WSN18-4: Integrated Backup Topology Control and Routing of Obscured Traffic in Hybrid RF/FSO Networks

We propose a framework for providing instantaneous backup to traffic in a hybrid RF/FSO mesh network. Free space optical (FSO) links have high bandwidth and security, making them suitable for use in backbone networks. RF links have low bandwidth, but offer high reliability in conditions where FSO links are obscured. Thus, RF links are primarily used to provide instantaneous backup to traffic flowing on FSO links. We propose a framework to model FSO link failures due to obscuration, and propose algorithms for integrated topology control of RF links and routing for maximizing the backup provided. We do extensive simulations to demonstrate that the performance of RF topology and routing computed using our algorithms is much better than the case of having the same RF and FSO topologies and routes.