Intelligent Relay Selection with Predicted Link States for Relay-Assisted Free Space Optical Network

Free space optical (FSO) communication technology is a promising technology to provide higher bandwidth and faster transmission rate. However, FSO link is sensitive to various weather conditions and turbulence. Therefore, the relay-assisted FSO network has been paid much attention. Nevertheless, the existing relay selection schemes seldom consider the predicted link states and the schemes always have a time lag, which will reduce system performance. The paper proposes an intelligent relay selection mechanism for FSO communication. We introduce machine learning technology into channel and network traffic estimation to reduce the network outage probability. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can efficiently reduce outage probability and increase network throughput.