Simulation analysis of adaptive FSO/RF hybrid link under diverse weather conditions of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Free Space Optical (FSO) communication has higher bandwidth, data rate, quality factor, and secure transmission, making it ideal for future high capacity data links. However, fog, rain and dusty conditions are key hindrances in effective utilization of maximum performance of FSO link. This research work presents a simulation analysis of a typical FSO link of length 1 km (1550 nm) with Tx/Rx aperture diameters 10 cm and 15 cm, respectively, under weather conditions of the capital province Punjab, Lahore. Signal to noise ratio (SNR), Bit error rate (BER) and received power of link under consideration are calculated numerically in MATLAB ®. By proposing a switching technique, an year-round performance analysis was carried out using MATLAB ®. FSO is the primary link as the received power of the FSO link falls below a certain threshold; the communication link adapts the RF link as primary communication channel. Results show that an adaptive technique can successfully operate and enhance the performance of a FSO communication link.

Keywords

• Free-space optical communication
• Attenuation
• Link margin
• SNR
• BER