A free space optical interconnect system tolerant to misalignments and utilizing redundant elements of a transmitter and/or a receiver is provided. The elements are arranged into clusters, the number of clusters being redundant, and the number of elements in each cluster being sufficient to accommodate the number of data channels to be transmitted. The system also includes means for identifying misalignments between the transmitter and the corresponding receiver, including means for providing feedback between the transmitter and the receiver regarding the misalignment, and means for re-routing data from the cluster which is misaligned to the redundant cluster which thus redirects data to/from the correct physical location. Preferably, the elements are arranged into one-dimensional or two-dimensional arrays, the elements of the transmitter being optical emitters or optical modulators. Uni-direction and bi-directional link systems are implemented in various embodiments of the invention. A method for compensating misalignments in a free space optical interconnect system having redundant elements of the transmitter or the receiver is also provided.
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