RESEARCH REPORTS

Free Space Optical Laser Communication Link

Andrew W. Rebeiro and Rodney Tan School of Engineering, UCSI rodneyt@ucsi.edu.my ABSTRACT
A Free Space Optical (FSO) LASER Communication Link is presented. This project deals with the development of a full-duplex FSO analogue / digital transceiver. In this information age, the demand for high speed, high bandwidth communications channel, is ever increasing. FSO is presented as a solution to these demands in that it is free to implement, easy to install and of very high bandwidth. The reader is introduced to the FSO system of communication and the development of a small scale communicator using laser as the carrier signal for information transfer. Experimental results explain the performance of the completed system and offer methods of maximizing efficiency of such FSO-based communication systems. Keywords: FSO, LASER, carrier signal

1. INTRODUCTION An initial hurdle faced by early means of laser communication was the enormous heat generated by pumped laser action. However, in the late 1960s, semiconductor laser was developed and ever since, the possibilities for laser communication have grown. Though developed for carriers, new laser technologies are finding a place in private networks [1][2]. Recent breakthroughs in wireless technology and the need for a wireless extension of the Internet have increased the demand for faster, higher bandwidth wireless access networks [3][4]. The two wireless options nowadays are either radio or optical networks. Radio frequency has been the primary medium of communication for a long period of time. However, in this day and age, the RF spectrum has become congested and may no longer be sufficient for broadband high-speed applications [5][6]. In addition to this radio communication requires the leasing of frequencies in order to be legally permitted to use them. On the other hand, optical communication is the key to supply the ever-increasing demand for higher bandwidth, without the associated hassles or interference experienced with radio communication. Entrepreneurs and technologists who know of this are borrowing many of the technologies initially designed for fiber-optics systems and applying them to what is now called Free Space Optical (FSO) communication [7] as shown in Figure 1.

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1,000,000,000,000 cycles per second) in terms of wavelength. FSO is a free space (wireless) technology, meaning that the signal travels in the free space between transmitter and receiver, rather than through a conductor such as a wire or fiber, or through a waveguide of some sort. Another important feature of FSO is that it is unaffected by electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference, which increasingly plague radiobased communication systems [8]. FSO systems are used in disaster recovery applications and for temporary connectivity while cabled networks are being deployed [9]. 2. A FREE SPACE OPTICAL LASER COMMUNICATION LINK The free space optical laser communication link developed is comprised of four circuits: the analogue transmitter and receiver, the digital transceiver and the Voice Unit (VU) meter. This combination of circuits will enable line-of-sight (LOS), fullduplex voice and RS232-compatible data communication, over a laser beam in free space. 2.1 System Overview The completed system consists of two transceivers, each capable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving either analogue or digital information. The user has the option to manually select between either analogue or digital information via means of two switches, which control the laser transmitter and phototransistor receiver. This translates to a system where, if necessary, analogue information can travel in one direction while digital information travels in the opposite direction. In normal operation, the system is a full-duplex analogue/digital communicator. The system overview is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 1: Basic overview of FSO communication FSO systems run in the infrared (Ir) spectrum, which is at the bottom of the light spectrum. Specifically, the optical signal is in the range of 1 THz (1 TeraHertz = 1 trillion Hz = 50 JASA |July 2006

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The intensity of the beam is not sufficient to travel suitable transmission distances.

Figure 2: System Overview 2.2 The Transmitter Side The transmitter side is made up of two dedicated circuits that perform amplitude modulation of the laser diode when supplied with either a digital or analogue input signal. The circuits are designed with built-in protection for the laser diode in case the input signal amplitude is too high. As a result, this portion of the circuit is more complex than the receiver side. 2.3 The Receiver Side The receiver side is again made up of two dedicated circuits that perform the demodulation of the analogue signal from the phototransistor. The digital section of the circuit incorporates the MAX232 IC to generate the RS232-compatible signals necessary for interfacing PC and the circuit. In addition to this, there is an onboard VU meter designed to make the alignment process easier and protect the listener from unexpected high pitch sounds during the alignment process. 3. HARDWARE The development of this study was divided into two main categories: The Analogue transceiver including VU meter The Digital transceiver

To obtain further information on these factors, a simple set of experiments were carried out. An outline of the experimental parameters and measurements taken into account follows: 1. The experiment was designed to implement the VU meter as a method of measuring signal strength. 2. Each one of the 10 units of the meter were assumed to represent 10% signal strength, i.e. 10 units would represent 100% signal strength 3. The amplitude of the input signal was initially adjusted to give 10 units on the scale at a distance of 1 meter in free space, after which the amplitude was not readjusted. 4. At a fixed frequency, signal strength was measured for increasing units of distance. 5. Distance was varied between 1 to 10 meters in free space 6. The experiment was repeated for a chosen number of frequencies within the human voice spectrum The data obtained was plotted on graphs for further analysis 4.1 Results The results of the experiment are as in Table 1: Table 1: Signal Strength vs. Distance
Distance (m) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 150 Hz 100 100 100 90 90 80 70 50 50 30 300 Hz 100 100 100 100 90 80 70 70 60 60 Signal strength (%) 500 Hz 1 kHz 2 kHz 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 90 80 100 80 80 90 70 70 80 70 60 70 60 60 70 50 5 kHz 100 100 100 100 90 80 70 50 40 40 12 kHz 100 100 100 90 80 60 60 50 40 20

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In order to get a set of results to compare the overall signal strength versus the distance, the average signal strength was calculated at each frequency as shown in table 2. Table 2: Average Signal Strength vs. Frequency
Frequency (kHz) 0.15 0.3 0.5 1 2 5 12 Average Signal Strength (%) 76 83 85 91 82 77 70

The hardware involved in this design incorporates three distinct circuits, which perform analogue modulation, digital modulation, and signal strength display, respectively. The completed system houses all these modules as a single unit, sharing the critical input and output components. 4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The performance of this system is somewhat limited and, at long range, the alignment of the laser beam on the receiver becomes a problem. In professional implementations of such technology, receivers are fitted with adequate focus lenses and sometimes even auto-tracking features. The system implemented would benefit greatly from such additions; however a lot more time and resources are required for such developments. In addition to focusing problems at the receiver, the low quality laser diode does not produce a beam suitable for such a study. This is true for two cases: The beams divergence in free space is very high when compared to that of lasers designed for modulation

4.2 Plots of results

Figure 3: Average Signal Strength vs. Frequency JASA |July 2006 51

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5. This model can be applied to more powerful systems by multiplying the power factor of a better laser module by the distances measured here i.e. a laser module with 10 times the optical power output will travel approximately 10 times the distance obtained from these results.

To improve the performance of the existing system, a number of changes can be made. These are: Focusing aids and mechanisms can be implemented to reduce beam divergence and hence improve performance The power of the laser beam can be increased to improve the range of communication in free space

Figure 4: Area block: Distance vs. Frequency vs. Signal Strength 6.

CONCLUSION

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A full-duplex, combined analogue and digital FSO Laser Communication Link was successfully designed and implemented. It was also possible to obtain experimental data from the designed system, which proved to be very useful and informative. The results of testing and experiments created new areas within this studys scope that can still be explored. Recommendations for future developments of the FSO laser link are based mainly on alignment and focusing systems to improve performance, in addition to the use of laser diodes specifically designed for modulation. Figure 5: Surface: Distance vs. Frequency vs. Signal Amplitude 5. DISCUSSION The received signal strength does not appear to be solely dependant on the distance of transmission. The signal strength varies according to the frequency of the transmitted signal, as can be seen from the different fall-off rates of the graph. Though only seven values of frequency have been analyzed, it is apparent that the system performs best when transmitting a signal close to 1 kHz. There is a steeper rate of signal attenuation for frequencies below and above this frequency. The surface contour graph obtained further emphasizes the earlier graph. Again, it can be seen that the fall-off rate is affected by the frequency of the transmitted signal. A number of assumptions follow: 1. 2. The circuitry produces a larger response for the given frequency (approximately 1 kHz) This can be also analyzed in a reversed manner i.e. the circuit is causing higher attenuation to frequencies above and below 1 kHz The increased attenuation may be partly due to the divergence and the natural frequency of the laser module The addition of focusing aids at the receiver will increase the signal strength uniformly, over the given range of frequencies 7. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Harry J. R. Dutton (1999), Understanding Optical Communications Dettmer, R. "A ray of light" IEE Review, Volume: 47 Issue: 2, March 2001 Page(s): 32 -33 H.A. Willebrand and B.S. Ghuman, Fiber optics without fiber, IEEE Spectrum, Aug 01, p.40 Dr. Michael Connelly (1999), Optical Fibre: Communications Highway for the 21st Century Acampora, A.S. and Krishnamurthy, S.V. A broadband wireless access network based on mesh-connected freespace optical links IEEE Personal Communications [see also IEEE Wireless Communications], Volume: 6 Issue: 5, Oct 1999 Page(s): 62 65 Chinlon Lin, Kung-Li Deng and Chun-Kit Chan Broadband optical access networks, Lasers and ElectroOptics, 2001. CLEO/Pacific Rim 2001. The 4th Pacific Rim Conference on, Volume: 2, 2001 Page(s): II-576 -II-577 vol.2 H. Willebrand and B. S. Ghuman, Free Space Optics: Enabling Optical Connectivity in Todays Networks, Sams Publishing, 2002. Christopher C. Davis, Igor I. Smolyaninov, and Stuart D. Milner, Flexible Optical Wireless Links and Networks, IEEE Communications Magazine, March 2003. Andy Dorman, (2004), Wireless Optics: Fiber Is Cheap, But Space Is Free, Network Magazine (September 2004)

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