Statistics of attenuation due to rain affecting hybrid FSO/RF link: Application for 5G networks

This paper shows that FSO could be an option for backhauling among microcells in future 5G systems in areas where fog is not a concern as very short LOS links (few hundred meters) would be required. In this respect, monthly CCDFs of rain attenuation at both RF (28 GHz) and optical bandwidth have been calculated in the area of Hyderabad (Pakistan). FSO links with simple OOK modulation would be able to reach targeted data rate of hundreds of Gbps for 99.99% of time provided the link length is less than few hundreds of meters.