How do optical communication systems support the growth of IoT?

Optical communication systems support the growth of IoT by providing high-speed & reliable data transfer capabilities. IoT devices generate vast amounts of data that need to be efficiently transmitted & processed. Optical communication, utilizing technologies like FO, enables the seamless transfer of data over long distances with minimal signal loss and electromagnetic interference. This high bandwidth and low latency communication infrastructure contribute to the scalability and responsiveness of IoT, facilitating the interconnectedness of a multitude of devices and sensors. Overall, optical communication systems play a crucial role in ensuring the robust and efficient connectivity required for the expanding ecosystem of IoT applications.

What I have learned with time is that a use case is very important, most of the projects do not envision the ground realities, you need high speed or being time critical or both or none, what is the budget, how will it become sustainable, what is TCO of the solution? Once you have the answers of these and many other questions then optical may or may not be the best choice. It is definitely not one size fits all.

I believe 40 wave length 40 GB WDM optical fiber networks are available. This would be equivalent to 1600 GB throughput on a single pair of (single mode) fibers using the 1550 nm window. The actual number of WDM channels is dependent on the type of fiber.

In my opinion, using FSO in a certain area might cause some issue related to the fresnel zone. Antennas need to be pointed directly without any obstacles. FSO can’t replace backbone networks accurately. So using optical communications for IoT will be very good for smart city otherwise M2M or zigbee might be enough for IoT.

As previously discussed a use case is very important, especially for FSO where customer adaptability is still low. In my opinion FSO is a high speed alternate to Microwave radio and not an alternate to fiber optics because the implementation issues of FSO are similar to Microwave radio and not that of Optical Fiber Network. If the use case permits then FSO can be used with IoT, especially in places where the optical fiber network can not reach because of regulatory issue.

As IoT devices are prone to security issues so having something in the back haul to implement security can be a very wise choice. Recent improvements in optics have brought security to Layer 0 of the OSI network model, making it a win-win situation for IoT devices. Implementation is neither complex nor costly and can be embedded if the backhaul network is already implemented as well.

Use of IoT un urban areas has great significance and is capable of solving many issues, however the total cost of solution, especially the long term operations is still a drawback for less developed countries, it should be more supported by organizations like ITU, etc.