:-scatter is smaller than wavelength. Mei Scattering:- scatterer is equal or greater than wavelength.

5.2.3 Seismic Activity and Scintillation The receiver and transmitter can also be upset by the movement of buildings, which is known as a seismic activity. As the Scintillation, heated air which is rising from the earth produce heating effects so it causes fluctuation in the signal at the FSO receiver end. 5.3 Development in FSO 5.3.1 FSO in Space Applications. Because of less power consumption, larger capacity and high security FSO is in in great demand than RF. The space communication mainly depends upon signal to noise ratio. The distance between two satellites is very large, so due this FSO communication is used to communicate between satellites. Optical satellite links is more useful than microwave intersatellite as of smaller size, smaller transmitter and greater immunity to interference. The only disadvantage of FSO communication is that it requires complex pointing system. Also if we consider the long distance communication suppose of 10^7 km RF is better than FSO as of lack of technology. But for communication between Moon to Earth link, FSO is better suited. For high data rate or short link communication, FSO works better.

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Figure 5.1 Network of free space optical channels

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5.3.2 FSO in Deep Sea Communications With the increase in security of underwater observations ,wireless technologies and under sensor networks are best suitable for all. To monitor biological, evolutionary or biogeochemical changes and to invest climatic change, this technology plays an important role. To communicate between divers, submarines or ships, FSO is used. Previously Acoustic technology was used to underwater but it failed due to lower data rate and FSO taken into consideration. However, the distance between transmitter and receiver is very short because of underwater environment, which is represented by high multi-scattering and absorption.

5.4 Summary This chapter deals with the advantages and disadvantages of FSO communication in the real life. It also tells about the various types of resistance that came into the path of FSO systems and how they can be overcome. At last, we described about the use of FSO in SPACE and SEA and this technology is helpful is setting up a communication between them.

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CH 6 TYPES OF FSO
Various types of Free-Space Optical Communication are: 6.1 Full Optical FSO It works on the basis of Wavelength division Multiplexing. It doesnt require any electrical-optical conversion. In full Optical FSO, an optical antenna is present which amplifies and transmits the signal through air.

Figure 6.1 Full Optical FSO 6.2 Hybrid FSO

23 FSO systems are mostly affected by fog and give less throughput in bad weather conditions. In hybrid, FSO links should normally be less than 140m but with the transmitter of 10 W and a photo-counter detector with sensitivity of 1n, this system has increased to 286 m. 6.3 Mobile FSO Systems In case of Mobile FSO systems, tightly packed LED transceivers are present around a spherical device and are able to maintain optical link in motion. 6.4 Next Generation Cellular Networks Increase in the number of access points
Short hops Suitability to mesh connectivity

Heterogeneous Access points

Relaying Distributed antennas Multi-point Transmission.

6.5 Satellite communication as a FSO communication A satellite communication is a communication that occurs in space by sending an artificial satellite to space for telecommunication. A communication can be looked up as a big microwave repeater. It contains several transponders that listens to some portion of

24 spectrum, amplifies the signal and broadcasts it with another frequency to avoid any interference. This can relay signals to long distances.

Figure 6.2 Satellite Communication Earth stations communicate by sending signal to satellite on uplink and the satellite then repeats the signal on a downlink and broadcasts. These signals transmit signals and data over long distances such as for weather forecasting, television broadcasts, internet communications, Global-positioning satellite. The spectrum usually used by satellite are divided as such:
C-Band 3.7 4.2 GHz for downlink and 5.9 to 6.4 for uplink KU-Band 11.7 -12.2 GHz downlink and 14 14.5 GHz uplink Ka-band 17.7 21.7 GHz for downlink and 27.5 30.5 for uplink

6.5.1 Point-to-Point Transmission

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To transfer large volume of data Voice data Video data

6.5.2 Point-to-Multipoint Transmission

Data communication Internet Video Conference

6.6 Advantages of Satellite Communication.

It can reach large geographical area It has high bandwidth It is cheaper over long distances It can transmit to places where cables cannot reach.

6.7 Disadvantages of Satellite Communication.

High initial cost Susceptible to noise and interference Propagation delay

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CH 7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

7.1 Conclusion Free-space Optical Communication technology has proven a great need in the field of wireless communication. FSO due its Low cost and rapidly increasing access over the fiber optic backbone. It is protocol-independent. A FSO link is much cheaper that it can be installed easily comparing to the fiber cable. Data travels through atmosphere, which reduces the cost of digging up sidewalks for a fiber link. The effective data rate and low cost is making this technology very famous. This technology is helpful to a make a connection and communication link for a long distance. Data can travel to thousand miles by FSO. FSO as uses Atmosphere a medium for travel faces many obstacles in the starting but now is recovered with the growing technology. At the end, I can say that FSO being lower in cost and high data rate has grown to great extent. 7.2 Recommendations FSO communication works very well for now but there are still some awareness need to be in the public for using fiber optics instead of fiber cable. It can grow at higher rate if the common public knows about the benefit of using FSO.

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REFERENCES
1
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/pramoddwivedipbh-1539556-free-space-opticalcommunication/

2 3 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_optical_communication

http://www.slideshare.net/XJM6Q/free-space-optical-communication

http://ebookbrowse.com/xiangyangxiaoadaptive-threshold-in-free-space-opticalcommunication-ppt-d181104334

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 2

[SMP08], Simpson, Wes., Video Over IP, Focal Press , Second Edition 2008. Wiley: Free Space Optical Networks