Contents

Introduction
History
What is FSO?
What to do with it?
Is it safe?
Why FSO?
Limitations
Conclusion
 Introduction
Ethernet and implementations
Where does RF and Optical fibers falls short?
Gigabit Ethernet?
FSO for Gigabit Ethernet.
History
 Alexander Graham Bell’s Photo-
phone in 1880

 1960s for military purposes

 For communication between

satellites

 After 2000, commercially popular

 What is FSO?
Wireless ‘line of sight’
Optical network.
Low power infrared lasers:
wavelength range
between 850nm and
1600nm.
Commercially available
systems: 100Mbps to
2.5Gbps
 What is FSO?
Still relatively new
Provides Full duplex
communication
Telescopes or Transceivers
Powerful LASERs or LEDs
can be used.
 What to do with it?
Wireless Gigabit Ethernets
When wiring is not feasible
As a redundant network
In classified sites
Strict RF restrictions
For temporary networks
Incase of Emergencies
For Satellite constellations
 Gigabit Ethernet many
ways…

•Mesh
•Point-to-
point
•Chain
•Ring
 Is it Safe?
Is perfectly Safe
Class I lasers are
used
No problem to
eye or skin etc
Rays get
absorbed before
reaching retina
Is it Safe?
 FSO Transceiver
The basic
component
Provides
bidirectional
communicati
on
 Why FSO?
Easy Implementation
Bi-directional
communication
High bitrates and low
error rates
High security
No license needed
 Why FSO?
Protocol Transparency
 Why FSO?
Fiber laying is
difficult

Or it is Costly
 Limitations
Only for line-of-
sight
communication
Fog, snow, rain and
Sand storms.
Low Clouds
Scintillation
 Limitations
Building Motions
Type Cause(s) Magnitude Frequency

Tip/tilt Thermal High Once per day

expansion
Sway Wind Medium Once every
several seconds

Vibration Equipment (e.g., Low Many times per

HVAC), door second
slamming, etc.
 Comparison
FSO is best for small and high speed networks

Network Speed DistanceLatency Security Cost

FSO 10 4 10 10 8
Telco 10 10 10 10 1
5.8GHzRF 2 9 5 1 10
24GHz RF 5 6 6 2 5
60GHz RF 9 3 9 3 6
 Available products
Many commercial products
since 2001
FSONA
AIR FIBER
LIGHT POINTE
AIR LINX
CABLE-FREE
TERABEAM
LASE
SUN FLOWER
 Conclusion
Proper FSO implementation gives 99.9%
efficiency
Is highly secure and cost efficient
Will eliminate the ‘last mile bottleneck’.
Eliminate RF traffic problems
 Major References used
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Space_Optics
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RONJA
 Free space optics Propagation and Communication By Oliver
Bouchet, Herve Sizun, Christian Boisrobert, Frederique de Fornel,
Pierre-Noel Favennec
 http://www.freespaceoptics.org/freespaceoptics/default.cfm
 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/siot-sfr031709.php
 http://www.freespaceoptic.com/bestfit.htm
 http://www.free-space-optics.org/
 Ultra-high Frequency Linear Fiber Optic System By Kam Y Lau
 http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/browse.cfm