Extended Dynamic Range Receiver for Gigabit Optical Wireless Communication

Application

• Wireless backhaul
• Visible light communication
• Underwater optical communication

Development Status

• Prototype in development

• International (PCT) patent application published as WO2022034055A1

Commercial Offerings

• Licensing and/or commercial co-development

Opportunity

With limitations in radio frequency spectrum and technologies increasingly representing a bottleneck for the expansion of wireless communication networks, OWC has attracted significant interest due to its potential advantages such as high data rate, and licence-free spectrum. OWC has diverse application including outdoor Free Space Optics (FSO), indoor Visible Light Communication (VLC), space communication and underwater communication. The nature of OWC means that signals may vary significantly including very low levels which would be below the threshold of conventional optical receivers (e.g. due to adverse weather conditions in FSO or blockage/dimming in VLC). There remains an unmet need for effective OWC receivers which can operate consistently across such an extended dynamic range.

Technology

Edinburgh researchers have developed a hybrid OWC receiver for Gigabit transmission that is capable of transitioning from sensitivity levels of classical (e.g., thousand photons per bit) to near-quantum regimes (e.g., ten photons per bit). This is achieved by combining the capabilities of an array of single-photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) and conventional photodetectors operating in linear mode (LPD), e.g., pin diode. Notably, the technology incorporates an approach to overcome the inherent operating gap that exists between SPAD array detectors and LPDs in high-speed applications, resulting in a system that provides reliable and smooth operation over a very large dynamic range of incident light intensity.

Benefits

• Adaptive sensitivity spanning a large dynamic range
• Effective for high-speed optical communication
• Continuous operation under low and variable signal levels

Publications

S. Huang and M. Safari, "Hybrid SPAD/PD Receiver for Reliable Free-Space Optical Communication," IEEE Open Journal of the Communications 10.1109/OJCOMS.2020.3023009

Please note, the header image is purely illustrative. Source: Shaxiaozi via GettyImages

Quote: TEC1104276