SFP-driven multi-aperture spatially diverse free space optical communications

Universal internet connectivity is an enabler for economic development. Free-Space Optical-Communications (FSOC) can help alleviate infrastructure challenges posed by fiber optical connections. We will present a low-complexity SFP driven, 4x4 multi-aperture diversity transceiver, for mitigating turbulence and tracking errors that does not require Digital Signal Processing or complex electro-optical components. We experimentally verify our system using a bench-top turbulent channel emulator with a CN^2 = 10^−12 and greenwood frequency of 300 Hz. We demonstrate our multi-aperture diversity transceiver can successfully avoid turbulence induced deep-fades for a 1 Gbps NRZ Ethernet encoded signal. This work strongly indicates that FSOC in turbulent links can be achieved using low-complexity diversity transceivers built from commercially available components.