Multi-element Free-Space-Optical spherical structures with intermittent connectivity patterns

Due to its high bandwidth spectrum, free-space-optical (FSO) communication has the potential to bridge the capacity gap between backbone fiber links and mobile ad-hoc links, especially in the last-mile. Though FSO can solve the wireless capacity problem, it brings new challenges, like frequent disruption of physical link (intermittent connectivity) and the line of sight (LOS) requirements. In this paper, we study a spherical FSO structure as a basic building block and examine the effects of such FSO structures to upper layers, especially to TCP behavior for stationary and mobile nodes.