Advances in Optical Wireless Technologies and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Fascinating opportunities are opening for optical wireless technologies due to the ever-increasing demand for high-speed data transmission and radio frequency spectrum congestion. Optical wireless technologies could be critical enablers for flexible, high-capacity communication systems/networks, especially in 5G/6G, aerospace, and IoT applications. Additionally, optical wireless technologies are applicable for quantum key distribution (QKD), wireless power transfer, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and tactical military operation.

To accelerate applications of optical wireless technologies in practice, it is essential to address several critical issues. First, when an optical signal propagates through the atmosphere, absorption, scattering, additional beam spreading and beam wander, scintillation, and phase-front distortions can happen. These phenomena result in loss of power and intensity fluctuations at the receiver, leading to link failure during specific periods. Second, when transmitting a narrow optical beam, movements of the transmitter and/or receiver lead to pointing, acquisition, and tracking challenges. Third, conventional transceivers and signal processing designed for radio frequency or fiber-based systems may not be directly applicable to optical wireless systems. In addition to these, other open issues that should be considered include the reduction of size, weight, and power requirements of optical wireless systems, design, analysis, and optimization of upper-layer protocols for optical wireless networks, and so on. Consequently, research from different fields, such as communication and photonics, is needed to address these issues.

This Special Issue aims to bring together and disseminate state-of-the-art research contributions that address various aspects of design, analysis, optimization, implementation, standardization, and applications of optical wireless technologies. On behalf of the Guest Editors and the Editor‐in‐Chief, we encourage you to submit your work for inclusion in this Special Issue.

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Optical wireless communications (OWC)
• Free space optical (FSO) communications
• Visible light communications (VLC)
• Ultraviolet communications (UVC)
• Optical camera communications (OCC)
• Channel modeling for optical wireless systems
• Modulation/coding techniques for OWC systems
• Multiple access techniques for OWC systems
• Cross-layer designs for OWC networks
• Pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) for optical wireless systems
• Optical wireless fronthaul/backhaul networks for 5G/6G
• Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) OWC systems and networks
• Underwater OWC systems and networks
• Vehicular OWC systems and networks
• Hybrid RF/OWC systems and networks
• Optical indoor positioning systems
• Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) for autonomous vehicles
• Quantum key distribution (QKD) over optical wireless systems and networks
• Integrated optical wireless and other technologies
• Optical wireless power transfer

Dr. Vuong Mai
Dr. Abdelmoula Bekkali
Dr. Trong-Hop Do
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.