Experimental Attenuation Coefficient Estimation for FSO Links over Maritime Area During Summer Time

Terrestrial free space optical (FSO) links can achieve very high performance characteristics with relative low operational cost and easy installation. However, the impact of various weather and atmospheric phenomena, such as atmospheric turbulence, absorption and scattering decrease the FSO performance and availability. These phenomena are responsible for rapid fluctuations of the intensity of the laser beam which can be modeled through the appropriate statistical distributions. In this work, the correlation between relative humidity, temperature and wind speed with the atmospheric attenuation factor of a terrestrial horizontal FSO system above the sea is estimated by extracting an experimental model for the evaluation of link’s attenuation. The FSO link has been installed at the entrance of the Piraeus Port. The comparison between the experimental attenuation coefficient of the optical power received and the extracted empirical model will prove the validity of the model. The obtained results can used for the design and implementation of optical wireless communication systems parts of high performance, reliable optical or hybrid networks.