Flexible optical wireless links and networks

Author

Davis, Christopher C. ; Smolyaninov, Igor I. ; Milner, Stuart D.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Maryland Univ., College Park, MD, USA

Volume

41

Issue

3

fYear

2003

fDate

3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

51

Lastpage

57

Abstract

The worldwide demand for broadband communications is being met in many places by installed single-mode fiber networks. However, there is still a significant "first-mile" problem, which seriously limits the availability of broadband Internet access. Free-space optical wireless communications has emerged as a viable technology for bridging gaps in existing high-data-rate communications networks, and as a temporary backbone for rapidly deployable mobile wireless communication infrastructure. In this article we describe research designed to improve the performance of such networks along terrestrial paths, including the effects of atmospheric turbulence, obscuration, transmitter and receiver design, and topology control.

Keywords

atmospheric light propagation; atmospheric turbulence; broadband networks; data communication; network topology; optical communication; optical links; optical receivers; optical transmitters; DWDM; LOS optical communications; atmospheric turbulence; broadband Internet access; broadband communications; dense wavelength-division multiplexing; direct line-of-sight optical communications; first-mile problem; flexible optical wireless links; flexible optical wireless networks; free-space optical wireless communications; high data rate communications networks; mobile wireless communication infrastructure; network performance; receiver design; single-mode fiber networks; topology control; transmitter design; Availability; Broadband communication; Communication networks; Internet; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber networks; Optical receivers; Optical transmitters; Spine; Wireless communication;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCOM.2003.1186545

Filename

1186545