Availability of Free-Space Optical Systems Depending on Atmospheric Conditions and System Parameters

In this paper the availability of Free-Space Optical (FSO) systems is studied. In order to create mathematical model and calculate systems availability, meteorological data from different geographic regions is used to obtain statistical model of the atmospheric visibility SM. Utilizing the cumulative distribution functions (CDF) of SM and the statistical distribution of the misalignments (Δρ) between the laser beam axis and the center of the receiving antenna, a method for calculating FSO availability is proposed. Based on the derived analytical expressions, numerical results are obtained and FSO availability is analyzed.