College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

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Browsing College of Agriculture & Natural Resources by Author "Anokye, Prince"

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    Free space optical communication over the Ghanaian Turbulent Atmospheric Channel
    (2014-09-04) Anokye, Prince
    Free Space Optical (FSO) communication is the transmission of optical signals through the atmosphere. This technology promises high wireless data rates, highly secured transmission, license-free operation and immunity to electromagnetic interference. However, turbulent atmospheric conditions have impacts on its performance and therefore hampered its wide spread deployment. In this thesis, we investigate the feasibility of FSO in Ghana. Atmospheric attenuation is estimated based on the atmospheric visibility data. Our results show atmospheric specific attenuation as high as 128.2dB/km in the 1550nm window, 134.5dB/km in 1300nm window and 150.95dB/km in the 850nm window. The probability of encountering different atmospheric attenuation conditions is estimated. Fading loss due to scintillation is investigated using the lognormal statistical model. It is shown that the margin to compensate for losses due to scintillation depends on the power scintillation index and the allowable system outage probability. The system availability estimated in Ghana is above 99% for a propagation path of 1km.