Link budget analysis of free space optical communication link for atmospheric conditions of India

Abstract The performance of FSO links gets degraded significantly due to fog weather conditions. This paper aims to perform the link budget analysis for different locations of India by analyzing the impact of foggy weather on the operation of FSO links. The meteorological data of daily visibilities of potential locations of India, have been analyzed carefully to calculate the probability of exceeding visibility, ranging from 1 to 5 km, for each of the locations. It has been observed that Ludhiana has recorded maximum fog events having visibility less than 1 km and Chennai has recorded maximum events having visibility more than 5 km. In addition to this, the average attenuation coefficients due to fog have been calculated for each of the locations, based on the meteorological data. Further, the maximum feasible link distances for various locations of India have been computed for three different practical configurations of FSO links by using the link margin equation. The coastal area of Chennai has delivered maximum feasible link ranges as compared to other considered locations of India.