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IP over Lasers

mikekohn.net

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Re: IP over Lasers

#21

Post by riedel »

toast0 wrote: post #12

Back when 10M ethernet was popular, it was pretty easy to wire up something like this with the transceiver (AUI) port... wire the tx to a laser and the rx to a photodiode (or whatever), ???, profit. There's lots of commercial equipment in this space too.

When I studied our dorm was connected to the campus network via a laser uplink (and the Internet, with each room having a public IP address). I still remember the foggy daya when people, you normally did not see, gathered in the bars, because the network went unbearably slow. It was nice days with every CS student having a server rack in their closet. I had a VT520 hooked up to it be able to read emails and IRC chats bed without having to wait for my PC to boot.

Re: IP over Lasers

#22

Post by supportengineer »

riedel wrote: post #21
toast0 wrote: post #12

Back when 10M ethernet was popular, it was pretty easy to wire up something like this with the transceiver (AUI) port... wire the tx to a laser and the rx to a photodiode (or whatever), ???, profit. There's lots of commercial equipment in this space too.

When I studied our dorm was connected to the campus network via a laser uplink (and the Internet, with each room having a public IP address). I still remember the foggy daya when people, you normally did not see, gathered in the bars, because the network went unbearably slow. It was nice days with every CS student having a server rack in their closet. I had a VT520 hooked up to it be able to read emails and IRC chats…

Has to be the early to mid 1990's?

Re: IP over Lasers

#23

Post by aerostable_slug »

proxysna wrote: post #13
lifestyleguru wrote: post #4

Now try IP over electricity.

Powerline is sort of like that. Devices act like an L2 transparent proxies over electrical wiring.

Fun fact: large transmission lines use power line carrier communications for things like remedial action schemes and other system protection functionality (e.g. protective relay trip signals). The carrier can be a few hundred kV, so it tends to be outside the comfort zone of most casual experimenters.

Re: IP over Lasers

#25

Post by teeray »

toast0 wrote: post #12

Back when 10M ethernet was popular, it was pretty easy to wire up something like this with the transceiver (AUI) port... wire the tx to a laser and the rx to a photodiode (or whatever), ???, profit. There's lots of commercial equipment in this space too.

I dreamed of doing something like this growing up so that my neighbor and I could play StarCraft without the latency of dialup. I wish I knew then that it was that straightforward.

Re: IP over Lasers

#27

Post by rafale »

cuttothechase wrote: post #26

Isn't this just fiber optics! Exciting turn of the century tech hitting HN boards in 2025

Every year new engineers and enthusiasts need to be exposed to cutting edge technologies through hands-on introductions like these.

Re: IP over Lasers

#28

Post by johncalvinyoung »

supportengineer wrote: post #22
riedel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I studied our dorm was connected to the campus network via a laser uplink (and the Internet, with each room having a public IP address). I still remember the foggy daya when people, you normally did not see, gathered in the bars, because the network went unbearably slow. It was nice days with every CS student having a server rack in their closet. I had a VT520 hooked up to it be able to read emails and IRC chats…

Has to be the early to mid 1990's?

I was going to say, sounds like my college experience decades later. Still a very congested laser link, and I had a headless minitower instead of a rack (though I wasn't a CS student).

Re: IP over Lasers

#29

Post by bobmcnamara »

tgma wrote: post #2

Aren't regular fiber-optics just mass-deployed IP over lasers? (this message is brought to you by at least one, likely multiple, lasers in prod)

I'd assume most are LEDs or VCSELs. The long range stuff is laser.

Re: IP over Lasers

#30

Post by eqvinox »

aerostable_slug wrote: post #24
eqvinox wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite the same thing as doing it in an atmosphere.

That's right, the beam pointing problem is far harder when everything is moving.

There's this thing called wind that can move your outdoor installations quite a bit ;)

I'd call it a wash, space is hard, but so are atmospheric interactions, weather, foliage, and all the side effects of human habitation (like someone building a house in the middle of your laser link, yes that happens.)

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