History

Originally developed by the military and NASA, FSO has been used for more than three decades in various forms to provide fast communication links in remote locations. LightPointe has extensive experience in this area: its chief scientists were in the labs developing prototype FSO systems in Germany in the late 1960s, even before the advent of fiber-optic cable. To view a copy of the original FSO white paper in German, published in Berlin, Germany, in the journal Nachrichtentechnik, in June 1968 by Dr. Erhard Kube, LightPointe's Chief Scientist and widely regarded as the "father of FSO technologyWhile fiber-optic communications gained worldwide acceptance in the telecommunications industry, FSO communications is still considered relatively new. FSO technology enables bandwidth transmission capabilities that are similar to fiber optics, using similar optical transmitters and receivers and even enabling WDM-like technologies to operate through free space.