Speed of Data Transmission
Overview
Free Space Optics provides speeds comparable to those of optical fiber connections with the flexibility and practicality of being part of a wireless network providing bandwidth speeds typically advertised as up to 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 155 Mbps, and 1.5 Gbps, with possible speeds of up to 10 Gbps becoming likely in the future, plus the potential of being able to use WDM (Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) technology. Currently, the only other wireless technology capable of these kinds of speeds is Millimeter-Wave RF Wireless Networking which, in comparison, requires licensing and can be affected severely by rain. Due to the received beam being transferred onto an optical fiber to connect to the core network, trouble-free integration and easy setup make FSO networking’s compatibility with any system very high. [1]
Several studies show that optical systems outperform traditional RF communication systems in terms of weight, size, power, and data rate. [2]