Improving Performance of Free Space Optics Link Using Array of Receivers in Terrible Weather Conditions of Plain and Hilly Areas

Free-space optical (FSO) communication is a cost effective and high data rate access technique, which has been proving itself a best alternative to radio frequency technology. FSO link provides high bandwidth solution to the last mile access bottleneck. However, for terrestrial communication systems, the performance of these links is severely degraded from atmospheric loss mainly due to fog, rain and snow. So, a continuous availability of the link is always a concern. This paper investigates the dreadful weather effects such as rain, fog, snow, and other losses on the transmission performance of FSO systems. The technique of using an array of receivers for improving the performance of FSO links is explored in this paper. It involves the deployment of multiple photo detectors at the receiver end to mitigate effects of various weather conditions. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated in terms of bit error rate, received signal power, Qfactor and height of eye diagram. The influence of various weather conditions of plain and hilly areas are taken into consideration and results are compared with conventional FSO links. Keywords—Free space optics (FSO) communication; Array of photo detectors; Bit Error Rate (BER); Eye diagram; Quality factor (Q factor); Bad weather effects