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Photonics
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Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition
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Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 June 2026 | Viewed by 2106

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cuiwei He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Ishikawa, Japan
Interests: optical wireless communications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chengwei Fang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: optical wireless communications; visible light communications; underwater OWC
Dr. Ke Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: optical wireless communications; visible light communications; underwater OWC; silicon photonics integration; nanophotonics
Dr. Chen Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Microelectronics and Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
Interests: visible light communication; optical wireless communication; orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optical wireless communication (OWC) has emerged as a compelling solution to meet the increasing global demand for high-capacity, low-latency, and spectrum-efficient communication technologies. With the use of the unlicensed optical spectrum, OWC enables ultra-high-speed links across diverse environments, including indoor networks, underwater communication, vehicular systems, mobile access, and space communication. Recent advances in device technologies, modulation techniques, photonic signal processing, and AI-driven optimization are rapidly expanding the boundaries of achievable performance, making OWC a key technology for beyond-5G/6G communication systems. This Special Issue invites original research articles, reviews, and perspective papers that address theoretical, experimental, and system-level advances in all areas of OWC. Contributions that demonstrate new enabling devices, architectures, algorithms, and applications are especially welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Cuiwei He
Dr. Chengwei Fang
Dr. Ke Wang
Dr. Chen Chen
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.

Keywords

  • free-space optical (FSO) communication
  • visible light communication (VLC) and LiFi
  • underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC)
  • system design and signal processing
  • devices and components

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1506 KB  
Article
Study of Large Modulation Bandwidth GaN-Based Laser Diodes with Different Ridge Waveguide Structures
by Zhichong Wang, Junhui Hu, Zhen Yang, Anna Kafar, Piotr Perlin, Shuiqing Li, Heqing Deng, Jiangyong Zhang, Sha Shiong Ng, Mundzir Abdullah, Junwen Zhang, Nan Chi and Chao Shen
Photonics 2026, 13(4), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13040382 - 16 Apr 2026
Abstract
With the advent of 6G mobile communication, the demand for ultra-high bandwidth wireless communication has increased rapidly, drawing significant attention to visible light communication (VLC) as a promising emerging technology. GaN-based laser diodes (LDs) are regarded as high-speed light sources for VLC owing [...] Read more.
With the advent of 6G mobile communication, the demand for ultra-high bandwidth wireless communication has increased rapidly, drawing significant attention to visible light communication (VLC) as a promising emerging technology. GaN-based laser diodes (LDs) are regarded as high-speed light sources for VLC owing to their high modulation bandwidth and high optical power density. Apart from the active region design, the LD’s structure also plays a crucial role in determining their dynamic properties, which have yet to be thoroughly studied in III-nitride LDs. In this work, we systematically investigate InGaN/GaN laser diodes with three ridge waveguide configurations: a conventional single-ridge structure, a dual-ridge large-mesa structure, and a dual-ridge small-mesa structure. The threshold current, small-signal modulation bandwidth of devices with different structures are comparatively analyzed. Experimental results reveal that the double-ridge small mesa laser diode achieves a modulation bandwidth of −3 dB at 6.02 GHz. These results provide valuable insights into the structural optimization of GaN-based high-speed laser diodes and offer practical guidance for the development of high-performance, energy-efficient VLC transmitters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition)
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20 pages, 2605 KB  
Article
Interference-Aware User Grouping and Power Allocation for Overlapping Multi-LED ADO-OFDM NOMA VLC Networks
by Yang Tu, Chuan Li and Cu Van Pham
Photonics 2026, 13(3), 241; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13030241 - 28 Feb 2026
Viewed by 361
Abstract
Overlapping illumination in multi-LED visible light communication (VLC) networks introduces cross-LED coupling that reshapes the received-signal composition and may trigger error propagation in successive interference cancellation (SIC) for layered ADO-OFDM NOMA. This work employs an overlap factor [...] Read more.
Overlapping illumination in multi-LED visible light communication (VLC) networks introduces cross-LED coupling that reshapes the received-signal composition and may trigger error propagation in successive interference cancellation (SIC) for layered ADO-OFDM NOMA. This work employs an overlap factor β∈[0,1] to quantify the severity of overlap-induced cross-LED coupling and develops a β-aware resource-allocation framework for a dual-LED indoor downlink. The proposed design integrates channel-aware MCGAD user grouping with three-level coefficient adaptation, including the inter-LED power split η, the inter-layer ACO/DCO split ρ, and the intra-layer two-user NOMA coefficients α. Monte Carlo evaluations over β∈{0,0.2,0.5} show that stronger coupling drives the system into an interference-limited regime with a pronounced high-SNR BER floor for strong users after SIC; the proposed β-aware design consistently reduces this floor relative to a β-blind fixed-coefficient baseline. Meanwhile, the spectral-efficiency curves remain close to the baseline, with only a minor gap at moderate-to-high SNR, and the Shannon-rate energy-efficiency trends remain comparable across coupling scenarios. The grouping-and-allocation procedure is dominated by sorting and deterministic pairing, exhibiting O(UlogU) complexity and avoiding the combinatorial growth of exhaustive grouping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 3075 KB  
Article
A Novel Modulation Scheme Based on the Kramers–Kronig Relations for Optical IM-DD Systems
by Xiaohe Dong, Kuokuo Zhang and Caiming Sun
Photonics 2026, 13(3), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13030227 - 26 Feb 2026
Viewed by 345
Abstract
The increasing demand for higher data rates in optical communication systems, especially within data centers and backbone networks, calls for the development of advanced modulation formats that can significantly enhance system performance. In this work, we introduce a novel modulation format based on [...] Read more.
The increasing demand for higher data rates in optical communication systems, especially within data centers and backbone networks, calls for the development of advanced modulation formats that can significantly enhance system performance. In this work, we introduce a novel modulation format based on the Kramers–Kronig relations, designed to improve upon traditional techniques such as Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) and Carrier-less Amplitude Phase (CAP) modulation. The novel modulation format was rigorously validated through experimental investigations using an optical wireless communication (OWC) link. The results demonstrate a notable improvement in bit error rate (BER) performance and receiver sensitivity when compared to the conventional PAM-4 modulation scheme and CAP-16 modulation schemes. Moreover, the proposed scheme effectively reduces the complexity of digital filtering required by CAP while lowering the demands on the Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), making it a more practical solution for high-speed optical communication. This advancement facilitates higher data transmission rates, proving the Kramers–Kronig relations modulation format as a promising alternative to existing methods. Its potential for enhancing the efficiency and capacity of optical communication systems is evident. Future research will focus on optimizing the modulation parameters and exploring their application in more complex scenarios, such as high-speed underwater visible light communication systems, where advanced modulation formats are crucial for overcoming bandwidth limitations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition)
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25 pages, 896 KB  
Article
Sequential Deep Learning with Feature Compression and Optimal State Estimation for Indoor Visible Light Positioning
by Negasa Berhanu Fite, Getachew Mamo Wegari and Heidi Steendam
Photonics 2026, 13(2), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13020211 - 23 Feb 2026
Viewed by 999
Abstract
Visible Light Positioning (VLP) is widely regarded as a promising technology for high-precision indoor localization due to its immunity to radio-frequency interference and compatibility with existing Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lighting infrastructure. Despite recent progress, current VLP systems remain fundamentally limited by nonlinear received [...] Read more.
Visible Light Positioning (VLP) is widely regarded as a promising technology for high-precision indoor localization due to its immunity to radio-frequency interference and compatibility with existing Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lighting infrastructure. Despite recent progress, current VLP systems remain fundamentally limited by nonlinear received signal strength (RSS) characteristics, unknown transmitter orientations, and dynamic indoor disturbances. Existing solutions typically address these challenges in isolation, resulting in limited robustness and scalability. This paper proposes SCENE-VLP (Sequential Deep Learning with Feature Compression and Optimal State Estimation), a structured positioning framework that integrates feature compression, temporal sequence modeling, and probabilistic state refinement within a unified estimation pipeline. Specifically, SCENE-VLP combines Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Denoising Autoencoders (DAE) for linear and nonlinear observation conditioning, Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) for modeling temporal dependencies in RSS sequences, and Kalman-based filtering (KF/EKF) for recursive state-space refinement. The framework is formulated as a hierarchical approximation of the nonlinear observation model, linking data-driven measurement learning with Bayesian state estimation. A systematic ablation study across multiple scenarios, including same-dataset evaluation and cross-dataset generalization, demonstrates that each component provides complementary benefits. Feature compression reduces redundancy while preserving dominant signal structure; GRU significantly improves robustness over static regression; and recursive filtering consistently reduces positioning error compared to unfiltered predictions. While both KF and EKF improve performance, EKF provides incremental refinement under mild nonlinearities. Extensive simulations conducted on an indoor dataset collected from a realistic deployment with eight ceiling-mounted LEDs and a single photodetector (PD) show that SCENE-VLP achieves sub-decimeter localization accuracy, with P50 and P95 errors of 1.84 cm and 6.52 cm, respectively. Cross-scenario evaluation further confirms stable generalization and statistically consistent improvements. These results demonstrate that the structured integration of observation conditioning, temporal modeling, and Bayesian refinement yields measurable gains beyond partial pipeline configurations, establishing SCENE-VLP as a robust and scalable solution for next-generation indoor visible light positioning systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Optical Wireless Communications—2nd Edition)
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