Performance investigation of a VLC-PDM based UWOC system under adverse underwater conditions with varying chlorophyll levels

Abstract

Underwater Wireless Optical Communication (UWOC) has emerged as a promising solution to meet the growing demand for high-speed, reliable communication in marine environments. The limitations of traditional acoustic and radio frequency (RF) communication methods in underwater settings, such as low data rates, high latency, and susceptibility to environmental conditions, have propelled the exploration of optical communication technologies. This work introduces a Visible Light Communication (VLC)-based UWOC system employing Polarization Division Multiplexing (PDM) to enhance data transmission rates and system performance. The proposed system capitalizes on the advantages of VLC, including high bandwidth, low latency, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, to achieve efficient underwater communication. By incorporating PDM, the system effectively doubles the channel capacity without increasing the bandwidth, achieving a data transmission rate of 1Gbps per channel. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated under various underwater conditions, including freshwater, clear ocean water, coastal water, and turbid ocean water with different chlorophyll concentrations. The results demonstrated the system's ability to maintain a low Bit Error Rate (BER) across diverse marine environments, showcasing its potential for real-world applications in underwater communication networks.