Applications
Typically scenarios for use are:
- LAN-to-LAN connections on campuses at Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet speeds
- LAN-to-LAN connections in a city, a metropolitan area network
- To cross a public road or other barriers which the sender and receiver do not own
- Speedy service delivery of high-bandwidth access to optical fiber networks
- Converged Voice-Data-Connection
- Temporary network installation (for events or other purposes)
- Reestablish high-speed connection quickly (disaster recovery)
- As an alternative or upgrade add-on to existing wireless technologies
- As a safety add-on for important fiber connections (redundancy)
- For communications between spacecraft, including elements of a satellite constellation
- For inter- and intra -chip communication.
The light beam can be very narrow, which makes FSO hard to intercept, improving security. In any case, it is comparatively easy to encrypt any data traveling across the FSO connection for additional security. FSO provides vastly improved electromagnetic interference (EMI) behavior compared to using microwaves.
Read more about this topic: Free-space Optical Communication