Radio Frequency (RF) communications are generally reliable and well understood but cannot support emerging data rate needs unless they use a large portion of the precious radio spectrum. Free Space Optical (FSO) communications offer enormous data rates but operate much more at the mercy of the environment. The perennial limitations of FSO communications are manifested in the channel attributes of scintillation (optical turbulence) and path obscurations. Both phenomena reduce the availability of the optical channel to support reliable communications. Since RF paths are relatively immune to the same phenomenology, combining the attributes of a high data rate but bursty link (FSO) with the attributes of a low data rate (by comparison) but reliable link (RF) could yield attributes better than either one alone: high availability with high data rates.
This paper is based on a recently devised system that uses ultra-short pulses of laser light that provide greater bandwidth and improved reliability over conventional optical wireless links. The approach uses a technique called "Fractal Modulation", which is a form of Wavelet Packet Modulation (WPM), to produce wavelets that can co-exist in a signal channel without interference, and provide frequency and time diversity, concurrently. By sending the same message at several different rates (multi-rate), one can get through adverse weather conditions.
Also, in this paper we investigate channel equalization and channel coding for such a multi-rate communications scenario. As for the equalization, we considered a MMSE linear equalization after photo-detection. For the channel coding, we have used Fountain Codes, a new class of erasure correction codes, in concatenation with an inner convolutional code. We argue that for a parallel multi-rate system Fountain coding is a flexible method for receiving data from multiple streams.
In digital communications, as an alternative to conventional time domain equalization (TEQ), frequency domain equalization (FEQ) has been of interest, in particular for OFDM. In any optical channels, such as in fiber optic transmission or free-space optical communications (FSO), there can be channel dispersion, causing intersymbol interference (ISI). One feasible solution to this is FEQ of the distorted light signal by established theory of equalization. A new idea is presented that examines possibility of adaptive optical frequency-domain pulse shaping and equalization to remedy the optical channel dispersion problem in the light spectral domain.
Free space optical (FSO) communications technology has potential applications in the military sector to provide a secure, high speed communication channel, and in the civilian sector as a "last mile" carrier solution. It was proposed by other researchers that a multi-rate communication system that utilizes Meyer wavelets would achieve the greatest bandwidth and highest reliability possible for an FSO system. In order to generate Meyer wavelets from femtosecond laser pulses, filtering must be performed optically to produce the desired pulse shape. One of the simplest ways to produce an arbitrary pulse shape from a laser pulse is with a tunable liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) in a zero-dispersion pulse compression system. The simplest approach to determine the correct mask pattern for an LC-SLM is to utilize adaptive, global optimization methods. Since it takes several milliseconds to adjust the attributes of each pixel of an LC-SLM and there are typically over one-thousand pixels, it is important to determine the fastest algorithm for determining the optimum mask pattern. Several global optimization methods, including simulated annealing, exhaustive search, and random search, a hybrid of the other two algorithms, were characterized. It was found that exhaustive search can be used to form waveforms with negligible inaccuracies at rates of about 5 times faster than simulated annealing and about 3 times faster than random search, but that simulated annealing provides the highest accuracy. However, the difference in accuracy between all of these algorithms is less than 10-5.
Free Space Optics (FSO) through cloud has lately attracted substantial attention for a variety of applications[1][2]. FSO is a promising candidate for emerging broadband applications, considering that RF spectrum is already congested, rendering assignment of additional RF channels costly. Combining the attributes of a higher data rate but bursty link (FSO) with the attributes of a lower data rate but reliable link (RF) can yield attributes better than either one alone, enabling a high availability link at high data rates. This transmission configuration is typically called a hybrid RF/FSO
wireless system [3][4].
Recently, there have been interests in filterbank transceivers, and both OFDM and wavelet modulation technologies can be understood as examples. In FSO, normally we are given huge optical bandwidth, but in fact, use of the huge bandwidth is limited due to both enabling technologies and the severe channel distortion. Therefore, not only in RF but also in FSO, we also need efficient use of resources. In this research, we aim at the following goals. First, wavelet packet modulation (WPM) will be applied to FSO to find the resource-efficient optimal spectral decomposition of the optical channel. Then, equalization will be applied to further enhance FSO performance.
Free space optical (FSO) communication is a promising candidate for emerging broadband applications,
considering that RF spectrum is already congested, rendering accommodation of additional RF broadband channels difficult
and costly. Communications via RF signals are reliable but cannot support emerging high data rate services unless they use a
large portion of the costly radio spectrum. FSO communications offer enormous data rates but operate much more at the
mercy of the atmospheric environment, such as scintillation and multi-scattering through fog and clouds. Since RF paths are
relatively immune to these phenomena, combining the attributes of a higher data rate but bursty link (FSO) with the
attributes of a lower data rate but reliable link (RF) could yield attributes better than either one alone, enabling a high
availability link at high data rates. This transmission configuration is typically called a hybrid RF/FSO wireless system. The
focus of this paper will be on applying well-known equalization techniques to FSO, to further enhance availability of RF/FSO
wireless system.
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