Experimental validation of fog models for FSO under laboratory controlled conditions

Abstract

In this paper, we present the experimental results free space optics (FSO) communication systems operating at visible and near infrared wavelengths (from 0.6 μm to 1.6 μm) under fog conditions. Different empirical fog models are typically used to characterize the fog attenuation of optical beam in FSO systems. A number of empirical fog models are evaluated in order to verify them experimentally and to fill several unmeasured gaps within the entire spectrum from the visible - near infrared (NIR) range for light to dense fog conditions. The experimental results in the controlled laboratory fog environment are compared with the selected empirical fog models in order to practically validate their performance over wide range of wavelengths. The results indicate wavelength dependency of the fog attenuation for visibilities higher than 15 m, whereas the cases with shorter visibilities contradict the Kim model.