GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING
(Affiliated to DBATU, Lonere)
Dhamangaon Road, Yavatmal - 445106

A Seminar Report On
Free Space Optics 'FSO'

For the part of curriculum Seminar Report of

Electronics & Telecommunications Department.

Submitted By:-
Mr.Mohd.Taufeeque

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC AND TELECOMMUNICATION

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, YAVATMAL

( 2021-2022)

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GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DHAMANGAON ROAD, YAVATMAL - 445106

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication

Engineering

CERTIFICATE
Certified that the Seminar report work entitled “Free Space Optics" is a
Bonafide work Carried out by

Mr.Mohd.Taufeeque

The report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in

respect of seminar project work prescribe by the course.

Mrunali Ingole Prachi Bhagat

Lecturer Head of The Department

Principal

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 ACKNOLODGEMENT

It is an incident of great pleasure for us submitting this Seminar

Report .We take this opportunity to express our deep sense of
gratitude and great thanks to our guide Lect Mrunali Ingole and
our HOD Dr.Prachi Bhagat has been a constant source of
guidance and inspiration through this report work we shall ever be
grateful to them for the encouragement and suggestion given by
them from time to time.

It’s a grateful to thank all the teaching members of Electronics

And Tele- Communication Engineering Department and sincere
thanks to our principal who always inspire us.

We also thankful to our friends and library staff members

whose encouragement and suggestion helped us to complete
our micro project.

Last but not least, we thankful to our parents whose best

wishes are always are with us.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC AND TELECOMMUNICATION

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, YAVATMAL

( 2021-2022)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Introduction
 History
 Working
 Why FSO
 Merit's
 Limitations
 Application
 FSO Challenges
 Security
 FSO Architecture
 FSO Drivers
 Conclusion
 Reference's

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 ABSTRACT

FSO is a communication system where free space acts as medium

between transceivers and they should be in LOS for successful
transmission of optical signal. Medium can be air, outer space, or
vacuum. This system can be used for communication purpose in
hours and in lesser economy. There are many advantages of FSO
like high bandwidth and no spectrum license. The transmission in
FSO is dependent on the medium because the presence of foreign
elements like rain, fog, and haze, physical obstruction, scattering,
and atmospheric turbulence are some of these factors. Different
studies on weather conditions and techniques employed to
mitigate their effect are discussed in this paper.

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 INTRODUCTION

FSO provides point-to-point transmission of communication

information through the atmosphere using the Optical signals as
the carrier frequencies. It has drawn attention in
telecommunication industry, due to its cost effectiveness - easy
installation, quick establishment of communication link especially
in the disaster management scenario, high bandwidth provisioning
and wide range of applications. The range of frequencies where it
operates makes FSO communication free from licensing. With FSO
communication, maximum data transfer rates up to 2.5 Gbps is
possible, unlike the maximum data transfer rates of 622Mbps
offered by RF communication systems.

FSO involves the optical transmission of voice, video, and data

using air as the medium of transmission. Transmission using FSO
technology is relatively simple. It involves two systems each
consisting of an optical transceiver which consists of a laser
transmitter and a receiver to provide full duplex (bi-directional)
capability. Each FSO system uses a high-power optical source (e.g.,
laser ) plus a telescope that transmits light through the
atmosphere to another telescope that receives the information. At
that point, the receiving telescope connects to a high- sensitivity
receiver through an optical fiber.

What is a Free Space Optical Transmission System?

A Free Space Optical transmission system is a wireless form of

connection designed for the interconnection of two points which
have a direct line of sight. The systems operate by taking a
standard data or telecommunications signal, converting it into a
digital format and transmitting it through free space. The carrier
used for the transmission of this signal is Infrared and is
generated by either high power LED or laser diode. The basic
principles for the transmission of a signal along a fibre are the
same as for transmission through free space.

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Fundamental of free space optical communication.

FSO is a technique used to convey data carried by a laser beam

through the atmosphere. While FSO offers a broadband service, it
requires Lone of Sight (LOS) communication between the
transmitter and receiver as shown in the Fig. The atmosphere has
effects on the laser beam passing through it, so the quality of data
received is affected. To reduce this effect, the fundamental system
components must be designed to adopt with the weather
conditions. This design is mostly related to transmitter and
receiver components. In the following subsection, we will tackle
discuss the components and the basic system of FSO.

Schematic showing FSO Transmitter and Receiver LOS.

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 HISTORY

Optical Communication, in various forms, have been used for

thousands of years.The Ancient Greeks polished their shailds to
send signals during battle. In the modern era, semaphores and
wireless solar telegraphs called Heliographs were developed,
using coded signals to communicate with their recipients.In 1880
Alexander Graham Bell and his then-assistant Charles Sumner
Tainter created the photophone, in Washington, D.C. Bell
considered it his most important invention. The device allowed for
the transmission of sound on a beam of light. On June 3, 1880,
Alexander Graham Bell conducted the world's first wireless
telephone transmission between two building rooftopsIts. First
practical use came in military communication systems many
decades later.

The invention of lasers in the 1960s revolutionized Free Space

Optics. Military organizations were particularly interested and
boosted their development. However the technology lost market
momentum when the installation of optical fiber networks for
civilian uses was at its peak.

In 1966 Charles K. Kao and George Hockham proposed optical

fibers at STC Laboratories (STL), Harlow, when they showed that
the losses of 1000 db/km in existing glass (compared to 5-10
db/km in coaxial cable) was due to contaminants,which could
potentially be removed.

8
Optical fiber was successfully developed in 1970 by Corning Glass
Works, with attenuation low enough for communication purposes
(about 20dB/km), and at the same time GaAs semiconductor
lasers were developed that were compact and therefore suitable
for transmitting light through fiber optic cables for long distances.

After a period of research starting from 1975, the first commercial

fiber-optic communications system was developed, which
operated at a wavelength around 0.8 µm and used GaAs
semiconductor lasers. This first-generation system operated at a
bit rate of 45 Mbps with repeater spacing of up to 10 km. Soon on
22 April, 1977, General Telephone and Electronics sent the first live
telephone traffic through fiber optics at a 6 Mbps throughput in
Long Beach, California.

The second generation of fiber-optic communication was

developed forcommercial use in the early 1980s, operated at 1.3
µm, and used In GaAsP semiconductor lasers. Although these
systems were initially limited by dispersion, in 1981 the single-
mode fiber was revealed to greatly improve system performance.
By 1987, these systems were operating at bit rates of up to 1.7
Gb/s with repeater spacing up to 50 km.

The first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fiber was TAT
-8, based on Desurvire optimized laser amplification technology. It
went into operation in 1988.Third-generation fiber-optic systems
operated at 1.55 µm and had losses of about 0.2 dB/km. They
achieved this despite earlier difficulties with pulse-spreading at
that wavelength using conventional InGaAsP semiconductor lasers.

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Scientists overcame this difficulty by using dispersion-shifted
fibers designed to have

minimal dispersion at 1.55 µm or by limiting the laser spectrum to

a single longitudinal mode. These developments eventually
allowed third-generation systems to operate commercially at 2.5
Gbit/s with repeater spacing in excess of 100 km.

The fourth generation of fiber-optic communication systems used

optical amplification to reduce the need for repeaters and
wavelength-division multiplexing to increase data capacity. These
two improvements caused a revolution that resulted in the
doubling of system capacity every 6 months starting in 1992 until
a bit rate of 10 Tb/s was reached by 2001. Recently, bit-rates of up
to 14 Tbit/s have been reached over a single 160 km line using
optical amplifiers.The focus of development for the fifth
generation of fiber-optic communications is on extending the
wavelength range over which a WDM system can operate. The
conventional wavelength window, known as the C band, covers the
wavelength range 1.53-1.57 µm, and the new dry fiber has a low-
loss window promising an extension of that range to 1.30-1.65 µm.
Other developments include the concept of " optical solitons, "
pulses that preserve their shape by counteracting the effects of
dispersion with the nonlinear effects of the fiber by using pulses of
a specific shape.

In the late 1990s through 2000, industry promoters, and research

companies such as KMI and RHK predicted vast increases in
demand for communications bandwidth due to increased use of
the Internet, and commercialization of various bandwidth-intensive
consumer services, such as video on demand. Internet protocol
data traffic was increasing exponentially, at a faster rate than
integrated circuit complexity had increased under Moore's Law.

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 WORKING

FSO communication subsystem.

FSO communication is a line of sight technology that uses laser
beam for sending the very high bandwidth digital data from one
point to another through atmosphere. This can be achieved by
using a modulated narrow laser beam lunched from a
transmission station to transmit it through atmosphere and
subsequently received at the receiver station. The generalized FSO
system is illustrated in Fig.it is typically consists of transmitter,
FSO channel and a receiver.

Block Diagram of a Terrestrial FSO System.

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Transmitter
Transmitter transforms the electrical signal to an optical signal
and it modulates the laser beam to transfer carrying data to the
receiver through the atmosphere channel. The transmitter consists
of four parts as shown in Fig. (2): laser modulator, driver, optical
source and transmit telescope.
Laser modulator
Laser modulation means the data were carried by a laser beam.
The modulation technique can be implemented in following two
common methods: internal modulation and external modulation [2].
Internal modulation: is a process which occurs inside the laser
resonator and it depends on the change caused by the additive
components and change the intensity of the laser beam according
to the information signal.
External modulation: is the process which occurs outside the laser
resonator and it depends on both the polarization phenomena and
the refractive dualism phenomenon.
Driver
Driver circuit of a transmitter transforms an electrical signal to an
optical signal by varying the current flow through the light source.
Optical source
Optical source may be a laser diode (LD) or light emitting diode
(LED), which used to convert the electrical signal to optical signal.
A laser diode is a device that produces optical radiation by the
process of stimulated emission photons from atoms or molecules
of a lasing medium, which have been excited from a ground state
to a higher energy level. A laser diode emits light that is highly
monochromatic and very directional. This means that the LD's
output has a narrow spectral width and small output beam angle
divergence. LDs produce light waves with a fixed- phase
relationship between points on the electromagnetic wave. There
are two common types of laser diode: Nd:YAG solid state laser and
fabry-perot and distributed-feedback laser (FP and DFB).

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Laser source selection criteria for FSO
The selection of a laser source for FSO applications depends on
various factors. They factors can be used to select an appropriate
source for a particular application. To understand the descriptions
of the source performance for a specific application, one should
understand these detector factors. Typically the factors that
impact the use of a specific light source include the following.
Price and availability of commercial components
Transmission power and lifetime
Modulation capabilities
Eye safety
Physical dimensions and compatibility with other transmission
media.
Transmitter telescope
The transmitter telescope collects, collimates and directs the
optical radiation towards the receiver telescope at the other end of
the channel.
FSO channel
For FSO links, the propagation medium is the atmosphere. The
atmosphere may be regarded as series of concentric gas layers
around the earth. Three principal atmospheric layers are defined in
the homosphere the troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere.
These layers are differentiated by their temperature gradient with
respect to the altitude. In FSO communication, we are especially
interested in the troposphere because this is where most weather
phenomena occur and FSO links operate at the lower part of this
layer.
The atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen (N2, 78%),
oxygen (O2, 21%), and argon (Ar, 1%), but there are also a number
of other elements, such as water (H2O, 0 to 7%) and carbon dioxide
(CO2, 0.01 to 0.1%), present in smaller amounts. There are also
small particles that contribute to the composition of the
atmosphere; these include particles (aerosols) such as haze, fog,
dust, and soil.

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Propagation characteristics of FSO through atmosphere drastically
change due to communication environment, especially, the effect
of weather condition is strong. The received signal power
fluctuates and attenuates by the atmospheric obstacles such as
rain, fog, haze and turbulence in the propagation channel. The
atmospheric attenuation results from the interaction of the laser
beam with air molecules and aerosols along the propagation. The
main effects on optical wireless communication are absorption,
scattering, and scintillation.
Receiver
The receiver optics consists of five parts as shown in Fig receiver
telescope, optical filter, detector, amplifier and demodulator.
Receiver telescope
The receiver telescope collects and focuses the incoming optical
radiation on to the photo detector. It should be noted that a large
receiver telescope aperture is desirable because it collects
multiple uncorrelated radiation and focuses their average on the
photo detector.
Optical filter
By introducing optical filters that allow mainly energy at the
wavelength of interest to impinge on the detector and reject
energy at unwanted wavelengths, the effect of solar illumination
can be significantly minimized .
Detector
The detector also called photodiode (PD) is a semiconductor
devices which converts the photon energy of light into an electrical
signal by releasing and accelerating current conducting carriers
within the semiconductors. Photodiodes operate based on
photoconductivity principals, which is an enhancement of the
conductivity of p-n semiconductor junctions due to the absorption
of electromagnetic radiation. The diodes are generally reverse-
biased and capacitive charged. The two most commonly used
photodiodes are the pin photodiode and the avalanche photodiode
(APD) because they have good quantum efficiency and are made
of semiconductors that are widely available commercially

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 WHY FSO?
The increasing demand for high bandwidth in metro networks is
relentless, and service providers' pursuit of a range of applications,
including metro network extension, enterprise LAN-to-LAN
connectivity, wireless backhaul and LMDS supplement has created
an imbalance. This imbalance is often referred to as the "last mile
bottleneck." Service providers are faced with the need to provide
services quickly and cost-effectively at a time when capital
expenditures are constrained. But the last mile bottleneck is only
part of a larger problem. Similar issues exist in other parts of the
metro networks. "Connectivity bottleneck" better addresses the
core dilemma.

The connectivity bottleneck is everywhere in metro networks. From

a technology standpoint, there are several options to address this
"connectivity bottleneck," but most don't make economic sense.
Firstly, the most obvious choice is fiber-optic cable. Without a
doubt, fiber is the most reliable means of providing optical
communications. But the digging, delays and associated costs to
lay fiber often make it economically prohibitive. Second option is
the radio frequency (RF) technology. RF is a mature technology
that offers longer ranges than FSO, but RF-based networks require
immense capital investments to acquire spectrum license. RF
technologies cannot scale and the bandwidth is limited to 622
megabits. The third alternative is wire- and copper-based
technologies, (i.e. cable modem, DSL etc.). Although copper
infrastructure is available almost everywhere and the percentage
of buildings connected to copper is much higher than fiber, it is
still not a viable alternative for solving the connectivity bottleneck.
The biggest hurdle is bandwidth scalability. Copper technologies
may ease some short-term pain, but the bandwidth limitations of 2
megabits to 3 megabits make them a marginal solution, even on a
good day.Fourth and finally, the most viable-alternative is FSO. The
technology facilitates an optimal solution, bandwidth scalability,
speed of deployment (hours versus weeks or months),
redeployment and portability, and cost-effectiveness (on average,
one-fifth the cost of installing fiber-optic cable).

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 MERITS
 Free space optics is a flexible network that delivers better
speed than broadband.

 Installation is very easy and it takes less than 30 minutes to

install at normal locations.

 It has very low initial investment.

 It is a straight forward deployment system. There is no need

for spectrum license or frequency coordination between
users as it is required in radio and microwave systems
previously.

 It is a secure system because of line of sight operation and

so no security system upgradation is needed.

 High data rate can be obtained which is comparable to the

optical fiber cable’s data rate but error rate is very low and
the extremely narrow laser beam enables having unlimited
number of FSO links which can be installed in a specific area.

 There is immunity to radio frequency interference.

 Electromagnetic and radio-magnetic interference cannot

affect the transmission in FSO link.

 FSO offers dense spatial reuse.

 Low power usage per transmitted bit is merit of FSO system.

 There is relatively high bandwidth.

 It has flexible rollouts.

 Transmission of optical beam is done in air. Hence,

transmission is having speed of light.

These merits indicate the significance of FSO system over

different communication systems. Comparison of different
systems based on various parameters.

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 LIMITATIONS
The advantages of free space optics are easy to come. But as the
medium of the transmission is air for FSO and the light passes
through it, some environmental challenges are unavoidable.
Troposphere regions are the region where most of the
atmospheric phenomenon occurred. The effect of these
limitations over the atmosphere is shown in Figure Some of these
limitations are briefly described below:

 Physical obstructions: flying birds, trees, and tall buildings

can temporarily block a single beam, when it appears in line
of sight (LOS) of transmission of FSO system.

 Scintillation: there would be temperature variations among

different air packets due to the heat rising from the earth and
the man-made drives like heating ducts. These temperature
variations can cause fluctuations in amplitude of the signal
which causes “image dancing” at the FSO receiving end. The
effect of scintillation is addressed by Light Pointe’s unique
multibeam system .

 Geometric losses: geometric losses which can be called

optical beam attenuation are induced due to the spreading of
beam and reduced the power level of signal as it travelled
from transmitted end to receiver end.

 Absorption: absorption is caused by the water molecules

which are suspended in the terrestrial atmosphere. The
photons power would be absorbed by these particles. The
power density of the optical beam is decreased and the
availability of the transmission in a FSO system is directly
affected by absorption. Carbon dioxide can also cause the
absorption of signal.

 Atmospheric turbulence: the atmospheric disturbance

happens due to weather and environment structure. It is
caused by wind and convection which mixed the air parcels
at different temperatures. This causes fluctuations in the
density of air and it leads to the change in the air refractive
index. The scale size of turbulence cell can create different
type of effects given below and which would be dominant:

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1. If size of turbulence cell is of larger diameter than optical
beam then beam wander would be the dominant effect.
Beam wander is explained as the displacement of the optical
beam spot rapidly.

2. If size of turbulence cell is of smaller diameter than optical

beam then the intensity fluctuation or scintillation of the
optical beam is a dominant one.

3. can lead to degradation of the optical beam of transmission.

Change in the refractive index causes refraction of beam at
different angle and spreading of optical beam takes place.

 Atmospheric attenuation: atmospheric attenuation is the

resultant of fog and haze normally. It also depends upon
dust and rain. It is supposed that atmospheric attenuation is
wavelength dependent but this is not true. Haze is
wavelength dependent. Attenuation at 1550nm is less than
other wavelengths in haze weather condition . Attenuation in
fog weather condition is wavelength independent.

 Scattering: scattering phenomena happen when the optical

beam and scatterer collide. It is wavelength dependent
phenomenon where energy of optical beam is not changed.
But only directional redistribution of optical energy happens
which leads to the reduction in the intensity of beam for
longer distance. Atmospheric attenuation is divided into
three types.

1. Rayleigh scattering which is known as molecule scattering.

2. Mie scattering which is known as aerosol scattering

3. Nonselective scattering which is known as geometric

scattering.

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 Atmospheric Weather Conditions. Atmosphere is the
medium of transmission for a FSO link. Attenuation caused
by it depends upon several conditions. Weather conditions
are the main cause of attenuation. The region in which a link
is being established has some specific weather conditions
so that the preceding knowledge of attenuation can be
gained; for example, fog and heavy snow are the two primary
weather conditions in temperate regions. In tropical regions,
heavy rain and haze are two main weather conditions and
have major effect on the availability of FSO link in that region
Some of the weather conditions are described below.

1. Fog. Fog substantially attenuates visible radiation. Optical

beam of light is absorbed, scattered, and reflected by the
hindrance caused by fog. Scattering caused by fog, also
known as Mie scattering [1], is largely a matter of boosting
the transmitted power.

2. Rain. Rain attenuation exists due to rain fall and is a

nonselective scattering. This type of attenuation is
wavelength independent [11]. Rain has the ability to produce
the fluctuation effects in laser delivery. The visibility of FSO
system depends upon the quantity of the rain. In case of
heavy rain, water droplets have solid composed and it can
either modify the optical beam characteristics or restrict the
passage of beam as optical beam is absorbed, scattered,
and reflected.

3. Haze. Haze particles can stay longer time in the air and lead
to the atmospheric attenuation. So, attenuation values
depend upon the visibility level at that time. There are two
ways to gather information about attenuation for checking
the performance of FSO system: first, by installing system
temporary at the site and check its performance and, second,
by using Kim and Kruse model.

4. Smoke. It is generated by the combustion of different

substances like carbon, glycerol, and household emission. It
affects the visibility of transmission medium.

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5. Sandstorms. Sandstorms are the well-known problem in
outdoor link communication. These can be characterized by
two ways: first, the size of the wind particles which depends
on the soil texture and, second, necessary wind speed in
order to blow the particles up during a minimum period of
time.

6. Clouds. Cloud layers are main part of earth atmosphere. The

formation of clouds is done by the condensation or
deposition of water above earth’s surface. It can completely
block the fractions of optical beam transmitted from earth to
the space. The attenuation caused by clouds is difficult to
calculate because of the diversity and inhomogeneity of the
cloud particles.

7. Snow. Snow has larger particles which causes the

geometric scattering. The snow particles have impact similar
to Rayleigh scattering.

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 APPLICATION
Free-Space Optics has several applications in Telecom Networks
where an optical gap exists between the network core and the
network edge. FSO delivers cost-effective optical connectivity and
faster returns on investment (ROI) for enterprises and service
providers. Although the growth in the usage of the FSO technology
is slow at the moment, but with high-bandwidth demands and the
need for economically viable optical solutions, FSO is likely to
outpace the deployment of fiber-optic cable.
Telecom network extensions: FSO can be deployed to extend an
existing metro ring or to connect new networks. These links
generally do not reach the ultimate end user, but are more an
application for the core of the network.
Enterprise: The Flexibility of FSO allows it to be deployed in many
enterprise applications such as LAN to LAN connectivity, Storage
Area Networks, and intra-campus connections.
Last-mile connectivity: These are the links that reach the end user.
They can be deployed in point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, ring or
mesh connections.
Fiber Complement: FSO may also be deployed as a redundant link
to back up fiber. Most operators deploying fiber for business
applications connect two fibers to secure a reliable service plus
backup in the event of outage. Instead of deploying two fiber links,
operators could opt to deploy an FSO system as the redundant link.
Access: FSO can also be deployed in access applications such as
gigabit Ethernet access. Service providers can use FSO to provide
high capacity links to businesses.
Backhaul: FSO can be used for backhaul such as LMDS or cellular
backhaul as well as gigabit Ethernet "off-net" to transport network
backhaul.
DWDM Services: With the integration of WDM and FSO systems,
independent players that aim to build their own fiber rings, yet they
may own only part of the ring.
Metro network extensions: FSO may be used to extend existing
metropolitan area fiberings to connect new networks from outside.
Last mile access FSO can be used in high-speed links to connect
end users with ISPs.

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Free Space Optics (FSO): Challenges

When light is transmitted through the air as in optical wireless

systems like Free Space Optics (FSO), it must contend with a
complex and not always quantifiable subject - the atmosphere.

Figure-1: FSO challenges

Free Space Optics (FSO) technology based wireless systems are

not without challenges. The fundamental limitation of free space
optical communications arises from the environment through
which it propagates. Although relatively unaffected by rain and
snow, free space optical communication systems can be severely
affected by fog and atmospheric turbulence. The main design
challenges in free space optical communications are depicted in
figure-1.

Fog and Free space optics

The main challenge is fog. Fog is vapor composed of water
droplets, which are only a few hundred microns in diameter but
can modify light characteristics or completely hinder the passage
of light through a combination of absorption, scattering, and
reflection. This can lead to a decrease in the power density of the
transmitted beam, decreasing the effective distance of a free

22
space optical link.
Scintillation and free space optics
Scintillation is the spatial variation in light intensity caused by
atmospheric turbulence. Such turbulence is caused by wind and
temperature gradients that create pockets of air with rapidly
varying densities and, therefore, fast-changing
indices of optical reflection. These air pockets act like lenses with
time-varying properties and can lead to sharp increases in the bit-
error rates of free space optical communication systems,
particularly in the presence of direct sunlight.
Beam Wander and free space optics
Beam wander arises when turbulent wind current (eddies) larger
than the diameter of the transmitted optical beam cause a slow,
but significant, displacement of the transmitted beam. Beam
wander may also be the result of seismic activity that causes a
relative displacement between the position of the transmitting
laser and the receiving photo detector.
Free space optics pointing stability: Building sway tower
movement
Fixed pointed Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are designed to be
capable of handling the vast majority of movement found in
deployments on buildings. The combination of effective beam
divergence and a well matched receive Field-of-View (FOV) provide
for an extremely robust fixed pointed Free Space Optics (FSO)
system suitable for most deployments. Fixed-pointed Free Space
Optics (FSO) systems are generally preferred over actively-tracked
Free space optics systems due to their lower cost.
Eye safety and free space optics
With the proliferation of optical wireless communication products
directing laser beams into potentially populated area, the issue of
laser eye safety becomes of increasing significance for public
safety. Such systems should be eye safe ,which means that they
must pose no danger to people who might happen to encounter
the communication beams. This requirement manifests itself in
the form of upper limits to the intensity of the transmitted laser
beam

23
 SECURITY

Security aspects of Free Space Optics (FSO)

Free space optics offers numerous applications but there are a lot
of concerns about the security issues in unregulated space. One of
the security risks of wireless transmissions is the interception of
data. The broader the signal, the easier it is to intercept. Free
space optics allows for a much narrower signal than traditional
wireless methods of transmission and it stays narrow for the
whole journey, which means there is a lower security risk.
With free space optics there is also an absence of what are termed
side lobes, which is energy that is lost to the sides and back of the
signal. This lost energy carries the same signal as the main
transmission and this means it can be picked up by someone
other than the intended target.
Another natural security feature of free space optics is the need
for an uninterrupted signal between units. If the signal becomes
blocked for any reason, including by a detector, the transmission
will automatically end.

24
 FSO ARCHITECTURES

FSO systems can be designed and engineered to work in any

network topology, including mesh, PMP, PTP, and ring. This gives
metropolitan area service providers the freedom to rapidly build
and extend networks that deliver fiber-optic speeds to today's
customers.
Mesh Architecture
A mesh network shown in Figure is composed of a series of
interconnected nodes with some degree of redundancy. In such a
network, every node is connected to every other node, either
directly or by a series of hops. The level of redundancy in the
network determines the level of connectedness in the network.
Thus, the higher the number of nodes, the better the system. Mesh
networks offer high reliability with easy node addition.

Figure-: Mesh architecture

Point-to-Multipoint Architecture
A single node serves as an originator and multiple links emanate
from it. The most effective method is to connect each FSO link
into a layer 2 or 3 device located in a building closet. Then the links
are fiber coupled to the switch or router and placed at arbitrary
locations either on the building rooftop or in an interior room or
office therein. Attempts have been made to sectorize the optical
beam to serve more than one customer at a time from a single
node, as done in LMDS systems, but this architecture is restricted
by power limitations imposed by regulatory authorities. Point-to-
Multipoint Architecture shown in Figure offers cheaper

25
connections and facilitates node addition but at the expense of
lower bandwidth than the point to point option.

Figure-: point to multipoint architecture

Multiple PTP Architecture:
Multiple PTP architecture shown in figure is suitable in cases
where it is desirable to create an extensive link path that exceeds
the product range limit or the recommended weather constrained
distance for an optical link. It is a dedicated connection that offers
higher bandwidth.

Figure-: multiple PTP architecture

26
 FSO DRIVERS

The key drivers for FSO: market, economic service, business and
environment are as mentioned below:
Market Drivers
 Increasing Numb er of Internet User s/Sub scrib er s
 Increasing E-Commerce Activities
 MMDS/LMDS
 Deployment of 3G and 4G
Economic Drivers
 Faster Service Activation
 Ultra-scalability and Bandwidth Allows for Lower Inventory
Costs
 Multiple Applications/Services Support
Service Drivers
 Increasing Demand for High-Speed Access Interfaces
 Need to Eliminate the Metro Gap
 Need for Real Time Provisioning

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 CONCLUSION

Free space optics (FSO) provides a low cost, rapidly deployable

method of gaining access to the fiber optic backbone. FSO
technology not only delivers fiber-quality connections, it provides
the lowest cost transmission capacity in the broadband industry.
As a truly protocol-independent broadband conduit, FSO systems
complement legacy network investments and work in harmony
with any protocol, saving substantial up-front capital investments.
An FSO link can be procured and installed for as little as one-tenth
of the cost of laying fiber cable, and about half as much as
comparable microwave/RF wireless systems. By transmitting data
through the atmosphere, FSO systems dispense with the
substantial costs of digging up sidewalks to install a fiber link.
Unlike RF wireless technologies, FSO eliminates the need to obtain
costly spectrum licenses or meet further regulatory requirements.

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 REFERENCES

 www.freespaceoptics.com
 www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/wireless/free-
space-optics-viable-secure-last-mile- solution 161
 www.fsona.com
 www.pavdata.com
 http://www.laseroptronics.com/index.cfm/id/57-66.htm

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