Neighbor Discovery in a LoRa Assisted Multi-Transceiver Free-Space-Optical Network

In this paper, we present a novel neighbor discovery method for a Free-Space-Optical (FSO) mobile ad hoc network where the nodes do not have any prior information about each other’s location. Each node is equipped with multiple FSO transceivers and a low bit rate long-range (LoRa) omnidirectional communication channel aids in coordinating the neighbor discovery process to synchronize and establish directional FSO links among the nodes. Our proposed method guarantees that a node can discover all of its neighbors within one 360
^◦
FSO beam scan of the surrounding environment. We also present a preliminary prototype of an FSO transceiver module capable of electronic beam steering. Through extensive simulations and real test-bed experiments using the developed prototype, we demonstrate that the proposed method can help achieve significant reductions in discovery time compared to a state-of-the-art protocol.