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Free Space Laser Communications

Free space laser communications, also known as free space optics or optical wireless, uses lasers and telescopes to transmit data over mid-air optical links. Typical systems operate over distances of less than 4 km and have bandwidths of 10-1000 Mbps. Common components include laser diodes, telescopes, and detectors. System performance depends on factors like transmitter power, beam divergence, and receiver sensitivity which can be impacted by weather like fog. Availability of greater than 99.9% is possible in arid climates by also including backup microwave links.

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81 views22 pages

Free Space Laser Communications

Free space laser communications, also known as free space optics or optical wireless, uses lasers and telescopes to transmit data over mid-air optical links. Typical systems operate over distances of less than 4 km and have bandwidths of 10-1000 Mbps. Common components include laser diodes, telescopes, and detectors. System performance depends on factors like transmitter power, beam divergence, and receiver sensitivity which can be impacted by weather like fog. Availability of greater than 99.9% is possible in arid climates by also including backup microwave links.

Uploaded by

shahramkarimi76
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Free Space Laser Communications

25 June 2001

Phillip Dykstra
WareOnEarth Communications Inc. [email protected]

Introduction
Free space laser communications
a.k.a. Free Space Optics, Optical Wireless

Basically a laser and a telescope Most are protocol independent Typical range < 4 km (.5, 1, 2, 4, 8km) Typical bandwidths: 10, 100, 1000 Mbps
Lucent 10 Gbps DWDM (TeraBeam)

Example Systems

LightPointe Flight series

ICS Sky series

LSA Supraconnect

Transmitters
LED (single or multiple)
1 mW typical

Laser (single or multiple)


10-20 mW typical, up to 100 mW

Usually 785 or 850 nm, some 1310 nm Eye safety limit: 1.5 mW/cm^2 at 785 nm Multiple transmitters boost power, may also reduce scintillation fades

Detectors
PIN Diodes
-43 dBm typical

Avalanche Photo Diodes (APD)


-53 dBm typical (also greater dynamic range)

Single or multiple detectors Larger aperture increases receive power, reduces scintillation fades Design goal: BER < 10^-9 typical

Laser Link Geometry


Critical Design Parameters
Receive area = 200 cm2

Receiver sensitivity
Beam Divergence = 3 mrad

Distance = 1km Transmit Power Diameter = 3 m Beam area = 70686 cm2

Adapted from a LightPointe Technology slide

System Comparison
(OC3 1km products)
OpticalAccess Transmit Power (mW) 10 (10 dBm) Beam Diverg (mrad) Receive Area (cm^2) Min Recv Power (nW) dBm) Price 2.5 52 ICS 100 (20 dBm) 11 232 LightPointe 4 (6 dBm) 3 200 50 (-43 $24k

100 (-40 dBm) 32 (-45 dBm) $19.5k $25k

Example Loss Budget


Optical Access T1000X
Tx Power (dBm) = 10.00 Distance = Beam Area = 686 meters 2.31 meters^2 Beam Diameter = 1.72 meters Geometric loss = -26.65 dB Rx Max (dBm) = -16.65 Rx Min (dBm) = -40.00 Margin (dBm) = 23.35 -3 dB mispointing - 10 dB scintillation = 10 dB for atmospheric attenuation
-40 dBm -17 dBm -20 dBm +10 dBm

-30 dBm

Equipment Delivery

T1000X Interface Box

T1000X Full View

Platform Mount

Eastward View

Westward View

Concrete Pedestal Base

Front of T1000X

Fog Event (19 June 01)

Fog Event (cont)

Packet Loss

Availability
Availability = Prob (Visibility > Vmin)
V > 1.5km San Diego Las Vegas 98% 99.9% V > 0.5km 99.1% 100%

99.999% is nearly impossible, except in the desert Some products add backup microwave (lower speed)

For More Info


http://wcisd.hpc.mil/ Served by the laser link Laser and Weather stats Links to laser company web sites [email protected]

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