Performance evaluation of free space optical communication in diverse geographical regions in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu
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N. Sakthi Praveen Kumar Reddy
,
Muskan Kumari Sarraf
,
Jagana Bihari Padhy
,
N. Sangeetha
Abstract
Free space optical communication (FSOC) is an emerging technology that allows data transmission at higher speeds via modulated photonic beams. FSOC provides numerous advantages, including huge bandwidth, low costs, low latency, quick deployment, and unlicensed spectrum. FSOC systems are emerging as a viable alternative to traditional communication methods. This paper presents a performance evaluation of the FSOC system in five different geographical regions of Tamil Nadu, namely Madurai, Kodaikanal, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, and Nagapattinam. We selected these areas due to their varied environmental conditions, which include interior plains, coastal areas, hill stations, and river deltas. We analyzed the impact of environmental conditions, including rainfall rates and atmospheric turbulence, on key performance metrics, including received power, BER (bit error rate), and Q-Factor (quality factor). We also compared three configurations, pre, post, and inline amplification, with varying intensities of rainfall and turbulence. The findings show that when there is heavy rainfall and low turbulence, the Q-factor for the preamplification setup at the 1.5 km range in Coimbatore is 5.03, but under normal rain conditions, it is 3.63 at the 3.5 km range. As such, our study indicates that the preconfiguration may be adopted across various climatic conditions for the above geographical regions.
Acknowledgments
We are really grateful to the India Meteorological Department and Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai for supplying real-time meteorological data on weather conditions of 2024, which was essential for analyzing and evaluating the performance of the FSOC system.
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Research ethics: Informed consent, Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools are not used in preparing the manuscript.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: Sakthi Praveen Kumar Reddy: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis and investigation, System Design, Methodology, Software Simulation, Results, Visualization, Data Analysis and Interpretation, Writing-original draft. Muskan Kumari Saaraf: Formal analysis and investigation, System Design, Writing-original draft. G Aarthi: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing-review and editing, Supervision. Jagana Bihari Padhy: Validation, Writing-review and editing. N Sangeetha: Validation, Writing-review and editing. Aashita Srivastava: Formal analysis and investigation.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.
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Software availability|Trial: We had used 30 days trail version of OptiSystem 21.
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