From Received Power to Certified Secret Keys: A General Method for Bridging Classical FSO Link Budgets and Decoy-State QKD

Received optical power determines photon arrival flux, but photon arrival flux does not certify a quantum key. This paper gives a deployment-independent interface from a classical free-space optical (FSO) link budget to phase-randomized weak coherent pulse BB84, decoy-state estimation, and composable finite-key postprocessing. The channel interface separates geometric collection, atmospheric extinction, residual pointing, and detector efficiency, and states when common geometric and pointing expressions are approximations. The finite-key output follows the decoy-state analysis of Lim et al., with key- and test-basis counts estimated separately and an infinite-decoy asymptotic reference. The numerical study covers a five-level attenuation sweep, basis- and vacuum-probability sensitivities, a conditional Chernoff comparison, and integer-count Monte Carlo. For 3.33 times 10 8 emitted pulses, the Hoeffding-based predicted one-kilobit-per-second distance limits are 2.727, 1.883, 1.472, 1.236, and 0.962 km from very clear to dense-fog parameterizations. These are conditional performance predictions, not experimental security certificates. Satellite, drone, high-altitude-platform, terrestrial, and train links enter through the same interface but require their own propagation, acquisition, and device inputs. The framework integrates established security tools into an engineering procedure without claiming a new security proof or a universal range.