Realization of OFDM based Free Space Optics
Raminderjit Singh1
M-Tech Scholar
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
Amritsar College of Engineering & Technology
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Abstract—OFDM(Optical Frequency Division Multiplexing)
provides a promising solution for delivering high data rate , large
link range for Free space optical link even for worse atmospheric
condition like fog, haze, rain etc. With the help of OFDM high
spectral efficiency can be achieved as the data is distributed over
large number of orthogonal carrier. This paper investigate the
performance of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) based Free Space optical (FSO) Communication
System. By using 4-Level QAM and OFDM Modulation, 20Gbps
data is transmitted through the FSO system under different
weather condition. Further improvement in the link rage can be
done by use of SOA (semiconductor optical amplifier). In the
current work maximum link range achieved is 260km for clear
weather (attenuation 0.11dBm) whereas for heavy
fog(attenuation 22dBm) the maximum distance achieved is 4 km.
Keywords—Free space optics, Optical Frequency Division
Multiplexing,Turbulence,QAM.
I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, researches on FSO are based on Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as it combines the
advantages of both techniques by mitigating the multipath
propagation effects to improve the transmission data rate. The
performance of such systems depends on type of base band
modulation used, number of subcarriers, nature of laser
beam[1-2]. From The last two decades Free Space Optical
Communication (FSO) has become more and more interesting
as an adjunct or alternative to radio frequency communication.
Free-space optical communication (FSO) is an optical
communication technology that uses light propagating in free
space to transmit data for telecommunications or computer
networking. FSO Technology has the combined features of
wireless and fiber optic. Huge bandwidth, enhanced security,
license free operation, high data rate are some of the
advantages of Free Space Optical Communication System
over conventional microwave and optical fiber
communication[1]. The working principle of FSO is same as
that of Optical fiber Communication System. The difference
between them is that in Fiber communication fiber cable is
used as transmission medium, on the other hand in FSO,
atmosphere is used as the transmission medium[2]. FSO
communication systems use laser diode or LEDs to produce a
signal in near infrared range, i.e., they are operating at780–900
nm and 1500–1600 nm [3]. The main disadvantage is that a
clear line of sight (LOS) is always required between
978-1-4673-7910-6/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE
Gaurav Soni*1
Associate Professor
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
Amritsar College of Engineering & Technology
Amritsar, Punjab, India
gaurav.ece@acetedu.in
transmitter and the receiver terminals [4-5]. As the
transmission medium for FSO is atmosphere so the
availability of FSO signal or the distance up to which the FSO
signal can be sent depends upon the atmospheric condition.
The performance of FSO depends upon several parameters.
These parameters can be divided into many two categories:
internal parameters and external parameters. Internal
parameters are concerned with design of an FSO system and
include optical power, wavelength, transmission bandwidth,
divergence angle and optical loss on the transmitter and
receiver sensitivity, bit error rate (BER), receive lens diameter,
and receive field of view (FOV) on the receiver. In Order to
reduce the atmospheric effect, theses parameters must be
selected properly [6]. Laser power must be accordance with
eye regulation so that it must not harm the human eye.
External factor include different atmospheric condition such as
rain, dust, snow, fog, haze etc which affect the communication
distance to a large extent. Multipath fading is also a dominant
factor which affects the FSO signal [7]. As temperature varies,
the refractive index of atmosphere varies and when this
combines with spectral and temporal variation, FSO signal got
affected in the same way as fading occur in wireless
communication network[8]. Multipath fading can be
eliminated using OFDM [10] modulation as in OFDM the data
is distributed over a large number of orthogonal carriers which
are partially overlapped, resulting the high spectral
efficiency[9]. Also FFT/IFFT algorithm can be used in OFDM
transceivers which are less complex. In this paper a high speed
and large bandwidth system has been designed and
investigated using OFDM and QAM.
II. FREE SPACE CHANNEL MODEL
Observing power at the receiver and calculating the link
margin, one can determine factors that affect quality of the
link. Link Margin (LM),[1] usually expressed in decibels, is a
ratio of the received power PR and receiver threshold (s), or
amount of power received above minimum detectable power:
PR
LM = 10 Log (1)
S
In order for signal to be recovered at the receiver’s side, its
power must be higher than receiver sensibility or receiver
threshold. Receiver threshold is usually given by manufacturer
32
and it ranges from -20 to -40 dBm. Power at the receiver [2] Laser Power 10dBm
,[8] can be expressed as: Wavelength 193.1THz
A
PR = PT * RX2 *e−α L (2)
Number of subcarrier 1024
(θ L ) Position array 512
where: PR and PT are power at the receiver and transmitter Number of FFT point 2048
respectively, ARX is receiver aperture area, θ divergence angle, Number of prefix point 64
α atmospheric attenuation and L distance between transmitter
Quadrature Modulator Frequency 15Ghz
and receiver. As shown in the equation (2),[8] power at the
receiver is directly proportional to the transmit power and Beam divergence angle 2 mrad
receiver aperture area, but inversely proportional to the link Transmitter Aperture diameter 5cm
range and divergence angle. Exponential part of the equation Receiver aperture Diameter 20cm
is related to atmospheric attenuation and it has the strongest
influence on the link quality. Another factor that adds to
attenuation of the signal is beam divergence. The link margin IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSION
of an FSO link will decrease with increasing rain rate, which
is measured in mm/hr of rain, attenuation due to fog, haze. This system is tested for different weather condition and for
different link range. It has been observed that with the increase
in distance the received power decreases. Two graphs are
III. SYSTEM DESIGN plotted to show this. Fig. 2a. shows the decrease in power for
Optisystem 13 is used to model the OFDM based FSO system clear weather condition and it can be seen from the graph that
and is shown below. received power decrease from 11.265dBm to just -14.659
when the link range is varied from 50km to 250km.. The
typical value of attenuation with corresponding visibilities is
considered as 0.11dBm/km of clear weather, 4dBm/km for
haze, 9dBm/km for thin fog, 13dBm/km for light fog,
16dBm/km for heavy fog and 22dBm/km for thick fog and a
graph is plotted for these by varying link range (Fig. 2b.). A
table 2 shows the effect of meteorological condition and link
range on received power.
TABLE 2. POWER RECEIVED FOR DIFFERENT WEATHER
CONDITION AND FOR DIFFERENT DISTANCE
Distance In Haze Thin Light Fog Heavy Thick
Km Fog Fog Fog
1 30 30 17.303 16.140 14.673
2 16 14.327 12.938 11.624 7.113
3 14.788 11.994 7.888 2.111 -14.813
4 13.656 8.137 -3.565 -15.291 -39.272
Fig. 1. Purposed OFDM based FSO System

As shown in Fig. 1. 20Gbps data is generated using PRBS It can be observed from the Fig. 2b. and table 2 that the
Generator which is used to generate 16 level QAM signal received power decreases as the weather condition go worse.
using 4 bits per symbol. This signal is fed to OFDM The maximum received power at a distance of 4km for haze is
Modulator which converts the serial data into parallel data. To 13.656dBm, for thin fog is 8.137dBm, for light fog is
modulate this data, QAM Modulator is used. This signal is -3.565dBm, for heavy fog is -15.291dBm and for thick fog it
is just -39.272dBm .
used to modulate CW laser using MZ Modulator. The
modulated signal is send to the receiver through air. Pre and
post amplifier are used to amplify the FSO signal. At the
receiver end APD diode is used to receive the signal after
which it can be converted back to original signal with the help
of OFDM demodulator and QAM demodulator. A
constellation visualizer is used to view the output. A set of
parameters which are used to optimize the link so that signal
can travel up to longer distance are given in the table 1.

TABLE 1. EVALUATION PARAMETER FOR PURPOSED OFDM FSO

SYSTEM
Parameter Value
(a)
Bit rate 20Gbps

2015 International Conference on Green Computing and Internet of Things (ICGCIoT) 33

 a.) b.)

(b)

Fig. 2) Power V/S Distance Graph a) For Clear Weather Condition b) for
different Weather conditions.
Constellation diagrams are made for different weather
conditions which are shown in Fig. 3. It is observed from the
constellation diagram that the maximum distance which can c.) d.)
be achieved for clear weather condition with the help of SOA
is 260 km whereas for heavy fog the maximum achievable
distance is just 4 km.

.
e
Fig. 4 ) RF spectrum at 4 km for a.) clear weather b.) Haze c.) Thin fog d.)
a.) b.) Light fog e.) heavy fog

V. CONCLUSION
In this simulation work OFDM-FSO system is designed
which operate at a data rate of 20 Gbps with a link range of
260 km for clear weather condition. This link range under the
effect of various meteorological condition like Heavy Fog,rain
is reduced to 4 km.
c.) d.)
REFERENCES

[1] Vishal Sharma, “High speed CO-OFDM-FSO transmission

[2]
e.)
[3]
Fig. 3. Constellation Diagram for a.) Clear weather at 260 km b.) Haze at
4km c.) Thin fog at 4km d.) Light fog at 4km e.) heavy fog at 4km
[4]
Fig. 4. Shows RF spectrum for different weather condition. It
is reported from the RF spectrum that when attenuation [5]
increases, the received power decreases. It can be observed
from the RF spectrum that received power for clear weather is
-20dBm, for haze it is -30dBm , for thin fog it is -30dBm, for
light for it is -50dBm and the received power for thick fog is [6]
-70dBm. This RF spectrum is taken at a link range of 4km.
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34 2015 International Conference on Green Computing and Internet of Things (ICGCIoT)

[7] Vishal Sharma, Gurimandeep Kaur “High speed, long reach
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2015 International Conference on Green Computing and Internet of Things (ICGCIoT)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their thanks to the
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering,
Amritsar College of Engineering & Technology, Amritsar,
Punjab (Autonomous college) for their support and
encouragement in developing the system and for carrying out
this research work in the research and development lab which
is being empowered by world class Sophisticated, centre of
excellence hardware like PXIe, VST 5644 R and USRP 2920
and software from National instruments.
Gaurav Soni received his B-Tech Degree in
Electronics and Communication from Punjab
Technical University, Jalandhar in year 2005 and M-
Tech degree in Electronics and Communication from
D.A.V.I.E.T, Jalandhar. He has more than ten years
of teaching and research experience. He has to his
credit 50 research papers in various international
journals and conferences. He studied high-speed
optical transceivers and electrical-optical circuit
board (EOCB) technology for chip-to-chip optical
interconnects. He completed his master thesis in the
latest field of research in Free Space Optical Communication. He designed a
Free Space Optical Communication Link with speed of 2.5Gbps. His research
interests are Wireless communications, next generation optical access
networks, high-speed optical transmission systems, and Optical wireless
communications. He is currently working as Associate Professor in
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Amritsar College
of Engineering and Technology, Amritsar
Er. Raminderjeet Singh is pursuing M-tech degree in ECE from Department
of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Amritsar College of
Engineering and Technology, Amritsar
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