Climatic Effects on Free Space Optics Link: South African Climate

The growth in demand of high data rate, reliable quality of service, low cost technology and secured connectivity have been telecommunication users' concerns. Free Space Optics (FSO) is the best choice for meeting these demands as it offers data rates in Gbps with the most secure communication because light beam is prone to eavesdropping. However, usage of FSO as a communication link relies upon local weather condition. Atmospheric attenuation of fog, rain and snow are the most limitation of free space optic availability, as they lead to the diminution of limited available bandwidth. This paper investigated the link performance under climatic conditions such as fog, rain and snow by at various wavelengths of 650nm, 750nm, 850nm, 950nm and 1550nm. It is further deals with FSO performance targeting to acquire minimal Bit Error Rate (BER), suitable transmitting power, optimum link margin and reliable data transmission rate at maximum link distance of 1km. The studies observed that received power signal and the link distance have an inverse correlation because once the signal reaches to an extended distance; it faces greater climatic attenuation due to scattering and absorption lessening.