Using lasers to communicate
rick hoselton
hoz at univel.telescan.com
Thu Feb 15 19:36:19 PST 1996
At 10:38 AM 2/14/96 -0500, you wrote:
>This idea of sending data via laser beams across open spaces has some
>very useful potential. ...
>Eavesdropping and channel-blocking and physical-location-discovery are
>related threats to which most traditional data channels are susceptible.
>Any link which depends on a physical conduit (phone line, fiber, coax)
>is relatively easy to interrupt and to trace to its end points.
>RF links, even with frequency hopping, are subject to triangulation and
>jamming. All these kinds of links can be eavesdropped.
>Point-to-point conduitless laser signalling, as envisioned by "Bill" and
>Tim in their quotes below, eliminates or reduces these threats
Dust will cause diffraction of the beam (at a reduced intensity, of course).
Near the source, a detector tuned narrowly to the wavelength of interest would
probably succeed quickly. If you have a line of sight channel, there are
many other ways to signal that will preserve some deniability.
Rick F. Hoselton (who doesn't claim to present opinions for others)
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