In a further example, determining whether the beacon beam transmitted from the first communication device is detected in one or more of the captured frames at the second communication device includes determining a level of confidence that the beacon beam is detected, determining whether the level of confidence exceed a threshold level of confidence, determining that the beacon beam is detected when the level of confidence meets the threshold level of confidence, and determining that the beacon beam is not detected when the level of confidence is less than the threshold level of confidence. In another example, the method also includes digitally cropping, by the one or more processors, a frame of the second communication device after the beacon beam is detected, the digitally cropped frame including a pixel region where the beacon beam is detected in the frame. In this example, the method also includes determining, by the one or more processors, that the communication link is lost; continually enlarging, by the one or more processors, the digitally cropped frame to include a larger pixel region until the beacon beam is detected in the digitally cropped frame; and reforming, by the one or more processors, the communication link. Further in this example, the method also includes initiating, by the one or more processors, the primary search pattern and the secondary search pattern when the digitally cropped frame is enlarged greater than a maximum threshold size.