Topology for Robust RF/FSO Backhauling under Random Jamming Attacks and Adversary Weather Conditions

Abstract

Backhauling in future 5G systems is expected to depend on emerging technologies such as Free Space Optical (FSO) communication, due to its wide unlicensed spectrum, alongside Radio Frequency (RF) communication. Wireless links are prone to jamming attacks from malicious nodes. Also, FSO links are susceptible to the changing weather conditions. Therefore backhaul networks should be designed to remain functional under such adversary operating conditions. In this paper, we design an RF/FSO backhaul topology that is robust to jamming attacks from random unknown malicious nodes and to changing weather conditions that affect the reliability of FSO communication. The design problem finds the required minimum number of links and specifies their types and locations in order to achieve a pre-specified degree of robustness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in literature that formulates and considers the effect of random jamming and variable weather conditions when designing the backhaul topology. We also compare the numerical results of three different regions in Japan (urban, basin, and mountain) with different statistical weather conditions, and we show how this affects the number and type of the selected links.