Performance of free space optical terrestrial link under dense fog conditions

Abstract

Free-space optical links use modulated beam of light to transmit high amount of data from transmitter to receiver to get line-of-sight communication link. Free-space optical is cost effective solution to provide higher data rate to end-users. Free-space optical links are also considered as a better alternative to RF links due to their advantages of low power consumption and higher data rate of the range Gbps, and are highly secure to electromagnetic interference. Despite of having all these advantages free-space optical links are highly affected by the severe weather conditions like fog, rain, snow, smoke and dust or aerosol particles suspended in air. Fog is one of a major challenge for free-space optical to achieve carrier class availability and causes high amount of attenuation. In this paper we presented the performance analysis of free-space optical links by estimating signal-to-noise ratio, bit error rate, under fog conditions during winter season in Lahore, Pakistan.