Advanced Wireless Communication

Dr. Mostafa Zaman Chowdhury

Professor, Dept. of EEE, KUET
Room No. 214, EEE Building
Email: mzaman@eee.kuet.ac.bd

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 1

 Topic to be Discussed
➢ Communication basic
➢ Network evolution
➢ Comparison among 1G to 6G technologies
➢ Electromagnetic spectrum
➢ Wireless technologies for 5G and beyond communication
systems
❖ RF Technologies
❖ Optical wireless technologies
➢ Underwater communication
➢ Free-space communication
➢ Hybrid communication systems
➢ Emerging Technologies for 5G and beyond

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 2

 Assessment

Attendance 10%
Presentation 10 %
Assignment 10 %
Final Exam 70%

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 3

 Self Introduction

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 4

➢ Position
❖ Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Eng., Khulna University of Eng. &
Technology (KUET), Bangladesh,
➢ Postdoc Researcher
❖ Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea, 2017-2019.
➢ Education
❖ PhD (Electronics Engineering): Kookmin University, South Korea, August
2012.
❖ M.Sc. Engineering (Electronics Engineering): Kookmin University, South
Korea, August 2008.
❖ B.Sc. Engineering (Electrical & Electronic): Khulna University of Engineering
and Technology (KUET), Khulna, Bangladesh, July 2002.
➢ Websites
❖ KUET: http://www.kuet.ac.bd/eee/mostafa/
❖ Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GRrKnIMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
❖ Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=15026069700
❖ ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1487-086X

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 5

 Research Related Activities
➢ Associate Editor
❖ IEEE Access
❖ Frontiers in Communications and Networks
➢ Journal Editor
❖ ICT Express Journal
➢ Journal Lead Gust Editor
❖ Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
➢ Journal Guest Editor
❖ Applied Sciences
➢ Journal Editorial Member
❖ ICACT Transactions on the Advanced Communications Technology, Korea.
➢ Reviewer for Journals (Selected SCI/SCIE indexed journals)
❖ IEEE Access, IEEE Communication Letter, IEEE Communication Magazine, IEEE Transaction on Vehicular
Technology, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless
Communications, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management
➢ Conference Organizer
❖ Conference Coordinator: 3rd Int. Conf. and Exhibition on Visible Light Communications 2019, Seoul, Korea.
❖ Publicity Chair: Int. Conf. on Artificial Intelligence in Information and Communication (ICAIIC)., 2019,
Okinawa, Japan; 2020, Fukuka, Japan; 2021, Jeju Island.
❖ TPC Chair: 3rd Int. Workshop on 5G and 6G Mobile Communications, 2017, 2018.
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 6
 Research Areas
➢ Goal: 5G and Beyond
Communications
➢ Focus of sub-systems Small-cell Networks
❖ Small-cell networks
❖ Cellular networks
❖ Optical wireless communications
❖ Vehicular communications 5G Vehicular
➢ Specific focus Cellular Networks
Communication Communications
❖ Design of network architecture
❖ Interference management
❖ Mobility management
❖ Integrating heterogeneous Optical Wireless
networks Communications
❖ AI based future wireless
communication
❖ Hybrid communication systems

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 7

Communication Fundamentals

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 8

 Future Communication
➢ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cnVRfptVWM&ab_c
hannel=ThoughtifyTV
➢ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcAlVqo9SPM&ab_ch
annel=ICTDivision

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 9

 Introduction
➢The requirement of wireless broadband
communication
❖Wide band multimedia traffic
❖Seamless comm.
❖Multi radio network convergence
❖Multi platform
➢Network vision
❖Revolution
− Developing a new access and innovative networks
❖Evolution
− Convergence of existing heterogeneous access
networks

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 10

 Communication Systems (1/2)
➢ Process describing transfer of information, data, instructions
between one or more systems through some media
❖ Examples
− people, computers, cell phones, etc.
− Computer communication systems
➢ Signals passing through the communication channel can be Digital,
or analog
❖ Analog signals: continuous electrical waves
❖ Digital signals: individual electrical pulses (bits)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 11

 Communication Systems (2/2)

Communication is the transfer of information from one place to

another.

This should be done

- as efficiently as possible
- with as much fidelity/reliability as possible
- as securely as possible

Communication System: Components/subsystems act together to

accomplish information transfer/exchange.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 12

 Communications Components

➢ Basic components of a
communication system
❖ Communication technologies
❖ Communication devices
❖ Communication channels
❖ Communication software

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 Elements of a Communication System

Input Output
message message

Input Output
Transducer Transducer
Transmitter Channel Receiver

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Input Transducer: The message produced by a source must be
converted by a transducer to a form suitable for the particular type
of communication system.
Example: In electrical communications, speech waves are converted
by a microphone to voltage variation.

Transmitter: The transmitter processes the input signal to produce

a signal suits to the characteristics of the transmission channel.
Signal processing for transmission almost always involves
modulation and may also include coding. In addition to modulation,
other functions performed by the transmitter are amplification,
filtering and coupling the modulated signal to the channel.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 15

Channel: The channel can have different forms: The atmosphere (or free
space), coaxial cable, fiber optic, waveguide, etc.
The signal undergoes some amount of degradation from noise, interference and
distortion
Receiver: The receiver’s function is to extract the desired signal from the
received signal at the channel output and to convert it to a form suitable for
the output transducer.
Other functions performed by the receiver: amplification (the received signal
may be extremely weak), demodulation and filtering.

Output Transducer: Converts the electric signal at its input into the form
desired by the system user.
Example: Loudspeaker, personal computer (PC), tape recorders.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 16

 Father of Digital Communication
• Information theory says every channel has a capacity.
• Provides a systematic view of the communication problem.

1948

Claude Shannon
➢ The roots of modern digital communication stem from the
ground-breaking paper “A Mathematical Theory of
Communication” by Claude Elwood Shannon in
1948

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 17

 Channel Capacity
➢ The Shannon-Hartley theorem states that the channel
capacity is given by

➢ B: Channel BW
➢ S: Signal power
➢ N: Noise power

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 18

 1G to 6G
➢ 1st Generation(1984)
❖ Analog cellular (basic voice service)
❖ AMPS
➢ 2nd Generation(CDMA(1996))
❖ Digital cellular (enhanced voice service)
❖ GSM and cdmaOne(IS-95A, IS-95B(1999))
➢ 3rd Generation(2000(cdma2000), 2002(WCDMA))
❖ Voice, data, image(384Kbps), limited video
❖ IMT-2000 (cdma2000 1x, EV-DO, EV-DV and WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA, 3GPP LTE)
❖ WiBro, WiBro Evolution
❖ Problems: limited mobility and up to 2Mbps~100Mbps bandwidth
❖ 3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE 802
➢ 4th Generation (IMT-Advanced(2010))
❖ Broadband multimedia applications and virtual reality (VR) applications
❖ Full mobility and higher bandwidth (100Mbps, 1Gbps )
❖ Combination of 3GPP and IEEE 802.16m or Dual Mode
❖ LTE-Advanced
➢ 5th Generation (2020)
❖ Internet and Networks
❖ Sense
➢ 6th Generation Communication (2030)
❖ AI based network
❖ Global connectivity
❖ 1 Tb/s

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 19

 The Predicted Growth of Global Mobile
Connectivity During 2020-2030

Total global traffic volume Traffic volume per subscription

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 20

 Predicted Service Requirements for 6G wireless
➢ Ubiquitous mobile ultra-broadband (uMUB)
➢ Ultra-high-speed with low-latency communications
(uHSLLC)
➢ Massive machine-type communication (mMTC)
➢ Ultra-high data density (uHDD)
➢ AI integrated communication
➢ High throughput
➢ High network capacity
➢ High energy efficiency
➢ Low backhaul and access network congestion
➢ Enhanced data security

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 21

 A Comparison among 4G, 5G, and 6G
Issue 4G 5G 6G
Per device peak data rate 1 Gbps 10 Gbps 1 Tbps

End-to-end (E2E) latency 100 ms 10 ms 1 ms

Maximum spectral
15 bps/Hz 30 bps/Hz 100 bps/Hz
efficiency
Mobility support Up to 350 km/hr Up to 500 km/hr Up to 1000 km/hr

Satellite integration No No Fully

AI No Partial Fully
Autonomous vehicle No Partial Fully
XR No Partial Fully
Haptic Communication No Partial Fully
THz communication No Very limited Widely
Service level Video VR, AR Tactile
Architecture MIMO Massive MIMO Intelligent surface
Maximum frequency 6 GHz 90 GHz 10 THz
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 22
Electromagnetic Spectrum for OWC Systems (1/2)

Spectral category/sub-category Frequency Wavelength

Very low frequency (VLF) 3 - 30 kHz 100 - 10 km
Low frequency (LF) 30 - 300 kHz 10 - 1 km
Medium frequency (MF) 0.3 - 3 MHz 1000 -100 m
High frequency (HF) 3 - 30 MHz 100 – 10 m
Very high frequency (VHF) 30 - 300 MHz 10 -1 m
Ultra-high frequency (UHF) 0.3 - 3 GHz 1 – 0.1 m
Super-high frequency (SHF) 3 - 30 GHz 100 - 10 mm
Extremely high frequency (EHF)/Millimeter wave 30 - 300 GHz 10 - 1 mm
Radio wave

P-Band 0.225 - 0.39 GHz 1330 - 769 mm

L-Band 0.39 - 1.55 GHz 769 - 193 mm
S-Band 1.55 - 5.2 GHz 193 - 57.7 mm
C-Band 3.9 - 6.2 GHz 76.9 - 48.4 mm
X-Band 5.2 - 10.9 GHz 57.7 - 27.5 mm
Microwave
Ku-Band 12 - 18 GHz 25 - 16.67 mm
K-Band 10.9 - 36 GHz 27.5 - 8.33 mm
Q-Band 36 - 46 GHz 8.33 - 6.52 mm
V-Band 46 - 56 GHz 6.52 - 5.35 mm
W-Band 56 - 100 GHz 5.35 - 3 mm

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 23

 Electromagnetic Spectrum for OWC Systems (1/2)
Spectral category/sub-category Frequency Wavelength
Far infrared (FIR) 0.3 - 20 THz 1-0.015 mm
Thermal Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) 20 - 37.5 THz 0.015-0.008 mm
infrared
IR Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) 37 - 100 THz 0.008-0.003 mm
(TIR)
Short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) 100 – 214.3 THz 3000000– 1400 nm
Near infrared (NIR) 214.3 - 394.7 THz 1400-760 nm
Red 394.7 - 491.8 THz 760 - 610 nm
Orange 491.8 - 507.6 THz 610 - 591 nm
Visible light Yellow 507.6 - 526.3 THz 591 - 570 nm
Optical

Green 526.3 - 600 THz 570 - 500 nm

Blue 600 - 666.7 THz 500 - 450 nm
Violet 666.7 - 833.3 THz 450 - 360 nm
Ultraviolet A (UVA) 750 - 952.4 THz 400 - 315 nm
Ultraviolet B (UVB) 952.4 - 1071 THz 315 - 280 nm
Ultraviolet C (UVC) 1.071 - 3 PHz 280 - 100 nm
Near ultraviolet (NUV) 0.750 - 1 PHz 400 - 300 nm
UV
Middle ultraviolet 1 - 1.5 PHz 300 - 200 nm
Far ultraviolet 1.5 - 2.459 PHz 200 - 122 nm
Hydrogen Lyman-alpha 2.459 - 2.479 PHz 122 - 121 nm
Extreme ultra violet (EUV) 2.479 - 30 PHz 121 - 10 nm
Vacuum ultraviolet 1.5 - 30 PHz 200 - 10 nm
Soft X-ray 30 - 3000 PHz 10 - 0.1 nm
X-ray
Hard X-ray 3 - 300 EHz 100 - 1 pm
Gamma ray/ Cosmic ray 300 - 30000 EHz 1000 -10 fm

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 24

mmWave, THz, and optical sub-bands for possible
wireless communications in 6G
mmWave part-1 30 - 275 GHz 10 – 1.1 mm
mmWave
mmWave part-2 275 - 300 GHz 1.1 - 1 mm
THz
Far IR part-1 0.3 - 3 THz 1-0.1 mm
Far IR part-2 3 - 20 THz 0.1-0.015 mm
Long-wavelength
20 - 37.5 THz 0.015-0.008 mm
IR
Thermal IR
Mid-wavelength Infrared
37 - 100 THz 0.008-0.003 mm
IR
3000000– 1400
Short-wavelength IR 100 – 214.3 THz
nm
Near IR 214.3 - 394.7 THz 1400-760 nm
Red 394.7 - 491.8 THz 760 - 610 nm
Orange 491.8 - 507.6 THz 610 - 591 nm
Yellow 507.6 - 526.3 THz 591 - 570 nm Visible light
Green 526.3 - 600 THz 570 - 500 nm Optical
Blue 600 - 666.7 THz 500 - 450 nm
Violet 666.7 - 833.3 THz 450 - 360 nm
UVA 750 - 952.4 THz 400 - 315 nm
UVB 952.4 - 1071 THz 315 - 280 nm
UVC 1.071 - 3 PHz 280 - 100 nm
NUV 0.750 - 1 PHz 400 - 300 nm
Ultraviolet
Middle UV 1 - 1.5 PHz 300 - 200 nm
Far UV 1.5 - 2.459 PHz 200 - 122 nm
Hydrogen Lyman-alpha 2.459 - 2.479 PHz 122 - 121 nm
Extreme UV 2.479 - 30 PHz 121 - 10 nm
Vacuum UV 1.5 - 30 PHz 200 - 10 nm

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 25

Communication Standards

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 26

 3GPP/3GPP2/5GPP

3GPP: The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an umbrella

term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols
for mobile telecommunications.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) is a collaboration

between telecommunications associations to make a globally
applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification
within the scope of the ITU's IMT-2000 project. In practice, 3GPP2 is the
standardization group for CDMA2000, the set of 3G standards based
on the earlier cdmaOne 2G CDMA technology.

The 5G Public-Private Partnership (5GPP) claims to be the word’s

biggest 5G research programme. It is a joint initiative between the
European Commission (EC) and the European ICT industry and aims
to deliver 5G solutions, architectures, technologies and standards.
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 27
 ITU-T

The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)

coordinates standards for telecommunications and Information
Communication Technology

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 28

 IEEE 802.11 Standards (1/2)

Name Description
IEEE 802.1 Higher Layer LAN Protocols Working Group
IEEE 802.2 LLC
IEEE 802.3 Ethernet
IEEE 802.4 Token bus
IEEE 802.5 Token Ring MAC layer
IEEE 802.6 MANs (DQDB)
IEEE 802.7 Broadband LAN using Coaxial Cable
IEEE 802.8 Fiber Optic TAG
IEEE 802.9 Integrated Services LAN (ISLAN or iso
Ethernet)
IEEE 802.10 Interoperable LAN Security
IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN (WLAN) & Mesh (Wi-
Fi certification)
IEEE 802.12 100BaseVG
IEEE 802.13 Unused

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 29

 IEEE 802.11 Standards (2/2)
Name Description
IEEE 802.14 Cable modems
IEEE 802.15 Wireless PAN
IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth certification
IEEE 802.15.2 IEEE 802.15 and IEEE 802.11 coexistence
IEEE 802.15.3 High-Rate wireless PAN (e.g., UWB, etc.)
IEEE 802.15.4 Low-Rate wireless PAN
IEEE 802.15.5 Mesh networking for WPAN
IEEE 802.15.6 Body area network
IEEE 802.15.7 Visible light communications
IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access (WiMAX certification)
IEEE 802.16.1 Local Multipoint Distribution Service
IEEE 802.16.2 Coexistence wireless access
IEEE 802.17 Resilient packet ring
IEEE 802.18 Radio Regulatory TAG
IEEE 802.19 Wireless Coexistence Working Group
IEEE 802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access
IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handoff
IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network
IEEE 802.23 Emergency Services Working Group
IEEE 802.24 Vertical Applications TAG
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 30
 Summary of IEEE 802.11 Standard
➢ Wi-Fi Standards Evolution

Source: https://www.grandmetric.com/2018/05/29/wi-fi-standards-
evolution/

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 31

Optical Wireless Communication (OWC)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 32

 What is OWC
➢ Wireless connectivity based on the optical spectrum is termed as
optical wireless communication (OWC)
➢ The term OWC refers to optical transmission in which guided visible
light (VL), infrared (IR), or ultraviolet (UV) spectrum are used as
propagation media.
➢ OWC systems operating in the VL band are commonly categorized as
visible light communication (VLC).
➢ Terrestrial point-to-point free space optical (FSO) communication
systems are operated at IR, VL, and UV frequencies.
➢ UV communication can provide high-data-rate non-line-of-sight
(NLOS) and line-of-sight (LOS) optical communication links

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 33

 Why New Spectrum?
➢ Currently, RF is widely used across various wireless applications
➢ However, in relation to meeting the growing demand for 5G wireless
capacity and serving the IoT paradigm, the currently used RF
spectrum is insufficient
➢ The electromagnetic spectrum, with favorable communication
properties below 10 GHz, is widely used by existing wireless
technologies and has almost been exhausted
➢ It is predicted that the massive connectivity demand of future mobile
data traffic will not be met by existing RF wireless technologies.
➢ RF band below 10 GHz has limitations such as a small spectrum band,
regulations related to spectrum use, and severe interference among
nearby RF access points.
➢ Therefore, researchers are looking for new complementary spectra,
such as millimeter and nanometer waves, for wireless communication
connectivity
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 34
 Limitations of RF Band
➢ The RF band lies between 3 kHz and 300 GHz of the electromagnetic
spectrum
➢ The use of this band is strictly regulated
➢ In most cases, RF sub-bands are entirely licensed to certain
operators

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 35

 Why OWC?
➢ The optical spectrum is considered as a promising solution
for the development of future high-density and high-
capacity network
➢ In comparison with RF-based networks,
❖ OWC-based network technologies offer unique advantages
❖ OWC systems can provide high-data-rate services for
communication distances ranging from a few nanometers to more
than 10,000 km
❖ It can perform well both for indoor and outdoor services.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 36

 Limitations of OWC
➢ OWC systems suffer owing to their sensitivity to blocking
by obstacles and to their limited transmitted power
➢ Performance very much external light sources and
environment effects

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 37

 Effective Solution for RF and Optical wireless
Networks
➢ The coexistence of OWC and RF systems may provide an
effective solution for the huge demands of upcoming 5G
and beyond communication systems

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 38

 Important OWC Technologies
➢ Several OWC technologies are being developed to meet the demand of
5G and beyond communication systems
❖ Visible light communication (VLC): Light-emitting diode (LED)
luminaires or laser diodes (LDs) are used for high-speed data transfer in
VLC
❖ light fidelity (LiFi): a technology complementing wireless fidelity (WiFi)
❖ optical camera communication (OCC): a subsystem of OWC, uses LEDs
as the transmitter and a camera or image sensor (IS) as the receiver.
❖ FSO communication (FSOC): mainly uses the near IR (NIR) band as the
communication medium. However, the UV and VL bands also fall into the
FSO category. In FSO systems, narrow beams of intense light are used to
establish a high-data-rate communication link between two ends within
the range of inter-chip to inter-satellite connections
❖ light detection and ranging (LiDAR): an optical remote sensing technology
for very-high-resolution 3D mapping. It analyses the properties of
scattered light to find the range and/or other information related to a
distant target

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 39

OWC for 5G and Beyond
Communications
 5G Communication Specifications
➢ 5G will offer new services with
❖ ultra-high system capacity
❖ massive device connectivity
❖ ultra-low latency
❖ ultra-high security
❖ ultra-low energy consumption
❖ extremely high quality of experience
➢ It is expected that 5G communication will comprise ultra-
dense heterogeneous networks
➢ Compared to those in existing wireless networks 5G will
have
❖ mobile data volume per area will be 1000 times
❖ number of connected wireless devices will be 100 times higher
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 41
 Why OWC?
➢ 5G and beyond communication systems must possess the necessary
features for integrating ultra-dense heterogeneous networks
➢ Small cells in 5G: VLC, LiFi, and OCC can provide ultra-dense small
cell hotspot services to meet the demands of 5G
➢ FSO, LiFi, and VLC can effectively provide high-capacity backhaul
support for 5G and beyond communication systems
➢ OWC technologies have very low power consumption, which is a key
requirement of 5G
➢ A reliable connection, which is the main priority for 5G
communication, can also be provided using OWC technology
➢ It can provide secure communications, as required by 5G
➢ It will offer extreme densification and offloading to improve the area
spectral efficiency
➢ OWC technology is able to provide massive connectivity through low
power LED technologies

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 42

OWC Applications
 OWC Application Platforms (1/2)
➢ OWC can be
applied, such as
industry,
healthcare,
railway stations,
transportation,
homes, offices,
shopping malls,
underwater, and
space.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 44

 OWC Application Platforms (2/2)
➢ OWC ca perform all types of communication
❖ device-to-device (D2D)
❖ machine-to-machine (M2M)
❖ chip-to-chip
❖ device/machine-to-user
❖ user-to-device/machine
❖ vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle, and infrastructure-to-
vehicle (V2X)
❖ point-to-point; multipoint-to-point; and point-to-multipoint
❖ Based on the application type, required data speed, and platform,
various OWC technologies can be applied.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 45

OWC applications based on transmission range

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 46

OWC Technology Categories
 Communication Distance
➢ Ultra-short range OWC
❖ nm/mm-level communications are performed. An example of this type of
communication is nm distance chip-to-chip communication.
➢ Short range OWC
❖ Wireless body area network (WBAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN), and
underwater communications are few examples of this category
➢ Medium range OWC
❖ This communication range comprises VLC-based WLANs and outdoor V2X
communications
➢ Long range OWC
❖ This communication range provides km-range of communication, for example,
inter-building connections.
➢ Ultra-long range OWC
❖ This communication range comprises inter-satellite, satellite-earth, satellite-to-
airplane, airplane-to-satellite, airplane-to- airplane, and airplane-to-ground links.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 48

Examples of OWC for different ranges of
communications.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 49

 IR vs VL vs UV
Issue IR VL UV
Wavelength 760 nm-1mm 360-760 nm 10-400 nm
• Short and medium ranges in LiFi and • Short and medium ranges in VLC,
• Short and medium ranges in
OCC LiFi, and OCC
LiFi
Communicati • Ultra-short, short, medium, long, and • Ultra-short, short, medium, long, and
• Ultra-short, short, medium,
on distance ultra-long ranges in FSOC ultra-long ranges in FSOC
long, and ultra-long ranges in
• Short, medium, long, and ultra-long • Short , medium, long, and ultra-long
FSOC
ranges in LiDAR ranges in LiDAR
• Not visible for human eye
• Safe for human
Not visible for human eye considering considering the cases where
• It can be used for illumination and
Advantage the cases where illumination is not illumination is not important
communication purposes
important • High data rate NLOS
simultaneously
communication is possible

• Not always safe for human • LOS communication and very limited
• LOS communication and very low data rate NLOS communication
Limitation limited low data rate NLOS using reflection of light Not safe for human
communication using reflection of • Visibility of light when illumination
IR is not required
Communicati
on LiFi, OCC, FSO, and LiDAR VLC, LiFi, OCC, FSO, and LiDAR LiFi and FSO
Technologies
Communication with and without
Illumination No No
illumination

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 50

 LOS vs NLOS

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 51

 NLOS UV Principle
➢ High-data-rate NLOS communication can be achieved using UV
spectrum
➢ an omnidirectional transmitter is directed at an elevation, while the
receiver is required to intersect the transmitted beam
➢ The transmitter comprises a xenon flashtube inside a searchlight dish
➢ The atmospheric gases ozone and oxygen are strong absorbers of light
in the UV spectral region.
➢ A filter in front of the phototube generates a pulse when it detects
an incident photon of operation
➢ The knowledge of the transmitted and received beam positions is
important to achieve higher data rate, reduced latency, and reduced
transmitted power.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 52

LED vs LD for OWC (1/3)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 53

 LED vs LD for OWC (2/3)
➢ Advantages of LEDs in OWC
❖ LEDs can switch to different light intensity levels at a very fast rate, which allows
data to be modulated through LED at a speed that the human eye cannot detect
❖ A trends to replace incandescent and fluorescent lamps with high-intensity solid-
state white LEDs
❖ high energy efficiency, longer lifespan, compact form factor, lower heat generation,
reduced usage of harmful materials in design, and improved color interpreting
without using harmful chemicals.
❖ LEDs are capable of switching to different light intensities very rapidly that creates
the opportunity to use LEDs as OWC transmitters for high-speed communication
and highly efficient lighting source simultaneously.
❖ LEDs can serve the dual purposes providing of highly efficient illumination and
very-high-speed communication.
➢ Limitation of LEDs in OWC
❖ All light produced by an LED is incoherent in nature.
❖ All the waves are not in phase and the transmitted optical power produced by an
LED is comparatively very low.
❖ Natural and artificial light sources cause interference for an LED source light.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 54

 LED vs LD for OWC (3/3)
➢ Advantages of LDs
❖ Lasers are monochromatic
❖ All light produced using a laser is of a single, specific wavelength
❖ Coherent lights mean all individual light waves are precisely lined up with each other, all
waves travel in the same direction, in the same manner, and at the same time.
❖ Laser lights are concentrated and directed forward because of coherent characteristics.
Therefore, laser light can travel long distances.
❖ LDs cause less interference and provide a high-data-rate compared to LED lights.
➢ Disadvantages of LDs
❖ LD has low aperture.
❖ Only point-to-point communication is possible using LD.
➢ LDs are not popular due to possible health threats (e.g., eye injury,
hyperthermia, coagulation, and ablation due to thermal effects of laser
radiation), cost, color mixing complication, and the questionable quality of
laser light for illumination purposes
➢ A recent study shows that diffused laser light does not compromise the user
experience compared with conventional light luminaires

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 55

OWC Networks Architecture
Basic block diagram of different OWC
technologies

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 57

Uplink/downlink communications

uplink communication

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 58

Visible Light Communication (VLC)
 VLC Basic Characteristics
➢ Transmitter can be either LEDs or LDs
➢ Receiver can be either PDs or ISs
➢ It can be either uplink or downlink or both
➢ It can be either point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, or multipoint-to-
point
➢ VLC based on the VL spectrum provides significant opportunities for
application in homes, offices, cars, airplanes, trains, and roadside
➢ Unique characteristics of VLC
❖ Communication medium must be VL
➢ Limitations of VLC based on LED/PD
❖ it is not very effective for outdoor applications
❖ it cannot perform long-distance communication

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 60

 VLC Applications
➢ Smart lighting
➢ Wireless connectivity
➢ V2X communication
➢ Hospitals
➢ Spectrum relief
➢ Aviation
➢ Underwater communications
➢ Smart displaying signboards
➢ Location-based services
➢ Local area networks
➢ Sound communication system

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 61

Light Fidelity (LiFi)
 LiFi Basic Characteristics
➢ LiFi is similar to WiFi, with the exception that optical spectrum rather
than RF spectrum is used for transmission
➢ Existing LEDs can be used as the transmitter for LiFi cellular
deployment
➢ LDs combined with optical diffuser can also be used as LiFi
transmitters
➢ LiFi uses VL in the forward path but it is possible to use either IR, VL,
or UV in the return path
➢ Unique characteristics
❖ It must be a bidirectional communication system
❖ It must provide seamless user mobility
❖ LiFi systems must include multiuser communications, i.e., point-to-multipoint and
multipoint-to-point communications

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 63

 Comparison between LiFi and VLC
➢ The main differences between LiFi and VLC are
❖ VLC uses only the VL portion of the light spectrum, whereas LiFi uses VL in the
forward path but it is possible to use either IR, VL, or UV in the return path
❖ VLC systems can be either unidirectional or bidirectional, whereas LiFi is a
bidirectional communication system
❖ LiFi must provide seamless user mobility, whereas mobility support is not
mandatory for VLC [31
❖ VLC systems include any of point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, and multipoint-to-
point communications, whereas LiFi systems must include multiuser
communications, i.e., point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-point communications
❖ LiFi is a complete wireless networking system and supports seamless user mobility
❖ VLC system will be treated as LiFi only if it has LiFi features (e.g., multiuser
communication, point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-point communications, and
seamless user mobility).
❖ A LiFi system can be treated as VLC only when VL is used as the transmission
media.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 64

Basic architecture of UE-to-CN connectivity in
VLC/LiFi/FSOC Systems

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 65

Selected Application Scenarios of VLC/LiFi Systems (1/2)

indoor environment

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 66

Selected Application Scenarios of VLC/LiFi
Systems (2/2)

outdoor environment

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 67

 Basic Differences Between LiFi and WiFi
Issue LiFi WiFi
Transmission and reception VL for downlink and VL or IR or UV
RF waves
medium for uplink

10 Gbps using LED and 100 Gbps

Maximum data rate using LD (combined with optical 6 Gbps using IEEE 802.11ad
diffuser)

Communication distance 10 m 100 m

Interference level Low High
Transition Directional Omnidirectional
IEEE standard 802.15.7m 802.11
Infrastructure cost Less More

Direct Current biased Optical

Direct Sequence Spread spectrum
Modulation technique Orthogonal Frequency Division
(DSSS)
Multiplexing (DCO-OFDM)

Power consumption for

Very small Comparatively high
communication purpose
Human harmness No Yes

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 68

Optical Camera Communication (OCC)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 69

 OCC Basic Principle
➢ Downlink communication
➢ Transmitter
❖ LEDs
➢ Receiver
❖ Camera
➢ Communication media
❖ IR and VL

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 70

 Main Differences between OCC and VLC
➢ VLC system must use VL as a communication medium,
whereas the OCC system can use both IR and VL
➢ VLC system can use both LEDs and LDs as physical
transmitters, whereas the OCC system can use only LEDs;
➢ A PD or camera (or IS) can be used as the receiver in VLC,
whereas a camera (or IS) is used as the receiver in OCC
➢ A VLC system can be treated as an OCC system when it
uses LEDs and a camera (or IS) as its transmitter and
receiver, respectively
➢ In addition, an OCC system can be considered a VLC
when it uses VL as the communication medium.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 71

 Challenges of LED/PD-based VLC/LiFi Systems
➢ Short communication distance
➢ drastic attenuation of received signal strength
➢ interference due to artificial and natural light sources
➢ noise due to ambient light radiation from the sun, skylights,
streetlights, and other sources in outdoor environments
➢ the large amount of noise from background lights
➢ difficulties in detection of LEDs by PDs, especially under direct
sunlight
➢ With increasing transmission distance, small-area PDs yield reduced
optical receiving power, thus limiting the transmission range
➢ These limitations can be easily overcome using a camera/IS as the
receiver

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 72

Operating Principle of OCC System

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 73

Application scenarios of OCC
system

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 74

 Main Advantages and Limitations of OCC
➢ Advantages
❖ Non-interference communication
❖ High SNR quality
❖ No need for complex signal processing
❖ Stable against changing communication distances
➢ Limitations
❖ Blocking of optical link
❖ Low-data-rate
❖ Light flickering

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 75

 OCC Applications
➢ V2X communication
➢ Indoor positioning
➢ Digital signage
➢ Drone-to-drone communication
➢ Augmented/virtual reality

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 76

Free Space Optical Communication
(FSOC)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 77

 FSOC Basic
➢ FSO systems are used for high-data-rate communication between two
fixed points over distances ranging from a few nm to several thousand
kilometers
➢ FSO systems use laser technology for signal transmission
➢ It is normally operated using the NIR spectrum as the communication
medium
➢ It can be also operated by using the VL and the UV spectra
➢ The frequency used for FSOC is higher than 300 GHz, which is totally
unregulated worldwide
➢ The attenuation levels are lower when using IR
➢ Transmitter
❖ FSO often uses LDs rather than LEDs for the transmission
❖ A few manufacturers also use high-power LEDs with beam collimators
➢ Receiver
❖ PDs

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 78

 FSO Applications

➢ The optical source used in FSO systems should deliver a comparatively

high optical power over a wide temperature range
➢ Narrow beams of focused light from an LD transmitter are used to
establish high-data-rate communication links between a transmitter
and a receiver
➢ Because of optical beamforming, long-distance communication is
possible using FSO systems

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 79

➢ Initially, the source information is encoded.
➢ Optionally, channel coding can be used before modulation
➢ The modulator performs an OOK/PM/OFDM modulation
process.
➢ If required, an optical amplifier can be used to increase the
power intensity of the modulated laser beam
➢ the light beam is collected and refocused by means of beam
forming optics before being transmitted
➢ Important design features of the optical transmitter
❖ size, power, and beam quality, which determine the laser intensity
and minimum divergence obtainable from the system

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 80

 Advantages of FSOC

➢ FSO links have very high available bandwidth

➢ Very high data rate
➢ FSOC systems can be deployed easily
➢ wide range of applications
❖ backhaul for cellular networks
❖ disaster recovery
❖ high-definition TV
❖ medical image/video transmission
❖ campus connectivity
❖ video surveillance and monitoring
❖ Security
❖ broadcasting

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 81

 Limitations of FSOC
➢ it suffers from link reliability, especially in long-range
communications
➢ owing to its high sensitivity to several factors
➢ Factors include
❖ weather conditions (e.g., fog, rain, haze, smoke, sandstorms, clouds,
snow, and scintillation can increase attenuation)
❖ atmospheric turbulence (causing fluctuations in the density of air,
leading to a change in the air refractive index)
❖ physical obstructions (e.g., flying birds, trees, and tall buildings can
temporarily block the signal beam)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 82

 FSOC Systems Connectivity
➢ MAN-to-MAN connectivity
➢ LAN-to-LAN connectivity
➢ ship-to-ship connectivity
➢ underwater communication
➢ airplane-airplane/ground/satellite connectivity
➢ satellite-satellite/earth/airplane connectivity
➢ fiber back-up

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 83

A Few Application Scenarios of FSO Systems

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 84

Difference between FSO Communication and Microwave
Link

Issue FSO Communication Microwave Link

Transmission medium NIR, VL, or UV Millimeter waves

Maximum
More than 10,000 km More than 100 km
communication distance

40 Gbps [38] at a 12.5 Gbps at

Data rate communication distance of 20 communication distance of
m, 5.6 Gbps with LEO-LEO 5.8 m

Interference Low High

Environmental impact High Low

Infrastructure cost Less High

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 85

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 86

 LiDAR application in Airplane
➢ an attractive optical remote sensing technology that finds the range of
and/or other information about a distant target
➢ LiDAR uses normally NIR and VL to image objects
➢ It can target a wide range of materials including rain, dust, non-
metallic objects, chemical compounds, aerosols, clouds, and even
individual molecules

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 87

➢ A narrow laser beam can map physical features with very high
resolution
➢ Laser beams are used to measure the properties of scattered light and
create points for 3D mapping.
➢ The four main components of a LiDAR system are laser, photodetector
and receiver electronics, scanner and optics, and position and
navigation sub-systems.
➢ The purposes of LiDAR are similar to those of radio detection and
ranging (RADAR)
➢ Both technologies use energy reflected from target objects to determine
various aspects of those objects. However, the type of energy used by
LiDAR is optical light, whereas RADAR uses microwaves
➢ energy is transmitted from a transmitter as a signal
❖ When the transmitted signal hits an object, the object reflects a part of the energy.
This reflected energy is then received by the receiver at the source location and is
used to determine the distance, size, and other characteristics of the object

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 88

 LiDAR application in Airplane
➢ airborne LiDAR
❖ The principle of airborne
LiDAR data collection is
divided into four steps. First,
a side-by-side laser scan of the
ground is performed. Second,
the altitude and the x-y
location of the airplane are
obtained using GPS. Third,
an inertial measurement unit
is used to track the tilt of Rotation around the front-to-back axis is called roll.
the plane in the sky as it flies Rotation around the side-to-side axis is called pitch.
Rotation around the vertical axis is called yaw.
for accurate calculation of
alleviation. Finally, all data
are accumulated and range-
related information is then
calculated

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 89

 LiDAR Application in Vehicle

3D image mapped by LiDAR

real environment

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 90

 Differences Between LiDAR and RADAR
LiDAR RADAR
It uses radio waves ( microwave signals
It uses laser light rays (NIR, visible) for
in the range of 1 cm wavelength) for
transmission and reception medium.
transmission and reception medium

It can provide accurate surface Size and the position of the object can be
measurements with 3D mapping identified fairly using RADAR

It uses charge coupled device (CCD)

It uses antennae for transmission and
optics and lasers for transmission and
reception of the signals
reception
Lower wavelengths allow detection of Target size is limited by longer
very small objects e.g., cloud particles wavelength

Performance degraded with bad

It can operate in bad weather conditions
atmospheric condition

***a charge coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit etched onto a silicon surface forming light sensitive
elements called pixels. Photons incident on this surface generate charge that can be read by electronics and turned
into a digital copy of the light patterns falling on the device

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 91

 Summary of Comparison Of Different Wireless
Communication Systems (1/2)
Issue LiFi VLC OCC FSO RF
In progress (previously it was
Matured
Standardizati IEEE 802.15.7m TG Task In progress (IEEE
(IEEE 802.15.7- Well developed Matured
on Group (TG) and now changed 802.15.7m TG)
2011)
to IEEE 802.15.11 LC SG)
LED/LD(combined LDs with
Transmitter LED/LD LED LD Antenna
optical diffuser)
Receiver PD PD/camera Camera PD Antenna
Amplitude and phase
Amplitude and Amplitude and phase
modulation techniques cannot Amplitude and
phase modulation modulation techniques
be applied. Information need to phase modulation
techniques cannot cannot be applied.
be modulated in the varying of techniques cannot ASK, PSK,
be applied. Information need to be
intensity of the light wave. On- be applied. FSK,
Information need to modulated in the varying
Off Keying (OOK), Pulse Information need PM,
be modulated in the of intensity of the light
Modulation modulation (PM), Orthogonal to be modulated in CDMA,
varying of intensity wave. OOK, PM,
Frequency Division the varying of OFDM, etc.
of the light wave. CDMA, OFDM,
Modulation (OFDM), Code- intensity of the are
OOK, PM, CDMA, CSK etc. are applicable.
Division light wave. OOK, applicable.
OFDM, In addition, screen-based
Multiple-Access (CDMA), PM, OFDM,
CSK etc. are modulation is also
Color Shift Modulation (CSK) etc. are applicable
applicable. applicable for OCC.
etc. are applicable.
OFDM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MIMO Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
More than
100 km
Communicati More than 10000
10 m 20 m 200 m using
on distance km
Microwave
link
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 92
 Summary of Comparison Of Different Wireless
Communication Systems (2/2)
Issue LiFi VLC OCC FSO RF
Interference
Low Low Zero Low Very high
level
Sun plus
Sun plus ambient light Sun plus ambient light Sun plus ambient All electrical and
Noise ambient light
sources sources light sources electronic appliances
sources
Environmenta Indoor: No Indoor: No
No Yes Yes
l effect Outdoor: Yes Outdoor: Yes
6 Gbps (IEE 802.11ad
10 Gbps using LED and 10 Gbps using LED and
Data rate 54 Mbps 40 Gbps at frequencies around
100 Gbps using LD 100 Gbps using LD
60 GHz)
Security High High High High Low
Spectrum IR/VL/UV VL IR/VL IR/VL/UV Radio waves
Spectrum Yes (not always e.g.,
No No No No
regulation WiFi)
Medium ( very high for Medium ( very high for
Path loss Less High High
NLOS) NLOS)
Yes (only when LED bulb
Illumination Yes No No No
is used)
Communication, Communication,
Illumination and Communicatio Communication and
Main purpose illumination, and imaging, and
Communication n positioning
localization localization
(i) Short distance
(i) Short distance communication, (ii) no
Main Environment
communication, and (iii) guaranteed of mobility Low data rate Interference
limitations support, and (iii) not suitable
dependent
not suitable in outdoor
in outdoor

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 93

 Open Issues and Future Research Directions
➢ Hybrid network architecture
❖ This approach integrates two or more different technologies (e.g., OWC/RF, FSO/RF,
WiFi/LiFi, VLC/femtocell, VLC/FSO, and LiFi/OCC) into a hybrid network and capable of
providing the advantages of both the technologies.
❖ Especially, optical wireless is a good candidate for sensitive applications in which mitigating
interference with RF is a must. Hybrid network can play an important role for load balancing,
link reliability improvement, wireless connectivity availability in remote places (e.g., deep-space,
deep-ocean, and deep-ground situations), and interference reduction.
❖ Therefore, this issue attracted the researchers. Very important challenge of hybrid system is to
adaptively and smoothly switch from one communication system to another.
➢ High-data-rate optical backhaul
❖ For 5G and beyond communications, a high capacity backhaul connectivity is very important issue .
❖ The optical wireless network e.g., FSO or VLC can be a good complementary choice of the
existing wired and wireless backhaul connectivity, and is a promising research issue.
➢ NLOS UV communication
❖ A high-data-rate NLOS communication is achievable using UV communication that is a
significant feature of UV band .
❖ A methodical assessment and exploitation of this communication in terms of atmospheric
conditions, geometrical configurations, and transmitter/receiver system requirements is still
missing and should be the issue of future research.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 94

 Open Issues and Future Research Directions
➢ Inter-cell interference
❖ The dense deployment of LEDs for VLC/LiFi small cell/attocell architecture faces a challenge
of managing inter-cell optical interference.
➢ Extending the optical spectrum
❖ Extending the optical spectrum beyond the UV band can enjoy a lot of benefits from high
power and low cost sources . Thus, this is a challenging issue for future wireless
communication.
➢ Underwater wireless optical communication
❖ In recent years, underwater wireless optical communication attracted much attention as many
applications are proposed for environmental monitoring, oil pipe investigation, and offshore
investigation.
❖ Long-range and high-speed links are needed for many applications of underwater
communication.
❖ An employing of 405 nm blue light LD is expected to be an important research issue for a long-
range underwater communication.
❖ The design of appropriate modulation and coding techniques that can adapt the characteristics
of underwater environments is also an important research direction.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 95

 Open Issues and Future Research Directions
➢ Seamless mobility
❖ OWC systems are required to allow the user mobility. Currently, only LiFi provides seamless
connectivity .
❖ Researchers are working to support horizontal handovers in OWC (e.g., between LiFi
networks) as well as vertical handovers in hybrid network (e.g. between LiFi and WiFi).
❖ It is very important to have handover mechanism to maintain seamless communications, and
such an issue is challenging and need to be properly studied.
➢ Atmospheric loss
❖ In OWC, the power allocation and overall system performance of a free space propagation link
are strongly dependent on atmospheric loss which comprises scattering, refraction, clear air
absorption, free space loss, and scintillation.
❖ There is huge scope to work for the mitigation of the atmospheric loss in OWC systems.
➢ MIMO optical wireless communications
❖ Because of the properties of the IM/DD channel, it is challenging to apply MIMO in OWC
❖ The applicability of MIMO for different OWC technologies are under investigation
❖ The MIMO system benefits from higher power efficiency, higher reliability, and higher capacity.
❖ However, additional device introduced by MIMO increases the complexity and also limits its
applications (e.g., several compact sensors underwater communication).
❖ Narrow beamwidth of LED receivers have limited angles of views, and thus small misalignment
between a transmitter and a receiver can easily disrupt the communication.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 96

 Open Issues and Future Research Directions
➢ OWC in vehicular communication
❖ A standard IEEE 802.11p which is also known as Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments
(WAVE), uses unlicensed RF band. OWC system can be also applied for traffic management.
➢ OWC for positioning
❖ The RF-based indoor positioning systems are less accurate mostly due to multipath induced
fading and signal penetration.
❖ The positioning using LEDs have attracted much attention due to the high accuracy, license-
free operation, no electromagnetic interference, and low cost frontends, etc.
❖ Outdoor positioning using optical wireless technology can also be one potential future research
issue.
➢ OWC in drone application
❖ Drone is thinking as the next possible solution within transportation.
❖ Its large scale deployment will arise several issues e.g., precise localization and reliable
communication among drones. OWC can be a good complementary approach to solve these
issues due to the limitations of RF-based technologies.
➢ Data rate improvement of OCC system
❖ Currently, the achieved data rate of OCC system is not high (55 Mbps until now [34]). This
data rate should be increased to fulfill the upcoming demands of high-data-rate services.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 97

 Open Issues and Future Research Directions
➢ OCC based on red, green, and blue (RGB) LEDs
❖ OCC using RGB LEDs and color cameras (or IS) is a promising approach for effective parallel
visible light communications. Many researchers are working on RGB LEDs for developing
efficient communication technology.
➢ Dimming control
❖ The algorithms for dimming should be designed for the effective deployment of OWC systems.
➢ Flickering avoidance
❖ Flickering is the fluctuations in the brightness of a light that can be noticed by humans. It is a
harmful effect on human health. In OWC systems, the modulation of the LEDs should be done
in a way that the flickering is avoided. Therefore, this is an important research issue for the
deployment of OWC systems.

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 98

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, KUET 99