Study of the attenuation due to dusty Environment in the Free

Space Optical Communication

U. jalal1, K. Asghar2, M.T.Mushtaq3
1

Jalalumair56@gmail.com, 3tahirmushtaq2006@yahoo.com

SST, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract
The climate of Lahore is hot and semi-arid, with relatively wet and extremely hot
summers and dry, warm winters thus resulting in high turbulence. This turbulence
causes fluctuations in both the intensity and the phase of the received light signals,
impairing link performance. The intensity fluctuations, also known as scintillation is
one of the most important factor in the free space optical communication. Moister,
aerosols (Sand & Dust), temperature and pressure changes produce refractive index
variation in air. This paper investigates the atmospheric effects on the propagation
of Free Space Optical communication systems in Lahore due to change in refractive
index due to dust. This paper will help us in the future development of FSO link
propagation model through dust environment.
Key Word: Free space optics (FSO), Strong Turbulence, Refractive Index, Optical
attenuation
Total suspended particles (TSP), Particulate Matter (PM).

Introduction
Free space Optical (FSO) communication is a line of sight communication which
used the optical laser light for the propagating in free space to transmit data
between two points. FSO communication have many advantages over radio
frequency.It is cheaper, easy to implement, fabricate, having higher bandwidth,
datarate and reliable and secure communication. It have certain limitations due to
atmospheric effects, power limitations due to eye sensitivity and line of sight
communivcation. [1][ 2].
Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan. It is situated along the Ravi River,
close to the border with India .The climate of Lahore is hot and semi-arid, with
relatively wet and extremely hot summers and dry, warm winters. The mean
maximum temperatures in summer (April -June) ranges between 32 and 44 C and
ranges between 17 to 28 C in winter . Similarly the mean minimum temperatures
in summer range between 28 and 33 C and in winter from 12 to 16 C.
Atmospheric turbulence in such conditions causes irradiance fluctuations in the
received signals (known as scintillation). The temperature variations results in the
form of variations in the refractive index. Turbulence-induced fading degrades the
link performance of the system [3]. Another factor affecting the FSO links is the
pointing errors due to eddies & building sway. Thermal expansion, dynamic wind
loads result in the sway of high-rise buildings. This causes vibrations of the
transmitter beam which results in the form of misalignment between the transmitter
and receiver [4].
This research paper is subdivided in to 5 sessions. Introduction is presented in
session 1. Session 2 discuss the variation of refractive index due to dust particle in

Lahores environment. Session 3 presented the dust model. Session 4 present the
observation, experiment of the attenuation due to dust. Session 5 discuss the
comparison of dust and fog attenuation. In the end conclusion.

Session 2: Variation of the Refractive Index due to change in

dust particle size
The changes in moisture, aerosols, temperature and pressure produce refractive
index variations in the air by causing random variations in density. These variations
are referred to as eddies and have a lens effect on light passing through them.
When a wave passes through these eddies, some parts of it are refracted randomly
causing a distorted wave front with the combined effects of variation of intensity
across the wave front and warping of the isophase surface [6]. The refractive index
can be described by the following relationship:
n 1 ~ 79 x P/T
Where:
P: is the atmospheric pressure in [mbar].
T: is the temperature in Kelvin [K].
If the size of the eddies are larger than the beam diameter, the whole laser beam
bends, If the sizes of the turbulence eddies are ler than the beam diameter, they
become distorted. Small variations in the arrival time of various components of the
beam wave front produces constructive and destructive interference that result in
temporal fluctuations in the laser beam intensity at the receiver.
Refractive index structure parameter Cn2 is the most important parameter which
finds the turbulence strength. In Lahore the value of C n2 strongly depends on the
hour of the day. It has a peak value in sunrise and sunset is different according to
these variations so Cn2 depends on the geographical location, height, and time of
day.
If we are close to ground, there is the largest gradient of temperature associated
with the largest values of atmospheric pressure (and air density, we are expecting
large values for Cn2 at sea level. As the height increases, the temperature gradient
decreases and so the air density with the result of smaller values of C n2. At ground
level where turbulence is weak we can set the value of C n2 to be 10-17 m-2/3. While at
high altitude where turbulence is strong we can set the value of C n2 to be 10-13 m-2/3.
We can find the value of refracted index by using Hufnagel- Valley model [7]
Cn2 (h) = 0.00594 (v/27)2 (10-5h)10 exp (-h/1000) + 2.7 x 10-16 exp (-h/1500) + Ao exp
(-h/100)
Where:
: is the altitude in [m].
V: is the wind speed at high altitude [m/s].
A0: is the turbulence strength at the ground level, A= 1.7x10 -2/3

Session 3 Dust Modeling

Before going into the detail of session 3, air particulate matter (PM) concentration
(solid and liquid particles suspended in air) at different locations of Lahore has to be
discussed.

Aerosols suspended in air include total suspended particles (TSP), fine and ultra-fine
particles, diesel exhaust, coal fly-ash, mineral dust, metal dust etc. In Pakistan the
number one problem related to air pollution is Particulate Matter. Therefore, more
emphasis has been given to monitor the concentration of PM. In Lahore 5 sites were
selected for dust monitoring which are listed in the below:

S. No.
1
2
3

Monitoring Sites
Canal Road
Andaroon Lahore
Multan Road

Source of Emission
Vehicular emission
Vehicular and Commercial
Industrial and Residential
Area
4
Sundar State
Industrial (Aluminum, Cu
etc)
The dust monitoring analyzer was calibrated; the analyzer is programmed for
automatic calibration by the analyzer manufacture. The measurement of aerosols
was taken by the MPSI-100 analyzer of the Punjab-EPD Mobile Air Monitoring
Station.
MPSI-100 analyzer uses a sampling procedure which allows rejection of dust
particles greater than 10 microns, and thus, measurement of the concentration of
PM only. The method used for the determination of aerosols was a high volume
sampler to collect particles with aerodynamic diameters of approximately 100 -m
or less. The aerosols volume can be used to determine the average ambient
aerosols concentrations over the sampling period.
Table below shows the average aerosols concentration at different sampling points
in Lahore.
Sampling Location

Weight of SPM
(mg)

Total sucked
volume

Canal Road
Andaroon Lahore
Multan Road
Sundar Estare

591.4
1036.8
2323-8
1261.8

389.0
472.8
445.8
513.6

Concentration
of Aerosols
m/m3
1520
2192
5190
2456

The highest concentration of aerosols was found in Multan Road, The second largest
was Sunder state with a concentration of 2456. The above data shows the gravity of
pollution level with regard to suspended particulate matter in Pakistan.
In FSO, the signal wavelength operates in the low absorption bands. Therefore
absorption contribution to the total attenuation coefficient becomes very small
when compared to scattering effect [9]. Scattering of a signal occurs due to

different weather conditions such as fog, rain, smoke, dust, snow, etc. Exploring the
effect of these conditions on the FSO signal can be achieved using one of two
available methods. The 1st method uses theoretical theorems such as Mie theory.
However, theoretical approaches require some parameters that may not be
available particle size, particle distribution, refractive index, etc. [8]. The second
method for signal attenuation calculation which is used for practical applications
depends on experimental observation [8]. In this method, empirical models are
developed using the visibility range data to characterize the channel. Visibility data
can be obtained easily form meteorological stations. Low visibility implies high
concentration of dust particles in the atmosphere. Based on visibility range, dust
events are divided into four categories according to World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) classification as listed in Table I [9]. The first type is Dust haze
(light dust) where wide spread dust float up and become suspended homogeneously
in the air. The visibility related to this event is around 10 km or less. Blowing dust
(light dust) is the second type in which dust particles are blown in the observation
location by winds and the visibility reduces between 1 km and 10 km. When the
visibility reduces to 0.2 km due to strong winds that blow more dust particles, the
event is called dust storm (moderate dust). Finally, severe dust storm (dense dust)
occurs when the visibility becomes less than 0.2 km where large quantity of dust
particles is lifted up by very strong winds. The visibility range can be determined
from the signal attenuation coefficient and the visual threshold Tth by [8]
V = 10logTth /, (km)
Where T th =0.02 according to Koschmieder law. The signal attenuation coefficient
is given by [8] i.e.
= 10logT /4.343L , (dB/km) where T is the
transmittance of the optical signal and L is the link length.

Session 4: Experiment, Observations and Results of the attenuation

due to dust.
Outdoor FSO communication is difficult because it takes a long time. Therefore,
controlled environment has been used to investigate the outdoor impairments.
Using a controlled environment, the atmospheric conditions can be reproduced to
perform different measurements under the same conditions [10-12].
Fig. 1(a) shows the FSO link setup including the chamber design. The dusty channel
is represented by a chamber of 90 40 40 cm3 size. The amount of dust
introduced to the chamber is controlled by fans which blow up the dust particles
and create dusty environment. In the transmitter side, two single mode fiber (SMF)
coupled laser diodes (LDs) are used. The infrared Keysight N7714A tunable LD is
used to generate a continuous signal at 1550 nm wavelength with 4 mW output
power. After passing the dusty chamber, the transmitted light hits a photodiode
optical power sensor having 43 dBm sensitivity that is connected to a power
meter bench top console.

1(a)
Fig 1(b) shows the signal attenuation versus time for the set of 15 repeated
measurements. The maximum signal attenuation was 7 dB. The measurements
divergence is small reflecting the setup capability to reproduce the similar results
under the similar conditions.

Fig 1(b)
In Fig. 2(a), we calculated
the specific
attenuation in dB/km versus
the visibility range. For
very low visibility corresponding to dense dust (V < 0.2 km), the obtained
attenuation is about 300 dB/km.
For moderate dust (0.2km< V <1km), the corresponding signal attenuation is
between 300 dB/km at V =0.2 km and 50 dB/km at V =1 km. As the visibility range
increases more than 1 km (light dust), the signal attenuation substantially reduces.
As an example, we measure 10 dB/km at 4 km visibility. The measurements in Fig.
2(a) show reciprocal relationship between the signal attenuation and the visibility.
Using nonlinear least square regression, a model for signal attenuation as a function
of the visibility range is obtained as
= kV b, (dB/km)
where V is given in km, and the coefficients are found to be k = 52, and b = 1.05.
Fig. 2(a) shows the fitted curve with the measured data.

2(a)
Comparsion of Dust and Fog Attenuation
Fog is the extreme limitation for FSO performance. This is because the particle size
of fog is close to the signal wavelength used in FSO communications. This
consideration of signal attenuation in fog is obtained from field measurements that
were performed mainly in Western Countries, which do not have semi-arid hot
climate. Fog was considered as the main challenge for FSO systems. In order to
compare the behavior of FSO links under dust and fog, we compared our obtained
results with Kim model of signal attenuation in fog [8] which is given by

where V is the visibility range in km, is the signal wavelength in m, and the
coefficient q has the following values:

Fig. 2(b) shows that the FSO signal undergoes much more attenuation in hot and
dusty weather. This attenuation is about 7 times higher than that of fog. Note that
both particles of fog and dust have a size that is close to the FSO signal wavelength.
However, the fog particles contain water resulting in less scattering for the
penetrating signal.

2(b)
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we investigated the performance of FSO communication system of
Lahore which is hot and dusty. We designed an environment chamber for this
purpose. Our results shows the FSO links under moderate and light dust. However,
dense dusty conditions can affect significantly the performance of FSO links. In
addition, we found that dust introduces about 7 time signal attenuation higher than
fog at similar visibility values.
References
[1] L.C. Andrews, R.L. Phillips, Laser Beam Propagation through Random Media,
SPIE Optical Engineering Press, Bellingham, WA, 5.
[2] M. Uysal, J.Li, M. YU, Error rate performance analysis of coded free-space optical
links over gammagamma atmospheric turbulence channels, IEEE Transactions on
Wireless Communications 5(6), 2006, pp. 12291233
[3] L. Andrews, R. L. Philips, and C. Y. Hopen, Laser Beam Scintillation with
Applications. SPIE Press, 2001. [4] D. Kedar and S. Arnon, Urban optical wireless
communications networks: The main challenges and possible solutions, IEEE
Commun. Mag., vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 27, Feb. 2003.
[5] H. Hemmati, "Near-Earth Laser Communications", California, Taylor & Francis
Group, Book, LLC, 2008.
[6] Kim Issac I. And Eric Korevaar, Availability of Free Space Optics (FSO) and
Hybrid FSO/RF Systems Optical Access, Incorporated, 2002.
[7] D. S. Kim, "Hybrid Free Space and Radio Frequency Switching", Master Degree
Thesis, University of Maryland, 2008.
[8] M. Ijaz, Z. Ghassemlooy, J. Pesek, O. Fiser, H. Minh, and E. Bentley, Modeling of
Fog and smoke attenuation in free space optical communications link under
controlled laboratory conditions, IEEE Jour. of Lightwave Techn., vol. 31, no. 11, pp.
1720 1726, June 2013.
[9] I. I. Kim, B. McArthur, and E. J. Korevaar, Comparison of laser beam propagation
at 785 nm and 1550 nm in fog and haze for optical wireless communications, in
Proc. SPIE 4214, Optical Wireless Communications III, 2001, pp. 26-37.
[10] Z. Ghassemlooy, J. Perez, and E. Leitgeb, On the performance of FSO
communications links under sandstorm conditions, in 12th Int. Con. on Telec.,
Zagreb, June 2013, pp. 53-58
[11] K. Su, L. Moeller, R. Barat, and J. Federici, Experimental comparison of
terahertz and infrared data signal attenuation in dust clouds, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A,

vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 2360-2366, 2012. [6] M. Ijaz, Z. Ghassemlooy, J. Pesek, O. Fiser,
H. Minh, and E. Bentley, Modeling of Fog and smoke attenuation in free space
optical communications link under controlled laboratory conditions, IEEE Jour. of
Lightwave Techn., vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 1720 1726, June 2013.
[12] S. Rajbhandari, Z. Ghassemlooy, P. Haigh, T. Kanesan and X. Tang,
Experimental Error Performance of Modulation Schemes Under a Controlled
Laboratory Turbulence FSO Channel, Jour. of Lightwave Tech., vol. 33, no. 1, pp.
244-250, Jan. 2015.