Design of a 10 GHz optical wireless communication link using low power C-band laser diode

Abstract

This article deals with the proposed design of a 10 GHz optical wireless communication (OWC) link using 1550 nm Laser source for long range communication channel. Optical communication is the backbone of next generation gigabit class communication system and optical fiber communication plays an important role to fulfill the requirement of gigabit communication. But OWC is very useful where optical fibers cannot be laid off. A 10 GHz communication channel bandwidth has been designed in this article using very low power (2 mW) 1550 nm laser diode. A long range communication channel of 3 km has been considered with maximum bit-error-rate (BER) of 10−9. This system has been designed to withstand high atmospheric attenuation up to 11.67 dB/km, without affecting the BER and link range. An auto alignment method and automatic laser power control method have also been described with all necessary design parameters of the system.