Many researchers and engineers are currently involved in development of systems for information transfer by optical radiation propagating through the atmosphere. Attention is drawn to such "atmospheric" free-space communication links (FSOC) because they are significantly less expensive than fiberoptic communication links (FOC), and can be very quickly deployed. A wellknown disadvantage of FSOC, as compared to FOC, is their sensitivity to weather conditionsprimarily to fog and precipitation, causing substantial loss of light power over the communication path (see, for example, [1] -[3]), and hence limiting the communication link availability.Availability is defined as a statistically averaged percentage of time during which the link is operable, i.e. provides information transfer with a given bit rate and an error probability not exceeding a given level (in most cases, 10 -9 ). For normal operation of a telecommunication system,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.