Abstract
Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) technology, designed to operate through free space as medium is rapidly emerging as reliable, fast & secure alternative for broadband communication. It is being researched & investigated for applications and technical utilities in both civil & military domain systems owing to its immense benefits including high security, better data rates & fast installations, no requirement of licensed spectrum, best costs & simplicity of design as compared to contemporary Radio Frequency (RF) systems. FSOC networks once established are difficult to detect & intercept in view of small divergence of the laser beams. This paper reviews the FSOC technology and presents features based merits as well as unmatched advantages & associated major applications in various fields collating them into a single reference point for future research. Efforts have also been invested to present a review of FSOC's limitations & innovative emerging mitigation techniques which can prove to be a one stop feeder & a launch pad for future research in FSOC domain. A literature survey has been undertaken of available FSOC related military applications to review & gather relevant inputs to throw light on emerging trends in military applications including recent experiments & researched areas pertaining to laser systems & weapons, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), under sea usages, terrestrial applications, aerial, naval ships/shore based applications & RF/hybrid systems. It has been endeavored to shed light on findings & developments in these classified military domains to generate inputs for future work in this domain. Finally, a future technical roadmap and a way ahead & suggestions have been coined up pointing towards required impetus & focus areas in FSOC research domain.
Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.