Bit error rate measurement of free space optical communication links under laboratory-controlled fog conditions

This paper outlines the experimental investigation of the fog effect on the bit error rate (BER) performance of the free space optical (FSO) communication link under a controlled laboratory environment. The link transmittance and the received signal Q-factor are measured against different levels of fog densities. The link visibility derived from fog attenuation measurement is used to characterize the fog within the chamber. Moreover, the effect of using different average transmitted optical communication power (P
_opt
) on the transmittance and received Q-factor of the link is also studied for light and dense fog densities.