Taara launches industry’s first Link Planner for wireless optical communications
Taara, a graduate of X, Google’s Moonshot Factory, and a leader in high-speed, high-capacity wireless optical communications, has announced the launch of Taara Link Planner, the industry’s first link planning product developed specifically for next-generation free-space optical communications.
Taara Link Planner brings nearly a decade of research and development originating at X into a publicly accessible platform for network operators, infrastructure teams, and network planners. Its models have been validated against one of the largest real-world datasets on free-space optical links ever assembled, drawing on deployments and atmospheric observations spanning diverse geographies, climates, and operating conditions around the world.
The platform allows users to plan deployments of Taara Lightbridge, the company’s wireless optical communications technology, which uses narrow, invisible beams of light to deliver high-capacity connectivity through the air between two fixed and easily deployable terminals. By entering an address or coordinates, or by placing link endpoints manually on a map, users can assess link distance, identify potential line-of-sight obstructions, adjust mounting heights and estimate expected availability based on local atmospheric conditions. Taara’s internal modelling currently shows availability with about 1% accuracy of the predictions, on average, when local weather data is available and terminals are installed to specification.
Wireless optical communication uses narrow, invisible beams of light to deliver high-capacity connectivity through the air. Unlike radio-frequency (RF) systems, it operates in unlicensed optical spectrum and avoids many of the congestion, licensing, disruption, and costs associated with traditional wireless infrastructure and fibre deployments. Because wireless optical communications transmit data using highly focused beams of light, network planning involves different environmental and atmospheric considerations than traditional RF systems. Taara Link Planner has been designed specifically with those optical characteristics in mind.
Taara’s availability methodology estimates whether a link can send traffic error-free by modelling atmospheric parameters, terminal design, and link margin. The models account for factors including fog, haze, rain, dust, temperature, humidity, turbulence, wind, and vibration.
Taara Link Planner is designed for a wide range of users, from large operators with dedicated network planning teams to local service providers where field engineers may plan links themselves. The product provides a visual interface for testing prospective link locations, identifying obstructions, adjusting endpoint heights, and reviewing estimated performance across the year. Because visibility data is a critical input for wireless optical communications, Taara Link Planner draws on available weather station data and Taara’s own availability models to estimate performance at a given location. In areas where local weather data is limited or unavailable, the system uses broader climate and atmospheric modelling to support planning estimates.
Taara’s work on wireless optical availability dates back to its origins at X, where early studies used historical visibility data to understand how light-based links perform across different geographies. These studies found that in weather conditions representative of average large cities in the US and UK, the annual average link availability would exceed 95% over up to 10 km, and surpass 99% in many regions of interest.
Taara Link Planner brings that expertise into a publicly accessible tool at a time when operators are looking for faster ways to expand capacity without waiting months or years for fibre construction. Taara Lightbridge is already deployed in more than 20 countries with operators including T-Mobile, Airtel, Digicel, Liquid, and SoftBank, helping extend and reinforce network capacity across urban, rural, remote, and hard-to-reach environments.
The launch of the Taara Link Planner follows the recent introduction of Taara Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator, a browser-based tool designed to help network teams compare deployment economics across different connectivity options.
