Packet-based simulation for optical wireless communication

This paper presents packet-based simulation tools for free-space-optical (FSO) wireless communication. We implement the well-known propagation models for free-space-optical communication as a set of modules in NS-2. Our focus is on accurately simulating line-of-sight (LOS) requirement for two communicating antennas, the drop in the received power with respect to separation between antennas, and error behavior. In our simulation modules, we consider numerous factors affecting the performance of optical wireless communication such as visibility in the medium, divergence angles of transmitters, field of view of photo-detectors, and surface areas of transceiver devices.