Free-space optics: broadband wireless supplement to fiber networks

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Abstract
Free Space Optics (FSO) is an excellent supplement to conventional radio links and fiber optics. It is the broadband wireless solution for closing the "Last Mile" connectivity gap throughout metropolitan networks. FSO is useful in dense urban and urban applications. The realiabilty and availability of the FSO-link is mainly determined by the local atmospheric condition. In this paper the results of the investigations of the research group "OptiKon" on different installed common network-architectures (ring, mesh and star) are presented. An "Optical Repeater" was used, if there was no line of sight between transmitter and receiver. The usage of optical free space propagation wthi Light Emitting Diodes are source instead of conventionally broadband transmission systems like optical fibers or radio links was also investigated at the Department of Communications and Wave Propagation. Using extended light sources like LEDs and/or multiple transmitter optics due to new laser safety regulations allows multiple output power within the same laser class, increasing the power link budget especially for short range FSO systems. In a first step two families of cost-effective systems were developed and realized. One is based on a modular concept using available standard components, allowing demonstrates at 2×10 Mbps data rae. Another is used for the larger distnaces of about 300 m at a specific power margin of 25 dB/km. Systems for higher data rate are under development. Additionally some ideas and their possible realization for point-to-multipoint configuration are considered. In the last chapter a short overivew about the main results of the work of "OptiKom" is discussed.

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