Performance evaluation of optical channel transmission between UAVs and Ground Stations

Abstract

Free space optical (FSO) communications links is a promising solution for the provision of high data rate point to point communications. In particular deploying FSO technology for mobile links between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and fixed Ground Stations (GS) introduces several interesting challenges. In this paper, we investigate the ability of a mobile FSO system to operate in different atmospheric conditions. Specifically, we characterize the quality of the optical channel with a proper model in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) and average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and we report a detailed optical amplification model able to support a constant Quality of Service for different distances from 1 km up to 35 km at 10 Gbps with 1550 nm wavelength. An extensive comparative analysis among different FSO configurations links considering the altitude of the UAV, the wavelength and the atmospheric conditions is provided. The results show that there is degradation at the BER over a slanted path compared to a horizontal path at the same conditions.