Experimental Study of the Free Space Optics Communication System Operating in the 8–12 µm Spectral Range

Abstract

(1) Background: Free space optics communication (FSO) has improved wireless communication and data transfer thanks to high bandwidth, low power consumption, energy efficiency, a high transfer capacity, and a wide applicability field. The FSO systems also have their limitations, including weather conditions and obstacles in the way of transmission. (2) Methods: This research assesses the atmospheric conditions’ influence on the intensity of received radiation, both experimentally and theoretically. The construction of a laboratory test stand of the FSO system, which is operating in the third-atmosphere transmission window (8–12 µm), is proposed. Next, considering different atmospheric conditions, the experimental validation was conducted, both in a laboratory and real conditions. (3) Results: The measurements were carried out for two optical links working with wavelengths of 1.5 µm and 10 µm. It was found that optical radiation with a wavelength of about 10 µm is characterized by better transmission properties in the case of limited visibility (e.g., light rain and fogs) than in the case of near-infrared waves. The same conclusion was found in analytical investigations. (4) Conclusions: The results obtained show that optical radiation with a wavelength of about 10 µm in limited visibility is characterized by better transmission properties than near-infrared waves. This demonstrates the validity of designing FSO links operating in the range 8–12 µm band, e.g., based on quantum cascade lasers and HgCdTe photodiodes.

A Free Space Optic/Optical Wireless Communication: A Survey

“…In restricted eyesight, optical radiation with a wavelength of around 10 m has higher transmission qualities than near-infrared waves, according to analytical investigations and the findings obtained. This proves that FSO connections in the 8-12 m band are feasible [54].…”

Experimental Machine Learning Approach for Optical Turbulence and FSO Outage Performance Modeling

“…Second, to apply well known mathematical expressions to estimate the outage probability of a notional FSO link based on the strength of the optical turbulence and to model the link status (On-Off) based on macroscopic meteorological parameters by utilizing a DNN classification algorithm. Various experimental research papers exist in the literature on the topic of optical turbulence prediction and FSO performance modeling [2]. Lionis et.…”

Design and Experimental Study of an Efficient Controlled Cooling System for Optical Communication Laser Diodes

“…When lasers were invented, optical communication was becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, however, optical communication via laser radiation was hampered by several difficulties such as atmospheric obstacles in FSO communication, optical fibre losses, laser diode (LD) limitations, and photodetector precision [8,9]. An LD is a compact and rigid optical source that may be utilized in optical communication; however, changes in the LD's output wavelengths and power will result in performance limits [10], [10].…”