LASER COMMUNICATION

Arijit Baishnab
U.I.T. Burdwan University
Roll No. 20122033
Reg. No. 2564 of 2012-13
 What is LASER Communication??

 Laser communication systems

are wireless connections through
the atmosphere.
 They work similarly to fiber
optic links, except the fact that,
in lasers, beam is transmitted
through free space.
 LASER Communication System

Basic block diagram of laser communication system

DATA TO BE SENT DATA RECOVERED

MODULATOR DEMODULATOR

LASER BEAM
LASER DIODE PHOTON SENSOR

Transmitter Side Medium Receiver Side

 Transmitter

Transmitters consist of
 Signal Processing unit
 Laser Diodes
 OOK

Modulation Techniques:

 ON-OFF Keying(OOK)

 Pulse Width
PWM
Modulation(PWM)

 Pulsed Frequency
Modulation(PFM)
PFM

 The LASER Diode is being turned

ON/OFF quickly as needed according to the
OOK/PWM/PFM signal.
 RECEIVER

Receiver consist of
 Telescope (referred as Antenna)
It concentrates large number of photon into a smaller area

 Photon sensor
(a) Photon Multiplier Tubes
(b) Avalanche Photodiode

 Signal processing unit

 Why LASER Communication??

Current mostly used high speed technologies:

 Fiber optics
 Microwave
 Why not Fiber Optics??

 Installation cost
 Maintenance cost
 Cannot be used in Satellite links

 Laser Communication is low cost and can be

applicable where Fiber Optics is impractical to use.
 Why not Microwave??

 Beam width: Laser beam

width is narrower than that of
Microwave antennas.
 Bandwidth: very much larger
for Laser than microwave.
 Security: Laser is more secure
than microwave.
 Power: Low power needed
for laser compared to microwave.
 Very antenna size for Laser
as compared to microwave.
 Disadvantages!!

Laser link can be affected by-

 Atmospheric absorption
 Fog, Rain, Pollution (smoke)
 Physical obstructions
 Solar radiations

 These can be reduced by using Laser tuning,

multiple number of transmitters, filters etc.
 Current Applications

 Defense and sensitive areas

 At airports for communication across the runways

 Mass communication

 NASA
 Satellite – satellite communication
 Earth – satellite communication
 Future Scope

It is more secure and provides high bandwidth

requirements. The low power consumption is also a
great advantage.
It can be the mostly used technique worldwide in
near future.