Abstract

Subject of study. In the post-pandemic world, connectivity plays an important role and is one of the biggest assets for the economy. Radio over free space optics is one of the most in-demand wireless communication technology solutions for 5G deployment in the upcoming era of a fast-moving world. Purpose of the work. We analyze the performance of a radio over free space optics link under rain weather conditions. Method. In this research, diverse geographical rain conditions for different terrains of India have been analyzed for monsoon months using the Marshall and Palmer rain attenuation model. Main results. Based on the real rain rate data analysis, it has been observed that an effective link range of up to 4 km may be achieved with an acceptable signal/noise ratio and bit error rate of 20 dB and 10⁻⁹, respectively, even for the coastal region with heavy rainfall. Practical significance. As rain is one of the dominant weather conditions affecting free space optics links, the proposed model employing orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing based 64-QAM and 16-PSK modulation schemes at a data rate 20 Gbps is able to limit the degrading effects of the channel.

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