An experimental performance evaluation of the hybrid FSO/RF

Abstract

This paper is a first attempt to study the effects of atmospheric turbulences on hybrid free space optics/ radio frequency (FSO/RF) transmission system in Doha, Qatar. The state of Qatar is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers with modest cloud coverage highly affected by airborne dust. Due to its sensitivity to atmospheric turbulences, throughout this study, we try to demonstrate the working capabilities of FSO technology as well as to promote an understanding of this technology amongst the countries of the gulf cooperation council (GCC). Moreover, we studied the behavior of RF link during the same period. In order to analyze the transport media, two transmitting subsystems are employed and installed at Qatar University (QU) at two different buildings separated by a distance of 600 m. Each system is composed of a FSO and RF terminal. We have ported an Embedded Linux kernel on Micro-blaze processor build in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Then, we have designed a network sniffer application that can run on the FPGA board. The measurements from the network sniffer applications were carried out during summer season from June up to September 2015. The relation between the measurements and the atmospheric factors, taken from a weather station installed at QU, were also found.