Optical wireless communications

Optical wireless communications (OWC) is a form of optical communication in which unguided visible, infrared (IR), or ultraviolet (UV) light is used to carry a signal.

OWC systems operating in the visible band (390–750 nm) are commonly referred to as visible light communication (VLC). VLC systems take advantage of light emitting diodes (LEDs) which can be pulsed at very high speeds without noticeable effect on the lighting output and human eye. VLC can be possibly used in a wide range of applications including wireless local area networks, wireless personal area networks and vehicular networks among others. On the other hand, terrestrial point-to-point OWC systems, also known as the free space optical (FSO) systems, operate at the near IR frequencies (750–1600 nm). These systems typically use laser transmitters and offer a cost-effective protocol-transparent link with high data rates, i.e., 10 Gbit/s per wavelength, and provide a potential solution for the backhaul bottleneck. There has also been a growing interest on ultraviolet communication (UVC) as a result of recent progress in solid state optical sources/detectors operating within solar-blind UV spectrum (200–280 nm). In this so-called deep UV band, solar radiation is negligible at the ground level and this makes possible the design of photon-counting detectors with wide field-of-view receivers that increase the received energy with little additional background noise. Such designs are particularly useful for outdoor non-line-of-sight configurations to support low power short-range UVC such as in wireless sensor and ad-hoc networks.

The proliferation of stands out as one of the most significant phenomena in the history of technology. Wireless technologies have become essential much more quickly during the last four decades and they will be a key element of society progress for the foreseeable future. The radio-frequency (RF) technologies wide-scale deployment has become the key factor to the wireless devices and systems expansion. However, the electromagnetic spectrum where the wireless systems are deployed is limited in capacity and costly according to its exclusive licenses of exploitation. With the raise of data heavy wireless communications, the demand for RF spectrum is outstripping supply and they become to consider other viable options for wireless communication using the upper parts of the electromagnetic spectrum not just RF.

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