Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, with the rapid advancements in information technology and internet of things (IoT), the wireless communication industry has experienced an exponential increase in data traffic. This has led to congestion in the traditional radio frequency (RF) links, and consequently, the wireless communication industry is experiencing technical limitations in supporting a huge amount of data/voice/video traffic. Therefore, there is a need to switch from the traditional RF spectrum to a higher-bandwidth spectrum that can provide broadband capacity links for secure and reliable communication. The fifth-generation (5G) millimeter-wave spectrum has already been rolled out in the market and can support up to Gbps data rates. However, this speed is not sufficient for the future data-driven market. Optical wireless communication (OWC) is envisioned as a cutting-edge technology in supporting future massive data rates with low latency and high reliability. This technology offers cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions for underwater/ground/space wireless communication.

This Special Issue invites manuscripts that focus on recent advancements in the area of  “Optical Wireless Communication for underwater-to-ground-to-space Connectivity”. Researchers, academicians, and practitioners can take advantage of this opportunity to present their recent research work/challenges/solutions/concerns in the area of optical wireless communication for underwater/ground/space links. All theoretical, numerical, and experimental papers are accepted. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• State-of-the-art for wireless optical systems: underwater, space-based, terrestrial, air-borne, air-water interface systems, etc.
• Channel propagation effects and combating technologies.
• Modulation and error correcting codes.
• Security issues in optical wireless communication.
• Pointing, acquisition, and tracking issues.
• Channel modeling and analysis.
• Opto-electronics/all optical interconnections.
• Adaptive optics techniques.
• System design optimization techniques at the physical or medium access layer.
• Integrating machine learning/deep learning with OWC.
• Routing algorithms for underwater sensors or unmanned aerial vehicles.

Dr. Hemani Kaushal
Dr. Abhishek Dixit
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.

• free space optics
• underwater wireless optical communication
• satellite FSO communication
• turbulence
• secure communication
• channel characterization
• absorption
• scattering