Free Space Optic

(FSO)
EE 566
Optical Communication
Ming Li
mingli@buffalo.edu

Why choose this topic?

Why still choose this

topic?

September 11, 2001, New

York

 Every

thing was destroyed

including normal fiber link

Wall street stock

market was
closed because
the
communication
was destroyed

Two of these units were used

between building to re-establish a
high speed communication link.

FSO

communication between Merrill Lynch

Brokerage and Wall Street in New York
following the terrorist attack that destroyed
normal fiber optic link

History of Free Space Optics

The transmission of information using

light is actually not a new idea.

Great
Wall

In the late nineteenth century, Alexander

Bell expanded his "phone-phone"
communication which modulated by
sunlight.

Birth of Laser FSO

Communications

Gemini-7

In the mid-1960's
NASA initiated
experiments to
utilize the laser as a
means of
communication
between the ground
and space.

Satellite Laser
Communication

Space-to-Ground Lasercom Link

2000 km Link Distance
1 Gbps Transmission Rate

Chinese First Maned Spaceship

Military Application of
FSO

Air Force
Its potential for low
electromagnetic
emanation when
transferring sensitive
data

Navy
Secure
communication
with submerged
submarines.

Technology from Space

Lasercom

Advantage of FSO

Wireless communicate from A to B

Low costs ($10K to $20K)
High bit rate (10 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps)
Set up a link in a few days
The lasers used are eye safe, so
even a butterfly can fly unscathed
through a beam

Application of FSO

Connectivity Solutions
'Last-Mile' Network Solutions
Temporary Network Provision
Cable Free Connectivity in the Finance
Sector
CCTV Security Applications
GSM Microcell Connectivity

Industrial estates, Science parks and university

campus environments typically exhibit a common
problem a number of separate buildings, separated
by roads or other obstacles, between which
communications links are frequently in demand.

Cable digging, increasingly unpopular in cities, is

regulated by the local authority who may restrict redigging frequency of roads - and the cost may be
prohibitive in any case, especially if a river or railway is in
the way.

FSO vs RF
RF 2.4 GHz systems were
typically running at 2-4 Mbps due
to interference issues in the
unlicensed frequency ranges
FSO provided 10 Mbps of throughput
for less than unlicensed RF
FSO was less cost, more secure,
and seemed simpler

Challenge of FSO

Challenge #1hitting the

target

Challenge #2interrupted
signals

Hitting the target

Getting a laser beam to hit the mark in

a laboratory setting is easy, but in the
real world it is much harder.

1)Atmospheric turbulence
2)Fog
3)Building movement

Atmospheric
attenuation and
scatter
6.5 dB/km
150 dB/km

225 dB/km

300m distance to tall building

Solution

Active beam steering (sometimes

involving MEMS),
Multiple laser beams,
Automated power control, and
calculated laser beam divergence.
Pulsed laser beams start out just
centimeters wide and can diverge to 1
meter or more over typical link
distanceslike using a really big bullet
to hit a small target.

Challenge #2
interrupted signals

An email is beaming across the

FSO connection just as a bird flies
through, blocking the signal.

Solution #2no lost

data

No fear. FSO linkheads essentially "talk" to

one another, and just as people repeat words
in conversation, data can be retransmitted in
the event of a temporary beam blockage.
Several companies even have redundant
radio-frequency links that simultaneously
transmit the FSO signal. When the radio or
the FSO signal is blocked, the counterpart is
automatically usedno loss of data, and no
delay.

Companies and rapidly

advancing FSO technology

AirFiber
Hybrid Free- space optic/Radio

LightPointe

Multi-beam sending process

Terabeam

carrier-grade FSO equipment and services

AirFiber

www.airfiber.com

San Diego, California, was founded in 1998

AirFiber's products
combine FSO with
60 GHz millimeterwave radio, makes
wireless
communication
possible in any
weather.

LightPointe

www.lightpointe.com
San Diego, California, was founded

LightPointe's FSO
products utilize a
multi-beam sending
process, which
overcomes
atmospheric
degradations and
temporary beam
obstructions by
overlapping
redundant infrared
beams.

Terabeam

www.terabeam.com
Kirkland, Washington, was founded in 1997

Terabeam's
FSO products
have advanced
beam-steering
features that
update beam
direction up to
300 times per
second.

Conlusion

FSO is just starting to be applied to

solve the Internet last-mile
interconnectivity problem. Some
believe that it may be the unlimited
bandwidth solution for the metro
urban core of downtown building-tobuilding communication, as well as
the optimal technology for home-tohome and office-to-office
connectivity.

Reference
http://www.lightpointe.com/
http://www.freespaceoptic.com/
http://www.fsonews.com/
http://www.cablefreesolutions.com/
http://www.thefoa.org/
http://www.free-space-optics.org/
http://www.freespaceoptics.com/
http://www.opticsreport.com/