Overview of UAV Based Free-Space Optical Communication Systems

Increased availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have advanced research and industrial interests, establishing this platform as a promising part of future emerging technologies. In this paper, we present an overview of optical wireless communications (OWC) related to UAV, which benefit from both optical data rates and mobility of UAV. Since drones are usually employed in outdoor scenarios, the UAV based free-space optical (FSO) communication system is considered, as the FSO represents the optical wireless signal transmission from infra-red band spectrum in outdoor environments. A brief recapitulation of main studies in the field of UAV-aided cooperation within FSO systems is presented. Optical channel modeling is presented in details, taking into account both misalignment and positioning of the transceivers.