Cymatics and Their Potential Applications in Free Space Optical Communications

Free space optics (FSO) is seen as a complementary wireless technology to radio frequency technology (RF) for applications in high-speed and long-distance communications. Although it surpasses traditional RF-based communications with its higher data rates and increased security to create a scalable communication infrastructure, it has certain drawbacks, which must be adequately addressed before it becomes a norm for terrestrial communication. One of the major issues it faces is the effect atmospheric weather conditions such as fog, rain and turbulence that can attenuate the encoded light leading to the performance degradation. While modal vibrational phenomena have been studied for some considerable time, cymatics and the visualisation of sound waves could be the key to the future of FSO. Primarily due to the modal frequencies having a significantly higher interaction rate with droplets or particles than others. This paper outlines the process of identifying these frequencies and presents experimental results outlining their applications in the path clearing in the FSO links.