Survey of Free Space

Optical (FSO)
Communications
Opportunities in Next
Generation Cellular
Networks

Frédéric Demers, Halim Yanikomeroglu &

Marc St-Hilaire

Presented at the
Communication Networks and Services Research
Conference
4 May 2011
 Outline
 Motivation & Key Characteristics of FSO systems

 Channel model and path loss overview

 Recent advances in FSO communications

 Full Optical FSO systems
 Hybrid RF/FSO systems
 Mobile FSO systems
 Indoor diffuse FSO systems

 Applications within Next Generation Cellular Networks

 Conclusions
2
Motivation & key characteristics
 RF spectrum scarcity vs increasing throughput
requirements
 A single FSO channel can offers Tb/s throughput
wirelessly
 Free space optical spectrum is license free and
nearly unlimited (very dense reuse)
 FSO systems are generally very difficult to
intercept
 Effective range limited by weather and eye-
safety considerations
3
 Channel model
 Factors affecting light propagation through
the atmosphere

 Physical composition of atmosphere

Changes in refractive indices

Aerosol particles
4
Channel model

5
850 nm 1550 nm
 Channel model
 Channel effects:
 Absorption
 Diffraction
 Rayleigh scattering (atmospheric
gases molecules)
 Mie scattering (aerosol particles)
Weather
 Atmospheric (refractive) turbulence:
 Scintillation
 Beam wander

6
Channel model

7
 Path loss, RF

 Typical RF attenuation (e.g. 2 GHz, 15 dBi antenna gains)

 Avg path loss in free space -> 68 dB @ 1km , 118 dB @ 10 km
 Avg path loss in mobile radio (n=3.4, d0=100 m) -> 82 dB/km, 146
dB @ 10 km

n
 4 d 0   d 
2

PL mobile-radio    
    d0 

8
 Path loss, FSO
Intensity of light at point x and time t’

I   , t , x   I   , t ,0  e 0
    N  x,t dx

Beer-Lambert Law

Intensity of transmitter Space time distribution of species

     a     R     M  
Mie Scattering

Absorption
Raleigh Scattering

M. Bass, "Atmospheric optics," in Handbook of Optics ,Third

Edition ed., vol. 5, M. Bass, Ed. McGraw-Hill, pp. 3.3., 2010. 9
 Pressure Path loss, FSO
 p   7.53  10 q  6
3
n0  1  77    1   7733    10 Refractive index of air
T    2
T

Temperature Humidity


nT r  n0  n r 
Point in space Stochastic component

10
 Path loss, RF vs FSO

 Typical RF attenuation (e.g. 2 GHz, 15 dBi antenna gains)

 Avg path loss in free space -> 68 dB @ 1km , 118 dB @ 10 km
 Avg path loss in mobile radio (n=3.4, d0=100 m) -> 82 dB/km, 146
dB @ 10 km

 Typical optical attenuation (e.g. 1550 nm or 194 THz)

 clear atmospheric conditions -> 0.2 dB/km
 urban (because of dust) -> 10 dB/km
 Rain -> 2-35 dB/km
 Snow -> 10-100 dB/km
 light fog -> 120 dB/km
 dense fog -> 300 dB/km
 maritime fog -> 480 dB/km 11
 Full Optical FSO
 No requirement for
electrical-optical
conversion

 Easy extension of
RF-over-fibre links

 Wavelength division
multiplexing

K. Kazaura, K. Wakamori, M. Matsumoto, T. Higashino, K. Tsukamoto

and S. Komaki, "RoFSO: A universal platform for convergence of fiber
and free-space optical communication networks," Communications 12
Magazine, IEEE, vol. 48, pp. 130-137, 2010.
 Hybrid RF/FSO
 FSO is most affected by fog, RF by
rain

 RF links complements FSO to

achieve carrier class availability
(99.999%)

 Lower throughput in adverse

weather

I. I. Kim and E. Korevaar, "Availability of free space optics (FSO) and

hybrid FSO/RF systems," Optical Wireless Communications IV, EJ
Korevaar, Eds. , Proc. SPIE, vol. 4530, pp. 84-95, 2001. 13
 Mobile FSO Systems
 Tightly packed LED
transceivers around
spherical device

 Able to maintain optical

link in motion

 Experiment rather
simplistic

J. Akella, C. Liu, D. Partyka, M. Yuksel, S. Kalyanaraman and P. Dutta,

"Building blocks for mobile free-space-optical networks," in Wireless
and Optical Communications Networks, 2005. WOCN 2005. Second
IFIP International Conference on, pp. 164-168, 2005. 14
 Indoor Diffuse Optical Wireless
 Non Line-of-Sight optical
communications

 Multipath interference an
issue, limiting throughput

 Hybrid narrow-beam
designs provide both
bandwidth and coverage

R. J. Green, H. Joshi, M. D. Higgins and M. S. Leeson,

"Recent developments in indoor optical wireless systems,"
IET Communications, vol. 2, pp. 3, 2008 15
Next Generation Cellular Networks
 Densification of access points (eNodeB)
 Shorter hops
 Suitability to mesh connectivity

 Heterogeneous access points

 Relaying
 Distributedantennas
 Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission &
Reception (CoMP)
 Self-Organizing Networks
 Next Generation Cellular Networks
Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Access Network (E-UTRAN)
Evolved Packet Core

aGW

eNB

UE
p-eNB SAE
MME
p-eNB GW

aGW

relay Indoor AP PDN

GW
eNB
17
relay UE
 Conclusions

Radio
Next
These
Thisfrequencies
generation networks
alone
architectural willwill
denser infrastructure
changes not
will
openrequire
suffice
shortenatodenser
the door provide
hops
to an
infrastructure
thebetween
required
increased throughput
to cater
reliance
base upon toFSO
stationsmobile
toand
the end-users
userthe
needs
communication
ease
PHY layer
establishment ofismesh
not dead!
systems connectivity 18
 Main references
1. J. Akella, C. Liu, D. Partyka, M. Yuksel, S. Kalyanaraman and P. Dutta, "Building blocks for
mobile free-space-optical networks," in Wireless and Optical Communications Networks, 2005.
WOCN 2005. Second IFIP International Conference on, 2005, pp. 164-168. Available:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.143.6352&rep=rep1&type=pdf

2. M. Bass, "Atmospheric optics," in Handbook of Optics ,Third Edition ed., vol. 5, M. Bass, Ed.
McGraw-Hill, 2010, pp. 3.3.

3. R. J. Green, H. Joshi, M. D. Higgins and M. S. Leeson, "Recent developments in indoor optical

wireless systems," IET Communications, vol. 2, pp. 3, 2008. Available:
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.library.carleton.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4446
618

4. K. Kazaura, K. Wakamori, M. Matsumoto, T. Higashino, K. Tsukamoto and S. Komaki,

"RoFSO: A universal platform for convergence of fiber and free-space optical communication
networks," Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 48, pp. 130-137, 2010. Available:
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.library.carleton.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5402
676

5. I. I. Kim and E. Korevaar, "Availability of free space optics (FSO) and hybrid FSO/RF
systems," Optical Wireless Communications IV, EJ Korevaar, Eds. , Proc. SPIE, vol. 4530,
pp. 84-95, 2001. Available:
http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/~hranilovic/woc/resources/local/spie2001b.pdf

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