Atmospheric Effects on Free Space Earth-to-Satellite Optical Link in Tropical Climate

Abstract

Free Space Optic (FSO) vulnerability towards atmospheric phenomena is becoming a main issue towards its implementation. A lot of studies have been conducted to estimate the climatological effects on FSO links but most of them are based on terrestrial link with short path lengths and centred in temperate regions. Hence, this paper aims to analyse the performance of FSO links from earth-to-LEO satellite in tropical regions where rain and haze are the main concerns. This analysis is based on available methods and data to predict earth-to-satellite FSO links with the scaled up data from the measurement on terrestrial FSO link installed at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuala

Evaluating the Performance of Free Space Optical Link in Tropical Climate

“…The signal now travels in the free space and reaches the destination (receiver) to deliver the information [7]. The receiver consisting of the photo detector detects the optical signal and down converts it and amplifies the essential part of the signal and then separates the message from the carrier and then it is stored or displayed according to the requirement based on the application [8]. As the signal travels in free space it degrades due to the effects in the atmosphere such as rain, fog, haze, scintillation and many other depending upon the region in which they are installed.…”