A novel multi‐quality of service system design: Integration of hybrid free space optical/RF, cognitive hybrid and free space optical links

The proposed system design presents a novel configuration that is created by the integration of several standalone free space optical (FSO) links, a hybrid FSO/RF and some cognitive or pseudo hybrid links. The objective is to allow different quality‐of‐service (QoS) links within a system as a whole. In addition to individual QoS requirements, a constraint on the overall system QoS, in the form of minimum system outage, is also ensured. The design methodology aims at identifying the optimal number of standalone FSOs and cognitive hybrid links which can be supported by a single hybrid FSO/RF link. Atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors are considered for the analysis. Simulation results are used to corroborate the analytical findings.