AVIKSHIT-08

FREE SPACE OPTICS

DEFINITION
 It is a line-of-sight technology in which voice,
video and data are sent through the air on
beams of light at speeds up to 1.25 Gbps.
 Like fibre FSO uses lasers to transmit data
but instead of enclosing the data stream in a
glass fibre, it is transmitted through air.
 The technology is useful where the physical
connection of the transmission and
receiving locations is difficult. For e.g. used
in cities where the laying of fibre optics
cables is difficult.
HISTORY
 This was first developed in 1960’s both
domestically and internationally for secure
communications by military.
 Recent advancements due to great
demand for bandwidth.
 In late 19th century Bell’s FSO experiment
converted voice sounds to telephone signals
and transmitted them via air space. Although
Bell’s Photophone never became a
commercial success.
Why was FSO technology deployed
on a much larger scale after 2000?

 Availability of Fiber Optic cables is

less (i.e. it reaches only 10-15% of
buildings in the world).
 Greater demand for bandwidth and
keeping the high budgets of other
networks in mind, FSO came into
existence.
 Deployment of fiber optic cable had
become a challenge.
PRINCIPLE
 FSO transmits
invisible, eye-safe
light beam from one
“telescope” to another
using low power
infrared lasers in tera
hertz spectrum.
 It provides full-duplex
bi-directional
capability.
MAIN COMPONENTS
TRANSMITTER RECEIVER
 Modulated laser  Receives close to
source. collimated radiation
 Beamwidth at receiver independent of
suitable to allow for transmitter pointing.
building sway.  Concentrating lens.
 Photodetector and
amplifier are present.
 HOW FSO WORKS?
3 A receiver at the other end of
2 Transmitter projects the the link collects the light using
carefully aimed light pulses lenses and/or mirrors
into the air

5 Reverse direction data

transported the same way.
• Full duplex

4 Received signal
1 Network traffic
converted into converted back
pulses of into fiber or copper
invisible light and connected to
representing 1’s the network
and 0’s
ADVANTAGES- SECURITY
 FSO laser beams cannot be detected with
spectrum analyzers or RF meters.
 FSO laser transmissions are optical, narrow
& invisible which travel along a line-of-sight
path that cannot be intercepted easily.
 Data can be transmitted over an encrypted
connection adding to the degree of security
in FSO transmission.
SPEED
 The speed of FSO
transmission is
comparable with the
speed of optical fibre
transmission.
 It has low error rates.
 Provides band widths
of 100Mbps,155Mbps
& 1.25Gbps.
SAFETY
 Class 1M lasers
are used and
exposure to the
beam will not result
in eye injury &
therefore be
considered safe.
 Wavelength in the
range of 400 to
1400 nm which
does not affect the
cornea at all.
LOW COST
 It is much cost
effective than
other internet
service.
 Licensing is not
required.
 Minimization of
manual labor.
INSTALLATION
 It can be installed
easily i.e. on the
roof tops or on
the walls .
POINT-TO-POINT CONNECTIVITY
OPTIONS
DSL/ T1/E1 FIBER RF OPTICAL
CABLE WIRELESS WIRELESS
COMMERCIAL LIMITED HIGH POOR MEDIUM HIGH
AVAILABILITY
DISTANCE 3-10 5-20 MILES >100 <40 MILES <3 MILES
MILES MILES
UPTIME SERVICE SERVICE SERVICE SPECTRUM FOG,SNOW
FACTORS INTERRU INTERRU- INTERRU- SATURATION
-PTIONS PTIONS PTIONS ,RAIN
COST LOW MEDIUM HIGH CAPITAL CAPITAL
(MONTHLY) $40-60 $400-600 $3000- INVESTMENT INVESTMEN
5000 ONLY T ONLY
DEPLOYMENT MEDIUM SLOW SLOW FAST FAST
TIME
VOICE YES YES YES YES YES
DATA YES YES YES YES YES
VIDEO May Be May Be YES YES YES
LICENSE NO YES YES NO NO
SCINTILLATION
WHAT IS IT?
 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.
SCINTILLATION(ON BRIGHT SUNNY DAYS)

SOLUTION
 Larger aperture
receiver
 Widely spaced
transmitter
 Automatic gain control
characteristics
 Finely tuned receive
filtering.
BUILDING SWAY(DUE TO THERMAL
DIMENSIONAL DISTORTIONS)

SOLUTION
 It is so designed that
Orientation does not
change even with unit
movement of transmitter
(as it uses a divergent
beam).
 The combination of
effective beam
divergence and a well
matched Field Of View will
help.
 This is called AUTO
TRACKING.
PHYSICAL OBSTRUCTIONS
(e.g. birds ,construction cranes)

SOLUTIONS
 Using multiple, spatially
diverse beams and large
receiver will eliminate
interference concerns.

 An object covering 98% of

the receiving aperature and
all but-1 transmitter will not
cause the FSO LINK to
drop out.

 Moreover, birds are not

injured.
ABSORPTION

WHAT IS IT? SOLUTION

 It occurs when  Use of appropriate
suspended water power according to
molecules in the atmospheric condition
terrestrial atmosphere and
extinguishes photons.  Use of spatially diverse
beams helps maintain
 It causes decrease in the required level of
power density network availability.
(attenuation) of FSO
beam.
RAIN,SNOW,FOG( Rain and snow have very
little effect on FSO technology)

ATTENUATION SOLUTION
 RAIN low attenation  NETWORK
<9dB /km PLANNING (to
 SNOW moderate shorten FSO link
attenuation <12dB distances and to add
/km network
 FOG high redundancies).
attenuation
upto 100dB /km  These are engineered
such that for a large
fraction of time, an
 Still, FSO installation in acceptable power is
foggy cities like SAN received even in the
FRANSISCO have
achieved carrier class presence of heavy
reliability. fog.
Some situations of FOG
APPLICATION
SPACE COMMUNICATION

 Used to communicate between space crafts

since outside of the atmosphere, there is
little to distort the signal.
 “LAST MILE” BOTTLENECK
PROBLEM
Wide Area Networks between major Local Area Networks in buildings are
cities are extremely fast also fast
Fiber based >100Mbps
>2.5 Gbps

The connections in between are

typically a lot slower
0.3-1.5 Mbps

Only about 5% of commercial buildings are lit with fiber

What is “last mile”?

 The last mile is the final leg of delivering

connectivity from a communications
provider to a customer.
 It is sometimes called “first mile”.
APPLICATIONS-scenarios
 LAN to LAN in city.
 To cross a public road or other barriers
which the sender and receiver do not
own.
 Mobile Wireless backhaul.
 High speed ,low interference WiFi
/802.11 backbones.
CONCLUSION
 The markets are New Areas
growing for FSO.  Space
 Speed, Security communication
and Low Cost are  Traffic and
main advantages. Telematics
 Environmental  Quantum Key
factors can be
mitigated to avoid
attenuation.