Combination of FSO and RF channels by using Ethernet link aggregation

Abstract

AbstractHybrid free‐space optical and radio frequency (FSO/RF) systems have attracted much attention for more than a decade because of their enhanced reliability and capacity as comparison to single FSO or RF systems. Existing schemes to construct such a hybrid system are usually to use either switching or encoding/decoding strategies for combination of channels. The proposed scheme, based on packet sharing strategy of Ethernet link aggregation, provides a different way to combine FSO and RF channels. Theoretical analysis and Experimental results show that the proposed scheme does enhance the reliability and utilize both channel capacities for a multi‐channel system. Moreover, this scheme is simple and scalable because more channels can be combined based on such a packet sharing strategy without modifying the physical channel structures, therefore, this scheme may provide a good solution for constructing an efficient and cost‐effective hybrid FSO/RF system.