26 m/5.5 Gbps air-water optical wireless communication based on an OFDM-modulated 520-nm laser diode.

We experimentally demonstrate a high-speed air-water optical wireless communication system with both downlink and uplink transmission employing 32-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and a single-mode pigtailed green-light laser diode (LD). This work is an important step towards the future study on optical wireless communications between underwater platforms and airborne terminals. Over a 5-m air channel and a 21-m water channel, we achieve a 5.3-Gbps transmission without power loading (PL) and a 5.5-Gbps transmission with PL in the downlink. The corresponding bit error rates (BERs) are 2.64×10-3 and 2.47×10-3, respectively, which are below the forward error correction (FEC) criterion. A data rate of 5.5 Gbps with PL at a BER of 2.92×10-3 is also achieved in the uplink.

[1]  Georges Kaddoum,et al.  Underwater Optical Wireless Communication , 2016, IEEE Access.

[2]  Jing Xu,et al.  Underwater wireless transmission of high-speed QAM-OFDM signals using a compact red-light laser. , 2016, Optics express.

[3]  Mohamed-Slim Alouini,et al.  20-meter underwater wireless optical communication link with 1.5 Gbps data rate. , 2016, Optics express.

[4]  S. Karp,et al.  The Role of Blue/Green Laser Systems in Strategic Submarine Communications , 1980, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[5]  Gong-Ru Lin,et al.  Blue Laser Diode Enables Underwater Communication at 12.4 Gbps , 2017, Scientific Reports.

[6]  Fengzhong Qu,et al.  OFDM-based broadband underwater wireless optical communication system using a compact blue LED , 2016 .

[7]  V. Rigaud,et al.  Monte-Carlo-based channel characterization for underwater optical communication systems , 2013, IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking.

[8]  Knut Stamnes,et al.  Monte Carlo and discrete-ordinate simulations of irradiances in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. , 2003, Applied optics.

[9]  Mohamed-Slim Alouini,et al.  4.8 Gbit/s 16-QAM-OFDM transmission based on compact 450-nm laser for underwater wireless optical communication. , 2015, Optics express.

[10]  A. Quazi,et al.  Underwater acoustic communications , 1982, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[11]  Dario Pompili,et al.  Underwater acoustic sensor networks: research challenges , 2005, Ad Hoc Networks.

[12]  Jing Xu,et al.  Underwater Laser Communication Using an OFDM-Modulated 520-nm Laser Diode , 2016, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.