A Survey on Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing Mechanisms for Mobile Free-Space Optical Communications

This paper presents a comprehensive survey on acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) mechanisms used in free-space optical (FSO) communications systems. ATP mechanisms are a critical component for a wide variety of use cases of mobile FSO communications. ATP mechanisms are used to align an FSO tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE Communications surveys and tutorials Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 1104 - 1123
Main Authors: Kaymak, Yagiz, Rojas-Cessa, Roberto, Jianghua Feng, Ansari, Nirwan, MengChu Zhou, Tairan Zhang
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 01.01.2018
Subjects:
acquisition
Free-space optical communications
free-space optics
Laser beams
line-of-sight
Long Term Evolution
Mobile communication
mobile stations
Optical receivers
Optical transmitters
optical wireless
tracking and pointing
ISSN:2373-745X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper presents a comprehensive survey on acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) mechanisms used in free-space optical (FSO) communications systems. ATP mechanisms are a critical component for a wide variety of use cases of mobile FSO communications. ATP mechanisms are used to align an FSO transmitter and receiver to attain line-of-sight, which is required for effective operation of FSO communications. Transceiver motion is not only associated to mobile stations but also to temporary displacements experienced by stationary FSO terminals, such as in building-to-building FSO communications. This survey categorizes ATP mechanisms according to their working principles, use cases, and implementation technology. This paper also discusses advantages and disadvantages of the surveyed ATP mechanisms, and presents a discussion on challenges and future research.
ISSN:2373-745X
DOI:10.1109/COMST.2018.2804323