Single Photon Detection Technology in Underwater Wireless Optical Communication:Modulation Modes and Error Correction Coding Analysis

This study explores the application of single photon detection(SPD)technology in underwater wireless optical communication(UWOC)and analyzes the influence of different modulation modes and error correction coding types on communication performance.The study investigates the impact of on-off keying(OOK)and 2-pulse-position modulation(2-PPM)on the bit error rate(BER)in single-channel intensity and polarization multiplexing.Furthermore,it compares the error correction performance of low-density parity check(LDPC)and Reed-Solomon(RS)codes across different error correction coding types.The effects of unscattered photon ratio and depolarization ratio on BER are also verified.Finally,a UWOC system based on SPD is constructed,achieving 14.58 Mbps with polarization OOK multiplexing modulation and 4.37 Mbps with polarization 2-PPM multiplexing modulation using LDPC code error correction.

50 m/187.5 Mbit/s real-time underwater wireless optical communication based on optical superimposition

In this paper,an optical pulse amplitude modulation with 4 levels(PAM-4)using a fiber combiner is proposed to enhance the data rate of a field-programmable gate-array-based long-distance real-time underwater wireless optical communication system.Two on-off keying signals with different amplitudes are used to modulate two pigtailed laser diodes,respectively,and the generated optical signals are superimposed into optical PAM-4 signals by a fiber combiner.The optical PAM-4scheme can effectively alleviate the nonlinearity,although it reduces the peak-to-peak value of the emitting optical power by 25%.A real-time data rate of 187.5 Mbit/s is achieved by using the optical PAM-4 with a transmission distance of 50 m.The data rate is increased by about 25%compared with the conventional electrical PAM-4 in the same condition.

Machine-vision-based acquisition,pointing,and tracking system for underwater wireless optical communications

Due to the proliferation of underwater vehicles and sensors,underwater wireless optical communication(UWOC)is a key enabler for ocean exploration with a strong reliance on short-range bandwidth-intensive communications.A stable optical link is of primary importance for UWOC.A compact,low-power,and low-cost acquisition,pointing,and tracking(APT)system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to realign the optical link within 0.04 s,even when the UWOC transmitter and receiver are in relative motion.The system successfully achieves rapid auto-alignment through a 4 m tap water channel with a relatively large number of bubbles.Furthermore,the required minimum illumination value is measured to be as low as7.1 lx,implying that the proposed APT scheme is robust to dim underwater environments.Meanwhile,mobility experiments are performed to verify the performance of the APT system.The proposed system can rapidly and automatically align moving targets in complex and unstable underwater environments,which can potentially boost the practical applications of UWOC.

Green indoor optical wireless communication systems:Pathway towards pervasive deployment

The Optical Wireless Communication(OWC)offers the high capacity of optical fiber communication with the flexibility of wireless communication.Since it works in the optical region of the ElectroMagnetic(EM)spectrum,it guarantees safety and security which are critical in radio and microwave frequency communication.The principal objective of this paper is to analyze the indoor OWC systems on these guaranteed features,and safety and security are jointly denoted by the term green.The high obstacle impermeability of optical signals and their directivity strengthen the security of indoor OWC data transmission.The confidentiality and authenticity of optical wireless data can also be preserved with the Quantum Key Distribution(QKD).This paper provides a technological overview and a review of literature about the OWC system that helps to identify the challenges in the path of a ubiquitous deployment of green wireless communication systems.Significant advancements in the sources and detectors are discussed together with the coding,modulation and multiplexing techniques for making highly robust OWC links.The ubiquitous deployment of green OWC necessitates the development of optical transmitters and receivers,performance enhancement techniques,incorporation of uplink and energy harvesting abilities,and safety and security enhancement techniques.Hence,a special emphasis is placed on these aspects and their challenges towards the green implementation.Furthermore,the paper explores some significant indoor applications based on the OWC that have great impacts on the Next Generation Networks(NGN)and the Internet of Things(IoT).

Petahertz communication:Harmonizing optical spectra for wireless communications

With the rapid deployment of Next-Generation Networks(NGN),the research community has initiated discussions on an entirely new suite of optical enabling techniques.To pave the way for the development of future wireless networks,this article aims to unify the existing infrared,visible light,and ultraviolet subbands while also exploring the potential of the Petahertz(PHz)band to support extremely bandwidth-thirsfy telepresence style applications.Our focus is on the emerging Petahertz Communication(PetaCom)framework,scenario-dependent propagation channels,modulation schemes,system performance,multiple access techniques,and networking.We conclude with a range of PetaCom challenges and open research issues.

Optical Wireless Communications

The optical spectrum can serve as a good spectrum resource for wideband wireless communications. The advantages of optical wireless communications （OWC） mainly lie in two aspects： the potential large transmission bandwidth due to the high-frequency carrier, and thecommunication security due to no radio-frequency radiation. Thus OWC can be applied in the seenarios where the radio silence is required or the radio frequency radiation may cause explosions, for example in the battle field or some special ar- eas in the storehouses.

Short-Range Optical Wireless Communications for Indoor and Interconnects Applications

Optical wireless communications have been widely studied during the past decade in short-range applications, such as indoor highspeed wireless networks and interconnects in data centers and high-performance computing. In this paper, recent developments in high-speed short-range optical wireless communications are reviewed, including visible light communications （VLCs）, infrared indoor communication systems, and reconfigurable optical interconnects. The general architecture of indoor high-speed optical wireless communications is described, and the advantages and limitations of both visible and infrared based solutions are discussed. The concept of reconfigurable optical interconnects is presented, and key results are summarized. In addition, the challenges and potential future directions of short-range optical wireless communications are discussed.

Subcarrier Intensity Modulated Optical Wireless Communications:A Survey from Communication Theory Perspective

Subcarrier intensity modulation with direet detection is a modulatiou/detection technique tbr optical wireless communication systems, where a pre-modulated and properly biased radio frequency signal is modulated on the intensity of the optical carrier. The most important benefits of subcarrier intensity modulation are as follows： 1） it does not provide irreducible error floor like the conventional on-off keying intensity modulation with a fixed detection threshold; 2） it provides improved spectral efficiency and supports higher order modulation schemes; and 3） it has much less implementation complexity compared to coherent optical wireless communications with heterodyne or homodyne detection. In this paper, we present an up-to-date review of subcarrier intensity modulated optical wireless communication systems. We survey the error rate and outage performance of subcarrier intensity modulations in the atmospheric turbulence channels considering different modulation and coding schemes. We also explore different contemporary atmospheric turbulence fading mitigation solutions that can be employed for subcarrier intensity modulation. These solutions include diversity combining, adaptive transmission, relay assisted transmission, multiple-subcarrier intensity modulations, and optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Moreover, we review the performance of subcarrier intensity modulations due to the pointing error and synchronization error.

Call for Papers ZTE Communications Special Issue on Optical Wireless Communications

Optical wireless communication, which serves as an important alternative to the radio-frequency communication, shows great potential to a lot of applications, such as indoor communication, secure communication, and battlefield communication. It has attracted increasing research interests from both academia and industrial fields. Moreover, optical wireless communication has been applied to the indoor communication and positioning system. The upcoming special issue of ZTE Communication will focus on the cutting-edge research and application on the communication system and related signal processing in optical wireless communication. The expected publication date will be in Mar. 2016. It includes （but not limited to） the following research directions：

Ultraviolet communication technique and its application

With recent developments of deep ultraviolet(DUV)light-emitting diodes and solar-blind detectors,UV communication(UVC)shows great potential in replacing traditional wireless communication in more and more scenarios.Based on the atmospheric scattering of UV radiation,UVC has gained considerable attention due to its non-line-of-sight ability,omnidirectional communication links and low background noise.These advantages make UVC an ideal option for covert secure communication,especially for military communication.In this review,we present the history and working principle of UVC with a special focus on its light sources and detectors.Comprehensive comparison and application of its light sources and detectors are provided to the best of our knowledge.We further discuss the future application and outlook of UVC.Hopefully,this review will offer valuable insights into the future development of UVC.

Timing Synchronization Method for Asymmetrically Clipped DC Biased Optical OFDM System

In a typical intensity-modulated direct-detection optical system, the information is carried on the intensity of the optical signal, and therefore can only be positive. Existing synchronization methods for RF-based OFDM system cannot be used directly in asymmetrically clipped DC biased optical of DM (ADO-OFDM) system. In order to solve the above problem, according to the characteristics of ADO-OFDM signal, the modified training symbol is presented. The simulation results show that the modified synchronization method gives good performance.

Resonant Beam Communications:A New Design Paradigm and Challenges

Resonant beam communications (RBCom), which adopts oscillating photons between two separate retroreflectors for information transmission, exhibits potential advantages over other types of wireless optical communications (WOC). However, echo interference generated by the modulated beam reflected from the receiver affects the transmission of the desired information. To tackle this challenge, a synchronization-based point-to-point RBCom system is proposed to eliminate the echo interference, and the design for the transmitter and receiver is discussed. Subsequently,the performance of the proposed RBCom is evaluated and compared with that of visible light communications(VLC)and free space optical communications (FOC). Finally, future research directions are outlined and several implementation challenges of RBCom systems are highlighted.

SIMO detection schemes for underwater optical wireless communication under turbulence

In underwater optical wireless communication(UOWC),a channel is characterized by abundant scattering/absorption effects and optical turbulence.Most previous studies on UOWC have been limited to scattering/absorption effects.However,experiments in the literature indicate that underwater optical turbulence(UOT)can cause severe degradation of UOWC performance.In this paper,we characterize an UOWC channel with both scattering/absorption and UOT taken into consideration,and a spatial diversity receiver scheme,say a singleinput–multiple-output(SIMO) scheme,based on a light-emitting-diode(LED) source and multiple detectors is proposed to mitigate deep fading.The Monte Carlo based statistical simulation method is introduced to evaluate the bit-error-rate performance of the system.It is shown that spatial diversity can effectively reduce channel fading and remarkably extend communication range.

Application of phase‑conjugate beams in beam correction and underwater optical wireless communication subject to surface wave turbulence

Water surface wave turbulence is one of the factors afecting the performances of underwater optical wireless communication(UOWC)systems.In our research,a phase-conjugate beam was used to correct the beam distortion and enhance the communication performances when a system is subject to surface wave turbulence.The phase-conjugate beam was generated by a phase-conjugate mirror(PCM),and a turbulence generator was used to generate surface wave turbulence in the experiment.We calculated the beam centroid distribution and the results showed that the phase-conjugate beam had a better propagation performance than the distorted beam at the diferent water depths.The root mean square(RMS)of the beam centroid for the phase-conjugate beam was 11 times less than that for the distorted beam,which meant that the phase-conjugate beam could efectively correct the beam drift.We further investigated the scintillation index and the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR);the results showed that the phase-conjugate beam was able to reduce the scintillation and an obvious improvement in SNR could be obtained.This research has the potential to be applied in UWC.

Air turbulence effects on performance of optical wireless communication with crosstalk in server backplane

Free space optical interconnections（FSOIs） are anticipated to become a prevalent technology for short-range high-speed communication. FSOIs use lasers in board-to-board and rack-to-rack communication to achieve improved performance in next generation servers and are expected to help meet the growing demand for massive amounts of inter-card data communication. An array of transmitters and receivers arranged to create an optical bus for inter-card and card-to-backplane communication could be the solution. However, both chip heating and cooling fans produce temperature gradients and hot air flow that results in air turbulence inside the server, which induces signal fading and, hence, influences the communication performance. In addition, the proximity between neighboring transmitters and receivers in the array leads to crosstalk in the received signal, which further contributes to signal degradation. In this Letter, the primary objective is to experimentally examine the off-axis crosstalk between links in the presence of turbulence inside a server chassis. The effects of geometrical and inter-chassis turbulence characteristics are investigated and first-and second-order statistics are derived.

Energy saving for data centers using spatial multichannel optical wireless communication

Data centers are crucial elements in modern information technology.In order to implement the next generation of data centers,new challenges must be overcome.These include reducing the energy consumption,increasing the data rates,reducing the communication latency,increasing the flexibility and scalability,and reducing the maintenance time and cost.One promising way for meeting these challenges is to employ multichannel optical wireless communication as part of the data center hybrid communication network.In this paper,we analyze three technologies that could be used in this context:MIMO(Multiple-in-Multipleout),multiplexing through orbital angular momentum of light,and direct modulation through the large number of modes associated with orbital angular momentum.Our results indicate that these technologies could provide an innovative and flexible means of meeting the challenges of the next generation of data centers.

Characterization of Blue-Green Light Non-Line-of-Sight Transmission in Seawater

The blue-green light in the 450 nm to 550 nm band is usually used in underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC). The blue-green light transmission in seawater is scattered by the seawater effect and can achieve communication in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) transmission mode. Compared to line-of-sight (LOS) transmission, NLOS transmission does not require alignment and can be adapted to various underwater environments. The scattering coefficients of seawater at different depths are different, which makes the scattering of light in different depths of seawater different. In this paper, the received optical power and bit error rate (BER) of the photodetector (PD) were calculated when the scattering coefficients of blue-green light in seawater vary from large to small with increasing depth for NLOS transmission. The results show that blue-green light in different depths of seawater in the same way NLOS communication at the same distance, the received optical power and BER at the receiver are different, and the received optical power of green light is greater than that of blue light. Increasing the forward scattering coverage of the laser will suppress the received optical power of the PD, so when performing NLOS communication, appropriate trade-offs should be made between the forward scattering coverage of the laser and the received optical power.

Modulation Techniques for Li-Fi

Modulation techniques for light fidelity （Li-Fi） are reviewed in this paper. Li-Fi is the fully networked solution for nmltiple users that combines communication and illumination simultaneously. Light emitting diodes （LEDs） are used in Li-Fi as visible light transmitters, therefore, only intensity modulated direct detected modulation techniques can be achieved. Single carrier modulation techniques are straightforward to be used in Li-Fi, however, computationally complex equalization processes are required in fre- quency selective Li-Fi channels. On the other hand, multiearrier modulation techniques offer a viable solution for Li-Fi in terms of power, spectral and computational efficiency. In particular, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing （OFDM） based modulation techniques offer a practical solution for Li-Fi, especially when direct current （DC） wander, and adaptive bit and power loading techniques are considered. Li-Fi modulation techniques need to also satisfy illumination requirements. Flickering avoidance and dimming control are considered in the variant modulation techniques presented. This paper surveys the suitable modulation techniques for Li-Fi including those which explore time, frequency and colour domains.

Real-time UWOC miniaturized system based on FPGA and LED arrays and its application in MIMO

In order to alleviate the impact of turbulence on the performance of underwater wireless optical communication(UWOC)in real time,and achieve high-speed real-time transmission and low cost and miniaturization of equipment,a 2×2 real-time multiple-input and multiple-output(MIMO)high-speed miniaturized UWOC system based on a field-programmable gate array(FPGA)and a high-power light-emitting diode(LED)array is designed in this Letter.In terms of multiplexing gain,the imaging MIMO spatial multiplexing and high-order modulation for the first time are combined and the real-time high-speed transmission of PAM-4 signal based on the LED array light source in 12 m underwater channel at 100 Mbps rate is implemented,which effectively improves the throughput of the UWOC system with a high-power commercial LED light source.In light of diversity gain,the system employs the diversity of repeated coding scheme to receive two identical non-return-to-zero on-off keying(NRZ-OOK)signals,which can compensate the fading or flickering sublinks in real time under the bubble-like simulated turbulence condition,and has high robustness.To our knowledge,this is the first instance of a high rate and long-distance implementation of a turbulence-resistant real-time MIMO miniaturized UWOC system based on FPGA and high-power LED arrays.With spatial diversity or spatial multiplexing capabilities,its low cost,integrity,and high robustness provide the system with important practical prospects.

Advances and prospects in visible light communications

Visible light communication （VLC） is an emerging technology in optical wireless communication （OWC） that has attracted worldwide research in recent years. VLC can combine communication and illumina- tion together, which could be applied in many application scenarios such as visible light communication local area networks （VLANs）, indoor localization, and intelligent lighting. In recent years, pioneering and significant work have been made in the field of VLC. In this paper, an overview of the recent progress in VLC is presented. We also demonstrate our recent experiment results including bidirectional 100 Mbit/s VLAN or Li-Fi system based on 00K modulation without blue filter. The VLC systems that we proposed are good solutions for high-speed VLC application systems with low-cost and low-complexity. VLC technology shows a bright future due to its inherent advantages, shortage of RF spectra and ever increasing popularity of white LEDs.