Advancements in Optical Wireless Communication (OWC)

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Communication and Network".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2025) | Viewed by 2153

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Cybersecurity, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: wideband optical wireless communications; optical wireless scattering communication; integrated sensing and communication; signal processing

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Guest Editor
Department of Electronic Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Interests: optical camera communication systems; nonlinearity in photo-detectors; optical interference mitigation; underwater optical wireless communications; Petahertz communications

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Guest Editor
School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: optical wireless communications; communication theory and applications; integrated sensing and communications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decades, we have all witnessed a significantly growing interest in the development of optical wireless communication (OWC) technologies for a wide range of wireless application scenarios with extremely high-speed demands and electromagnetic-unfriendly environments. However, OWC has also faced many challenges, such as limited bandwidth and signal reception range of device and high sensitivity of transceiver alignment. With the state-of-the-art hardware devices and signal processing technologies, along with advanced ideas and concepts, OWC is experiencing a revolutionary development with new paradigms of researching, from point-to-point communication to networking, from single receiver to dense array detector, from single-frequency to broad-spectrum fusion, from stationary to moving, and from locating/communicating only to integrated sensing and communication. Through overviewing the advancements of OWC, we hope all of these emerging techniques can make OWC a strong candidate for use in the next-generation wireless communication network.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the advancements of OWC and gather high-quality papers to find new paradigms of research and application in OWC.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Modulation, coding, and detecting in OWC;
  • Advanced optical device-based OWC system;
  • Breakthroughs of information theory and signal processing technology in OWC;
  • Key technologies in optical wireless scattering communication/underwater optical wireless communications/free space optics/Li-Fi;
  • Wideband signal processing in OWC;
  • Integrated sensing and communication in OWC;
  • High-speed/efficiency MIMO OWC system;
  • Applications and theories of optical reconfigurable intelligent surface;
  • Learning-based algorithms and technologies in OWC;
  • Multiple access and networking technologies in OWC/UOWC/OWSC;
  • Physical layer security in OWC;
  • Novel acquisition, pointing, and tracking techniques in OWC;
  • Single-photon detector-based OWC;
  • Ultra-dense detector array integration and readout circuit design.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Beiyuan Liu
Dr. Weijie Liu
Dr. Jie Lian
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • optical wireless communications
  • advanced optical devices
  • wideband OWC
  • underwater OWC
  • integrated sensing and communication
  • MIMO OWC
  • learning-based OWC
  • multiple access and networking
  • ultra-dense detector array

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 406 KiB  
Article
Joint DFT and Spacetime Coding for MU-OFDM in Power-Constrained Optical Wireless Communication Systems
by Dianbin Lian, Yan Gao, Jie Lian and Yong Li
Photonics 2025, 12(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12010011 - 26 Dec 2024
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Abstract
The application of DFT precoding in mitigating peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) issues in optical wireless communication systems under power constraints is well established. However, the channel spatial diversity for multiusers needs to be considered. This paper proposes a joint DFT and spacetime precoding [...] Read more.
The application of DFT precoding in mitigating peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) issues in optical wireless communication systems under power constraints is well established. However, the channel spatial diversity for multiusers needs to be considered. This paper proposes a joint DFT and spacetime precoding technique to support multiple users and mitigate the PAPR for optical wireless communication systems when OFDM modulation is used. In our study, we introduce the weighted Bussgang theorem as an alternative method for evaluating the communication performance of hard-clipped systems due to the transmitted power constraint. Our numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in analyzing SNR and BER performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Wireless Communication (OWC))
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Review

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21 pages, 1182 KiB  
Review
Advancements and Challenges of Visible Light Communication in Intelligent Transportation Systems: A Comprehensive Review
by Prokash Sikder, M. T. Rahman and A. S. M. Bakibillah
Photonics 2025, 12(3), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12030225 - 28 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1310
Abstract
Visible Light Communication (VLC) has the potential to advance Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This study explores the current advancements of VLC in ITS applications that may enhance traffic flow, road safety, and vehicular communication performance. The potential, benefits, and current research trends of [...] Read more.
Visible Light Communication (VLC) has the potential to advance Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This study explores the current advancements of VLC in ITS applications that may enhance traffic flow, road safety, and vehicular communication performance. The potential, benefits, and current research trends of VLC in ITS applications are discussed first. Then, the state-of-the-art VLC technologies including overall concept, IEEE communication protocols, hybrid VLC systems, and software-defined adaptive MIMO VLC systems, are discussed. We investigated different potential applications of VLC in ITS, such as signalized intersection and ramp metering control, collision warning and avoidance, vehicle localization and detection, and vehicle platooning using vehicle–vehicle (V2V), infrastructure–vehicle (I2V), and vehicle–everything (V2X) communications. Besides, VLC faces several challenges in ITS applications, and these concerns, e.g., environmental issues, communication range issues, standards and infrastructure integration issues, light conditions and integration issues are discussed. Finally, this paper discusses various advanced techniques to enhance VLC performance in ITS applications, such as machine learning-based channel estimation, adaptive beamforming, robust modulation schemes, and hybrid VLC integration. With this review, the authors aim to inform academics, engineers, and policymakers about the status and challenges of VLC in ITS. It is expected that, by applying VLC in ITS, mobility will be safer, more efficient, and sustainable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Wireless Communication (OWC))
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