Automatic realignment with electronic steering of free-space-optical transceivers in MANETs: A proof-of-concept prototype

  • Authors:

  • Abdullah Sevincer;Mehmet Bilgi;Murat Yuksel

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Nevada, Reno, CSE Department, MS 171, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA;University of Nevada, Reno, CSE Department, MS 171, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA;University of Nevada, Reno, CSE Department, MS 171, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA

  • Venue:
  • Ad Hoc Networks
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Free-Space-Optical (FSO) communication has the potential to achieve very high wireless communication rates at tens of GHz. Although it has the advantage of high-speed optical modulation, FSO communication is prone to mobility and it requires establishment and maintenance of line-of-sight (LOS) between FSO transceivers since FSO transceivers are highly directional. We consider FSO structures with multiple transceivers placed on a spherical shape with angular diversity and tackle the problem of automatically detecting and maintaining LOS alignment among neighbor multi-transceiver FSO structures. We present a prototype implementation of such multi-transceiver electronically-steered communication structures. Our prototype uses a simple LOS detection and establishment protocol and assigns logical data streams to appropriate physical links. We show that by using multiple directional transceivers and an auto-alignment mechanism, it is possible to maintain optical wireless links in a mobile setting with minimal disruptions and overhead.