Optical Wireless Links Research Articles

Time and wavelength diversity schemes for transdermal optical wireless links

Time and wavelength diversity schemes for transdermal optical wireless links

Mitigating the Impact of Lognormal Atmospheric Turbulence Channel Estimation on FSO Communication Systems Using Advanced Deep Learning Modules

ABSTRACTCurrently, researchers and commercial entities worldwide are highly interested in optical wireless communication links operating in terrestrial environments. These links offer the distinct advantage of enabling high‐speed data transmission while keeping operational and installation costs low, all without requiring licensing. Free‐space optical (FSO) communication has established itself as a reliable method for delivering ultra‐high data‐rate services. However, the presence of atmospheric turbulence‐induced fading poses a significant challenge for FSO communication systems, particularly when operating over channels affected by time‐varying turbulence. The effectiveness of FSO systems is greatly influenced by atmospheric conditions in a specific area because the laser beam propagates through the atmosphere. As a consequence, this can lead to a significant degradation such as high complexity, high estimation error, and high bit error rate (BER) in the performance of FSO systems. This paper presents a stacked dual attention LSTM network with layered neural Turing machine (SDALSTM‐LaNTM) for FSO channel estimation over lognormal turbulence‐induced fading channels. In this approach, the stacked structure ensures a robust feature extraction capacity of SDALSTM and enhances its ability to capture intricate relationships among multiple atmospheric variables. After employing the stacked LSTM networks, the extracted features are combined with the augmented features obtained through the dual attention (DAttn) mechanism by concatenation. Then the LaNTM architecture used external memory to solve the channel parameter estimation problem and update new set of hidden features for estimation task. The ability to access and update memory enables the model to capture long‐term dependencies and context, making it beneficial for channel prediction in FSO systems. Presently, we are in the process of verifying the channel estimation model using measured FSO channel data. Simulation results clearly demonstrate the outstanding estimation performance of the SDALSTM‐LaNTM model in FSO systems, specifically when dealing with lognormal turbulence‐induced fading channels. Moreover, we highlight the effectiveness of the SDALSTM‐LaNTM model by conducting a comprehensive comparison with existing models, considering factors such as average capacity performance, outage probability estimation, and BER.

Bidirectional wavelength-division-multiplexing fibre-free-space optical communications using polarisation multiplexing technique and tunable optical vestigial sideband filter

To address the growing demand from emerging applications, high transmission capacity is essential for both fibre backbones and last-mile communications. This can be achieved by integrating optical fibre with optical wireless technologies, facilitating the development of fibre-free-space optical communications. Here we report a bidirectional wavelength-division-multiplexing fibre-free-space optical communication employing polarisation multiplexing technique and tunable optical vestigial sideband filter. The transmission capacity is considerably increased by integrating the polarisation multiplexing technique with the wavelength-division-multiplexing scheme. The transmission performance is extensively enhanced by using a tunable optical vestigial sideband filter and vestigial sideband-four-level pulse amplitude modulation. Moreover, the optical wireless link is substantially extended through the operation of triplet lenses. Low bit error rates and clear vestigial sideband-four-level pulse amplitude modulation eye diagrams are attained with a high aggregate transmission capacity of 480 Gb/s for downstream/upstream transmission. This capability of bidirectional fibre-free-space optical communications holds substantial potential for enhancing advanced wired-wireless communications.

Integrating deep convolutional surrogate solvers and particle swarm optimization for efficient inverse design of plasmonic patch nanoantennas

Abstract Plasmonic nanoantennas with suitable far-field characteristics are of huge interest for utilization in optical wireless links, inter-/intrachip communications, LiDARs, and photonic integrated circuits due to their exceptional modal confinement. Despite its success in shaping robust antenna design theories in radio frequency and millimeter-wave regimes, conventional transmission line theory finds its validity diminished in the optical frequencies, leading to a noticeable void in a generalized theory for antenna design in the optical domain. By utilizing neural networks, and through a one-time training of the network, one can transform the plasmonic nanoantennas design into an automated, data-driven task. In this work, we have developed a multi-head deep convolutional neural network serving as an efficient inverse-design framework for plasmonic patch nanoantennas. Our framework is designed with the main goal of determining the optimal geometries of nanoantennas to achieve the desired (inquired by the designer) S 11 and radiation pattern simultaneously. The proposed approach preserves the one-to-many mappings, enabling us to generate diverse designs. In addition, apart from the primary fabrication limitations that were considered while generating the dataset, further design and fabrication constraints can also be applied after the training process. In addition to possessing an exceptionally rapid surrogate solver capable of predicting S 11 and radiation patterns throughout the entire design frequency spectrum, we are introducing what we believe to be the pioneering inverse design network. This network enables the creation of efficient plasmonic antennas while concurrently accommodating customizable queries for both S 11 and radiation patterns, achieving remarkable accuracy within a single network framework. Our framework is capable of designing a wide range of devices, including single band, dual band, and broadband antennas, with directivities and radiation efficiencies reaching 11.07 dBi and 75 %, respectively, for a single patch. The proposed approach has been developed as a transformative shift in the inverse design of photonics components, with its impact extending beyond antenna design, opening a new paradigm toward real-time design of application-specific nanophotonic devices.

Demonstration of an 8-Gbit/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying coherent underwater wireless optical communication link using coherent heterodyne detection under scattering conditions.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate an 8-Gbit/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) coherent underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) link under scattering conditions at 532 nm. At the transmitter, we generate the 532-nm QPSK signal using second-harmonic generation (SHG), where the 1064-nm signal modulated with four phase levels of an 8-phase-shift-keying (8-PSK) format is phase doubled to produce the 532-nm QPSK signal. To enhance the receiver sensitivity, we utilize a local oscillator (LO) at the receiver from an independent laser source. The received QPSK data beam is mixed with the independent LO for coherent heterodyne detection. Results show that the bit error rates (BERs) of the received QPSK signal can reach below the 7% forward error correction (FEC) limit under turbid water with attenuation lengths (γL) up to 7.4 and 6.1 for 2- and 8-Gbit/s QPSK, respectively. The corresponding receiver sensitivities are -34.0 and -28.4 dBm for 2- and 8-Gbit/s QPSK, respectively.

5G wavelength-division-multiplexing-based bidirectional optical wireless communication system with signal remodulation employing cascaded reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers

Compared with previous generations, fifth-generation communications can provide faster download and upload speeds and support a greater number of connected devices. Integrating fifth-generation signals with optical wireless communication systems provides promising ways to afford higher transmission rates and faster wireless connectivity. Here we report a fifth-generation wavelength-division-multiplexing-based bidirectional optical wireless communication system with signal remodulation employing cascaded reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers to effectively remove the downstream data for uplink transmission. It shows a fifth-generation wavelength-division-multiplexing-based bidirectional optical wireless communication system using four wavelengths for communication. The uplink performance is substantially enhanced by using two reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers to remove the downstream data. The system achieves an aggregate transmission rate of 36.4 Gbit/s for both downlink and uplink transmissions over a 100-m optical wireless link. This demonstrated fifth-generation wavelength-division-multiplexing-based bidirectional optical wireless communication system employing cascaded reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers holds great potential for enhancing fifth-generation advanced communication capabilities.

Performance analysis of an underwater wireless optical communication link with Lommel beam

In order to mitigate the stochastic interference of underwater channels and improve the quality of underwater communication systems, it is essential to study the performance of the underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) links utilizing vortex beams with unique attributes. In this paper, the analytical formulae for the bit error rate (BER) and the average capacity of the UWOC link with diffraction-free Lommel beam are derived under the Rytov theory. Simulation results demonstrate that the system with a long wavelength, a high system signal-to-noise ratio(SNR), a small asymmetric parameter and receiving aperture diameter achieves a high average capacity and a low BER. Furthermore, in the underwater channel with a larger kinetic energy dissipation rate per unit mass of fluid and inner scale, a smaller mean-squared temperature dissipation rate, temperature salinity contribution ratio and transmission distance, the performance of the communication link can be improved. Meanwhile, it is found that the performance of the link with carrier Lommel beam are less sensitive to the topological charge, the scaling factor of the beam and the turbulent outer scale. These findings provide theoretical support for the design and implementation of an UWOC link utilizing the Lommel beam.

Enhancing Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks With Flexible Communication and Positioning

An innovative approach centred around underwater wireless communication and positioning in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks, addressing limited coverage by proposing a dual-hop system combining optical fiber and wireless links. Time frame design and Code Division Multiplexing Access enhance multi-user signal transmission efficiency. Proof-of-concept experiments validate feasibility, with the introduction of the hybrid fish eye routing protocol further enhancing performance by intelligently combining fish-eye routing and traditional protocols for improved coverage and reliability. Moreover, the hybrid fish eye protocol incorporates adaptive routing algorithms that dynamically adjust to changes in underwater conditions, ensuring robustness and adaptability in challenging environments. Additionally, the hybrid fish eye protocol optimizes energy consumption by minimizing unnecessary transmissions, thereby prolonging the lifespan of underwater sensor networks. With full-duplex communication, precise positioning, and an extended transmission range, convergent system demonstrates significant potential for supporting high-capacity transmission among mobile nodes in forthcoming underwater scenarios

Optical Wireless Links for Extra-Spacecraft Communication

Optical Wireless Links for Extra-Spacecraft Communication

Depth dependence of oceanic turbulence optical power spectrum under any temperature and salinity concentration

The Oceanic Turbulence Optical Power Spectrum (OTOPS) with depth variations is acquired under any temperature and salinity concentration. It is supposed that specific medium is the Atlantic Ocean at high latitude and the Pacific Ocean at high, mid and low latitudes. For the OTOPS model, a depth-varying functions that include low-latitude, high- and mid-latitude-summer and mid-latitude-winter salinity and temperature changes are found. With the help of the equations for the temperature and salinity changes, figures are obtained for the eddy diffusivity ratio depth of seawater and OTOPS model against the depth and κ at these media. In the ocean, downlink (uplink) is defined as the optical wireless communication link where the receiver (transmitter) is located at a deeper point than the transmitter (receiver), i.e., in the downlink, optical signal proceeds from a point close to ocean surface to deeper ocean and in the uplink, optical signal proceeds from deeper ocean to a point close to ocean surface. In this paper, the OTOPS model is investigated on how its properties change in the underwater environment in downlink and uplink. Different behavior of the OTOPS model is exhibited.

A generalized and comprehensive slant channel modeling method for underwater wireless optical communication and its system performance analysis

The underwater wireless slant optical link is a more generalized type of communication links compared with vertical and horizontal links. Since several oceanic factors including temperature and salinity variations with the seawater depth, the performance of the slant link for the underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) will be overestimated under the assumptions of constant temperature and salinity. To this end, this paper proposes a model of slant link considering the depth-dependent and inclination-angle-dependent turbulence and scattering that are the main causes of multipath fading for UWOC. Specifically, to model the turbulence-induced fluctuations of light fields, the random phase screen method is exploited, where the power spectrum of refractive index is calculated using the oceanic turbulence optical power spectrum (OTOPS) model and the light fields at the receivers are derived by the angular spectrum method. To emulate the scattering-induced divergence, the scattering phase function is applied, where the motion directions and coordinates of light spots propagating among phase screens are deduced using Rodrigues’ Rotation Formula. Simulation results demonstrate the effects of the depths and inclination angles of transmitters on the performance of UWOC by analyzing the scintillation index, channel impulse response, and BER (bit error rate).

Designing high-speed GEO-to-Moon optical wireless communication links

Moon exploration and colonization will strongly rely upon high-speed optical wireless communications over a huge distance (around 400,000 km). Here, we introduce a holistic model, including the propagation issues as well as the realistic communication limitations and the expected practical limitations. We focus on the communication issues in a link connecting a GEO satellite to a fixed Moon optical station: here, we consider the challenging 10 Gbit/s transmission rate, and we assume an optical pre-amplified receiver, which is today the only option for high speed; we then select three different modulation formats, with corresponding implementations and increasing complexity and performance. Under these assumptions, we estimate the common operating conditions at the forward error correction threshold and point out the role of the transmitter and receiver telescopes: for practical size (e.g., 1 m), relevant limitations arise, which we combine with the typical photons-per-bit sensitivity values in an optical link. We find that all considered modulation formats can be used at 10 Gbit/s, although with different margins and hardware requirements, particularly considering the size of the optical antennas. We then extend the analysis to higher rates, up to 40 Gbit/s. This work can open the way to the realization of optical wireless communication systems to/from the future Moon Village.

Effect of water-waves on recognition of speech signals transmitted over a wireless optical communication channel

In many sea-exploration scenarios, a wireless optical communication link between an onshore station and a floating marine structure or between a floating buoy and an underwater vehicle is required. In order to establish high-quality wireless optical communication, the effect of sea-waves must be taken into consideration. In this work, we investigate the influence of surface water waves having various amplitudes, frequencies and waveforms on the quality of an analog speech signal transmitted over a wireless optical communication link. Such investigation is also carried out on an encrypted speech signal. The quality of the speech signals is determined by utilizing a deep learning neural network that is trained to recognize ten speech commands and produces classification probabilities. In our experiments, either the detector or the light source is non-stationary as a result of the water-waves, thus distorting the received analog signal. We also show a method of deriving the frequency of the water waves by using a remote tracking unit based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors.

Compact OWC Receiver: Micro-Lens and PD Array on Glass Interposer

In this paper, we propose a compact optical wireless receiver based on micro-lens and photodiode array flip-chipped on a glass interposer. With simulation models and experiments, we verify the performance of two optical wireless communication receivers assembled based on this structure with gigabit and high-speed photodiodes. First, co-integrated gigabit photodiodes and micro-lenses indicate that micro-lenses can deliver a 3.5 dB gain of light collection efficiency to the gigabit photodiode array while keeping the field of view larger than <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math></inline-formula> 18 degrees. Besides, a 5.5 Gbps maximum throughput has been verified by this optical wireless communication receiver with discrete multitone modulation. Moreover, co-integrated high-speed photodiodes and micro-lenses prove that micro-lenses realize a 26.6 dB improvement in light collection efficiency, enabling a 10 Gbps error-free connection using as little as -0.5 dBm transmission power. Those results conclude that the co-integration of micro-lenses on the photodiode array can enhance the light collection efficiency of the photodiode array while keeping a larger field of view, providing a high-performance, low-cost solution for the receiver of optical wireless links.

Optical Wireless Fronthaul-Enhanced High-Throughput FC-AE-1553 Space Networks

Existing space application networks in space stations are mainly fiber-optic cable-based networks due to their low size, weight, and power (SWaP) values. While fiber networks in space stations offer data transmission at high speeds with minimal signal loss, their major disadvantage is the lack of flexibility and mobility when new and unplanned space scientific equipment is added to the network. To enhance the flexibility of space networks while increasing their throughput, this paper introduces the hybrid space network (HSN), a new space network architecture that incorporates an optical wireless link, to meet the ever-increasing demands for larger bandwidth and higher mobile access capabilities in space scientific experiments. To best utilize the HSN’s system performance, we propose a multi-priority-based network scheduling scheme, which can dynamically adapt to the requirements of mass tasks and select the best transmission procedure. Through simulations, we find that by adding optical wireless communication (OWC) links to the state-of-the-art deterministic FC-AE-1553 space network, the HSN’s bandwidth can be increased by 20 times with an average latency reduction of 87.3%. We believe that the proposed HSN’s architecture may ultimately shape the future of space stations’ wireless connectivity, and in the meantime, innovate many advanced space applications with larger data rates and mobility requirements.

Energy‐efficient UOWC‐RF systems with SLIPT

AbstractThis letter investigates a two‐hop underwater optical wireless communication‐radio frequency setup consisting of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), a communication buoy, and an onshore data center (ODC). The information transmission between AUV and ODC occurs in two phases. In the first phase, the AUV communicates to the buoy over the optical wireless link. The buoy harvests the energy by using simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer and also decodes the information. In the subsequent phase, the buoy transmits the decoded information to the ODC over an RF link by utilizing the harvested energy at the first phase. A joint optimization problem is proposed to minimize the total optical energy consumption at the AUV by optimally selecting the DC‐bias and the time allocated to the first and second phases subject to the minimum required end‐to‐end rate. Due to the non‐convexity of the original problem, an alternative approach is used to make it convex. For certain system parameters, our results show a significant energy savings of J at the required rate of 2 bits per channel use.

Performance analysis of underwater vertical wireless optical communication links using selection combining.

In this paper, we have investigated the performance of underwater vertical wireless optical communication (UVWOC) links employing on-off key modulation for selection combining based receive diversity schemes in the presence of underwater turbulence, pointing errors, and attenuation losses. Due to variations in temperature and salinity along the ocean's depth, turbulence-induced fading affects the performance of the underwater vertical wireless optical link. The vertical link of the underwater medium influenced by a strong turbulence regime is modeled using cascaded gamma-gamma distribution considering multiple non-identical layers along with attenuation losses and pointing errors. We have derived closed-form expressions for the average bit error rate (BER) and outage probability (OP) for the link employing multiple detectors at the receiving end. The accuracy of all of the closed-form expressions derived in this paper has been validated using Monte Carlo simulations.

Impact of Scattering on Secrecy Outage Probability of Underwater Optical Wireless Links

Impact of Scattering on Secrecy Outage Probability of Underwater Optical Wireless Links

Energy-Efficient Emerging Optical Wireless Links

In recent years, the tremendous increase in data traffic carried by wireless communication networks has generated the urgent need for establishing more energy-efficient wireless communication systems. Recent advances in semiconductor and light devices have triggered remarkable research interest to the development of these optical wireless communication (OWC) links. Among them, free-space optical (FSO) links and, more recently, ultraviolet links which operate within the (UV-C) spectral band, have been considered as prime candidates to create both high speed and power effective line-of-sight (LOS) and non-light-of-sight (NLOS) free-air communication links, respectively. Moreover, transdermal optical wireless (TOW) links for telemetry with medical implants minimize the expense of power for the implant. In the current review, a background on the energy efficiency challenges in wireless communication is presented. Each of these OWC technologies is mainly discussed in terms of key energy consumption requirements and major limiting factors that affect their power performance. Energy-efficient modulation formats as well as other powerful techniques for performance enhancement such as diversity and relaying are assessed. The survey is concluded with a discussion regarding their future energy consumption requirements and trends.

Vector Coding Optical Wireless Links

The quasi-static nature of the optical wireless channel means that the channel state information (CSI) can be readily available at the transmitter and receiver prior to data transmission. This implies that electrically band-limited optical wireless communication (OWC) systems can make use of optimal channel partitioning or vector coding based multi-channel modulation (MCM) to achieve high throughput by mitigating the non-linearities arising from the optical and electrical channel. This paper proposes a pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) based DC-biased optical vector coding (DCO-VC) MCM scheme for OWC. The throughput performance of DCO-VC is evaluated and compared to the well known DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) over hybrid (line-of-sight and diffuse) and diffuse (non line-of-sight only) visible light communication (VLC) channels with additive white Gaussian noise. For the completeness of the VLC physical layer, the performance comparison is based on an uncoded and a forward error correction transmission mode using well-known convolutional codes with Viterbi decoder. The results show that the coded DCO-VC outperforms DCO-OFDM system by achieving up to 2 and 3 dB signal to noise ratio gains over hybrid and diffuse VLC channels, respectively.