Study of Low-cost LED FSO Communication Link Performance with Fog Mitigation

This study presents a novel low-cost LED free space optical (FSO) communication link and its performance when subjected to attenuation from fog. This paper investigates the performance of the communication link using various light sources and double-lens systems. We used LTSpice and Synopsys Optsim to simulate different transmitter and system performance in foggy conditions and compared the results with that of the experiment. The whole system features a double-lens system in place of power amplifiers to achieve a low-cost design. For lens design selection, we tested four different lens configurations: plano-convex to plano-convex (P-P), bi-convex to plano-convex (B-P), plano-convex to bi-convex (P-B), and bi-convex to bi-convex (B-B). We also tested the system performance of four LEDs under foggy conditions to finally optimize the transmitter design. Visible light experiences heavy attenuation from atmospheric conditions, however our proposed FSO communication link offers an effective low-cost, low-power system in comparison to RF and fiber optic systems.