Ethernet FSO Communications Link Performance Study Under a Controlled Fog Environment

In this letter the performance of a free space optical (FSO) communication link in the presence of fog is experimentally investigated in an indoor environment. A dedicated indoor atmospheric chamber, replicating the outdoor environment, is being used to evaluate the FSO link performance under the fog condition. Theoretical analysis supported by the experimental evaluation has been carried out for the intensity modulation/direct detection on-off keying non-return-to-zero (OOK-NRZ), OOK return-to-zero (OOK-RZ) and four pulse position modulation (4-PPM) modulation formats at the Ethernet baseline data-rate. The results shown indicate that the 4-PPM signalling scheme is the most robust to the fog attenuation due to its high peak-to-average power ratio. Moreover, results also show the potential of the indoor atmospheric chamber to replicate outdoor atmospheric effects (such as fog) and be able to quickly characterise and assess the FSO system under a controlled environment.