Ultra-high-capacity wireless communication by means of steered narrow optical beams

Abstract

<jats:p> The optical spectrum offers great opportunities to resolve the congestion in radio-based communication, aggravated by the booming demand for wireless connectivity. High-speed infrared optical components in the 1500 nm window have reached high levels of sophistication and are extensively used already in fibre-optic networks. Moreover, infrared light beyond 1400 nm is eye-safe and is not noticeable by the users. Deploying steerable narrow infrared beams, wireless links with huge capacity can be established to users individually, at minimum power consumption levels and at very high levels of privacy. Fully passive diffractive optical modules can handle many beams individually and accurately steer narrow beams two-dimensionally by just remotely tuning the wavelength of each beam. The system design aspects are discussed, encompassing the beam-steering transmitter, wide field-of-view optical receiver and the localization of the user's wireless devices. Prototype system demonstrators are reported, capable of supporting up to 128 beams carrying up to 112 Gbit s <jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> per beam. Hybrid bidirectional systems which use a high-speed downstream optical link and an upstream radio link at a lower speed can provide powerful asymmetric wireless connections. All-optical bidirectional beam-steered wireless communication will be able to offer the ultimate in wireless capacity to the user while minimizing power consumption. </jats:p> <jats:p>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Optical wireless communication’.</jats:p>

Optical wireless communication

“…Various laser devices such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) operating in the infrared spectrum have also been used to build high-speed OWC links. This issue features a research article by Koonen et al, who have been leading beam-steering laser-based optical multiuser systems, which achieved tens of gigabit per second transmission speeds [12].…”

BlendVLC: A Cell-free VLC Network Architecture Empowered by Beamspot Blending

“…To avoid mechanical movement, a spatial light modulator with liquid crystals can be used, allowing to program reflection or transmission gratings dynamically [23], [24]. Finally, steering beams might be realized with fully passive devices by tuning the wavelength of light in combination with diffractive gratings [25].…”

Eavesdropping Vulnerability and Countermeasure in Infrared Communication for IoT Devices

“…The remote utilizes NIR, of which the wavelength ranges from 740 nm to 1000 nm [31,32]. The IR communication is also possible in the SWIR [13,33]. The naked eyes are not able to see the infrared.…”

“…The last one is that the reception angle is narrow, meaning that the transmitter and the receiver should better face each other for seamless communication. If the angle between the transmitter and the receiver is not within a certain range, the communication is not stable or may not even be possible [11][12][13][14][15]. To overcome these limitations in practice, electronic devices are designed with two and more IREDs and/or reflector.…”