HYBRID WIRELESS LINK EMPLOYING FREE-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION, RADIO FREQUENCY COMMUNICATION, AND INTELLIGENT FRAME AND PACKET SWITCHING

摘要

A node in a hybrid wireless link includes a free space optical (FSO) terminal and a radio frequency (RF) terminal. The FSO terminal is configured to transmit data over an FSO link, and the RF terminal is configured to transmit data over a free space RF link. The node also includes a switch/controller coupled to the FSO terminal and the RF terminal. The switch/controller is configured to receive data and determine at the data link layer whether to transmit data frames of the data over the FSO link, the RF link, or both. The determination is based on the content of the data frames, and, once the determination is made, the switch/controller steers the data frames to the FSO terminal, the RF terminal, or both. In some embodiments, the switch/controller makes the determination at the network layer.