Optimizing Free Space Optics for City-Wide Wireless Networks

Recent advances in wireless communications have paved the road to the development of revolutionary city-wide wireless networks that provide a virtual wireless cloud covering large metro areas. City- wide wireless networks offer unmatched options to different community sectors including local government, industry, business, people, and education. However, realizing the benefits and advantages of such a remarkable infrastructure is not straightforward. Extendibility and security limitations present a bottleneck for unrestricted growth of such networks. The future of city-wide wireless networks is in doubt unless these limitations are addressed and solutions are sought. In this paper, we propose free space optical systems as a cost effective backbone that can meet the requirements of future city-wide wireless networks. We study the deployment of free space optics and address major challenges.