  Airborne platforms, such as drones, balloons, and aerostats, have recently
gained considerable interest in the communication sector. Free-space optical
communication (FSOC) systems can deliver information wirelessly at high data
rates (above 1 Gbps) using compact and lightweight optical terminals. Thus,
airborne FSOC systems have been a recent subject of interest and activity,
including emerging projects such as Google Loon and Facebook Aquila. One of
major technical challenges of FSOC system is the stringent requirement of
pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) capability to ensure the reliable
transmission between the transmitter and receiver, due to narrow beam width and
movement of airborne platforms. By identifying and validating improvement
techniques dealing with this issue, we developed simple models of propeller and
wind induced vibrations and investigated the effect of those vibrations on the
performance of FSOC systems operating in the stratosphere.
