HYBRID RF AND OPTICAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION LINK AND NETWORK STRUCTURE INCORPORATING IT THEREIN

摘要

A hybrid wireless link (100) of the present invention provides a gateway between two wired data systems (102), such as backbone fiber networks, and comprises a laser portion (104), a radio frequency portion (106), and a controller (108). The laser portion (104) and the radio frequency portion (106) provide, side-by-side and point-to-point, a free-space optical wireless link and a radio frequency wireless link. The controller (108) may be designed to respond to atmospheric conditions based on environmental information such as weather tables or the transmit/receive power of the laser portion (104) and the radio frequency portion (106), with signal switched between the laser portion (104) and the radio frequency portion (106) with a binary switch or a variety of latched levels using an incremental switch. The hybrid wireless link (100) may also use multiple channels and may be configured for a variety of networks including multi-channel ring topologies.