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Abstract
Enhancing robustness and energy efficiency is critical in visible light communication (VLC) to support large-scale data traffic and connectivity of smart devices in the era of fifth-generation networks. To this end, we demonstrate that amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film solar cells with a high light absorption coefficient are particularly useful for simultaneous robust signal detection and efficient energy harvesting under the condition of weak light in this study. Moreover, a first-generation prototype called AquaE-lite is developed that consists of an a-Si thin-film solar panel and receiver circuits, which can detect weak light as low as 1 µW/cm2. Using AquaE-lite and a white-light laser, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signals with data rates of 1 Mb/s and 908.2 kb/s are achieved over a 20-m long-distance air channel and 2.4-m turbid outdoor pool water, respectively, under the condition of strong background light. The reliable VLC system based on energy-efficient a-Si thin-film solar cells opens a new pathway for future satellite-air-ground-ocean optical wireless communication to realize connectivity among millions of Internet of Things devices.
Highlights
The race to develop fifth-generation (5G) networks has begun worldwide
The developed prototype called AquaE-lite consisting of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film solar cells and receiver circuits could support weak light detection of 1 μW/cm2
Over a 20-m air channel, the area of the light sport increased to ~2922 cm2 and the average illuminances on the a-Si thinfilm solar panel decreased to 79.95 lx
Summary
The race to develop fifth-generation (5G) networks has begun worldwide. Compared with fourth-generation (4G) networks, multiple design objectives are defined for 5G networks, such as targeting data rates as high as 10 Gb/s, reducing power consumption by nearly 90%, improving network availability and reliability, and supporting massive connectivity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices [1]. Driven by the rapid escalation of energy-saving requirements, solar cells with the dual functions of energy harvesting and data acquisition are appealing as alternatives to commonly used detectors (i.e., positive-intrinsic-negative diodes and avalanche photodiodes) [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] They are widely recognized as the key components of future self-powered IoT devices such as wearables, smart homes, smart transportation systems, and long-term environmental monitoring equipment with millions of sensors [3]. AquaE-lite can detect weak light as low as 1 μW/cm and allows for a highly robust system even when tested under challenging conditions such as an outdoor pool with turbid water and direct sunlight This suggests that a-Si thin-film solar cells can serve most effectively as tools for simultaneous weak-light signal detection and efficient energy harvesting in power-shortage marine environments. The most exciting application scenario we envisage is power-hungry satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), buoys, and various underwater vehicles and sensors that integrate a-Si thin-film solar cells for long-term self-power satellite-air-ground-ocean (SAGO) optical wireless communication, which will considerably accelerate the pace of realizing global IoT
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