Across ice-water-air visible light communications

Area of Science:

• Optical Wireless Communication
• Photonics and Laser Technology

Background:

• Visible Light Communication (VLC) is crucial for future 6G applications like LiFi and underwater communication.
• Optical wireless communication in icy environments is an under-researched area.
• Understanding optical attenuation across different media is vital for ubiquitous wireless systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate optical attenuation characteristics of laser diodes (LDs) in air, water, and ice.
• Analyze VLC performance across air-ice and water-ice interfaces.
• Establish a high-spectral-efficiency VLC system for cross-media communication.

Main Methods:

• Experimental study of optical attenuation for four-wavelength laser diodes in single media and across interfaces.
• Implementation of an LD-based VLC system using adaptive Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) modulation with Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).
• Application of Least Mean Squares (LMS) equalization to mitigate channel-induced interference and distortion.

Main Results:

• Characterized optical attenuation in air, water, and ice, correlating it with wavelength.
• Achieved 3 Gbps in an air-to-ice (A2I) channel and 2.6 Gbps in a water-to-ice (W2I) channel at 1.2 m transmission distance using a 483 nm LD.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of adaptive DMT-QAM and LMS equalization for cross-media VLC.

Conclusions:

• This research provides critical insights into cross-media VLC links, particularly involving ice.
• The findings lay the groundwork for developing advanced VLC systems for glaciological and polar exploration.
• Optimized VLC performance across diverse media is essential for future ubiquitous wireless communication networks.