Investigation of Machine Learning Methods for Prediction of Measured Values of Atmospheric Channel for Hybrid FSO/RF System

Abstract

This research paper addresses the problems of fiberless optical communication, known as free space optics, in predicting RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) parameters necessary for hard switching in a hybrid FSO/RF (Free Space Optics/Radio Frequency) system. This parameter is used to determine the intensity of the transmitted signal (in our case, a light beam) from one FSO head to another. Since we want to achieve almost 100% reliability, it is important to know the parameters of the transmission environment for the FSO and RF lines. Each of them has its limitations and, as a result, a weather monitoring station is required. The FSO is mostly affected by fog and the concentration of particles in the air, while the RF line is affected by rain and snow. It is precisely due to these influences that it is necessary (based on the mentioned RSSI parameter) to switch using the hard switching method from the primary FSO line to the backup RF line by correctly predicting this value. If the value of the RSSI parameter falls below the critical level—42 dBm—the system automatically switches to the backup RF line. There are several ways we can predict this parameter. One of them is machine learning methods such as decision trees. Our research focused on the prediction of the RSSI parameter, the methods of decision trees and decision trees using the AdaBoost regressor. Since we want to correctly predict the RSSI parameter, it is also necessary to choose the right way to predict it based on the recorded weather conditions. If we want to correctly use the hard switching method in hybrid FSO/RF systems, it is necessary to choose the correct method of predicting the RSSI parameter, which serves as an indicator for switching from the primary FSO line to the secondary RF line. Therefore, we decided to investigate methods of machine learning—the decision tree and the decision tree with the use of an AdaBoost Regressor. The main benefit of this paper is the improvement of existing machine learning methods (decision trees and decision trees using the AdaBoost regressor) for the correct prediction of the RSSI parameter for the needs of hard switching in a hybrid FSO/RF system. The method chosen in this manuscript has very good results. As can be seen in the attached graphs, over a longer period and using correctly selected training data, it is possible to achieve ideal results for the prediction of the RSSI parameter. The tables also show the effectiveness of the prediction, and the fact that it is best to train on either the first- or third-minute data. In the future, it would be appropriate to implement weather prediction or to consider other methods, such as random forests or neural networks.