FSO communications: atmospheric effects for an airborne backbone

Abstract

Free-space optical communications (FSOC) has become an important application area because of the increasing need for larger bandwidths and high-data-rate transfer of information that is available at optical wavelengths. In this paper we discuss some of the atmospheric issues that are important to consider in the design of a FSOC link between aircraft at large separation distances, including aero-optical effects around the aircraft itself.