Challenges and Opportunities in Optical and Wireless Communication Networks

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2023) | Viewed by 4581

Special Issue Editors

Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Interests: optical communications; optical sensing
Department of Optical Science, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8501, Japan
Interests: optical fiber/wireless communication; modulation/demodulation; photonic routing; photonic switching; and photonic networking
Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories, Taipei 10682, Taiwan
Interests: optical access and transport networks; fiber-wireless integrated systems; RF/MMW mobile communications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The capacity demand for wireless communications is rapidly growing. In the 5G era, a peak capacity of 20 Gb/s is specified for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) applications, and in some preliminary proposals/whitepapers, >100 Gb/s peak capacity is also discussed for the beyond 5G (B5G) systems. Within the big plans of the 5G systems, other than upgradation in the ever-increasing capacity, ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) applications are also significantly concerned, which are the key elements to flexibly and reliably accomplish ultimately smart applications, building upon machine-type communications or Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The stringent transmission requirements for wireless systems cast big challenges in many areas, from device cost to system design issues. Optical technologies have become a key option behind these challenges. Digital/analog radio over fiber (D/A-RoF) technologies have been actively studied to more efficiently transport data in the radio access networks (RANs), building upon backhaul, fronthaul, midhaul, or x-haul connections. Advanced photonics technologies have also been widely introduced in the generation, synthesis, and detection of radio signals. Meanwhile, optical wireless communication (OWC) which directly applies IR or visible light (also referred to as visible light communication (VLC)) as the wireless transmission carriers are widely developed as complementary or offloading options of radio-based systems.

This Special Issue aims to discuss the challenges and opportunities of wireless communication networks and their potential optical solutions, covering potential development directions, challenges, and frontier technologies. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • 5G/B5G optical wireless convergent networks;
  • Radio access network (RAN);
  • Radio over fiber;
  • Microwave/millimeter-wave photonics;
  • Optical wireless communication (OWC);
  • Visible light communication (VLC);
  • Advanced signal processing.

Dr. Jiun-Yu Sung
Dr. Hiroki Kishikawa
Dr. Jhih-Heng Yan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • 5G/B5G optical wireless convergent networks
  • Radio access network (RAN)
  • Radio over fiber
  • Microwave/millimeter-wave photonics
  • Optical wireless communication (OWC)
  • Visible light communication (VLC)
  • Advanced signal processing

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 3695 KiB  
Communication
Theoretical Study on Dual-Function Optical Phased Array of LiDAR and Optical Wireless Communication Based on Optically Injection-Locked Semiconductor Lasers
by Anh-Hang Nguyen, Hyo-Sang Jeong, Hyungsik Shin and Hyuk-Kee Sung
Photonics 2023, 10(5), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics10050498 - 26 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1037
Abstract
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and optical wireless communication (OWC) are in high demand and rapidly developing owing to the explosive growth of smart systems that require automotive and mobile devices. Optical phased arrays (OPA) have become a key technology in LiDAR and [...] Read more.
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and optical wireless communication (OWC) are in high demand and rapidly developing owing to the explosive growth of smart systems that require automotive and mobile devices. Optical phased arrays (OPA) have become a key technology in LiDAR and OWC owing to their nonmechanical beam steering capabilities. However, using separate LiDAR and OWC platforms in one system creates problems, such as spectrum congestion, resource consumption, and high complexity. We propose a dual-function OPA that enables LiDAR and OWC to function on a single platform based on the simultaneous amplitude and phase modulation of optically injection-locked semiconductor lasers. We numerically demonstrated that the primary LiDAR and secondary OWC function simultaneously by independent control of the main and side lobes in the OPA signal. The variation in side lobe levels is controlled at 20 or 25 dB to realize low- and high-level data for OWC function as well as maintaining the main beam LiDAR function. We successfully achieved wide-opening eye patterns of 10 Gbps data transmission of the OWC operation. Full article
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10 pages, 1375 KiB  
Communication
Precise RF Phase Measurement by Optical Sideband Generation Using Mach–Zehnder Modulators
by Qingchuan Huang and Tetsuya Kawanishi
Photonics 2023, 10(3), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics10030324 - 17 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1101
Abstract
A novel radio frequency (RF) phase measurement method that uses optical modulation was proposed. The mathematical model of Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) characterization was reviewed. By measuring the output sideband power of the optical modulator, the phase difference of the electric signals fed to [...] Read more.
A novel radio frequency (RF) phase measurement method that uses optical modulation was proposed. The mathematical model of Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) characterization was reviewed. By measuring the output sideband power of the optical modulator, the phase difference of the electric signals fed to the modulator was experimentally measured, and picosecond-level accuracies were achieved. This technique is expected to be useful for radio-over-fiber-based antenna array systems. Full article
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9 pages, 1275 KiB  
Article
Topological Charge and Asymptotic Phase Invariants of Vortex Laser Beams
by Alexey A. Kovalev, Victor V. Kotlyar and Anton G. Nalimov
Photonics 2021, 8(10), 445; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8100445 - 14 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1523
Abstract
It is well known that the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a light field is conserved on propagation. In this work, in contrast to the OAM, we analytically study conservation of the topological charge (TC), which is often confused with OAM, but has [...] Read more.
It is well known that the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a light field is conserved on propagation. In this work, in contrast to the OAM, we analytically study conservation of the topological charge (TC), which is often confused with OAM, but has quite different physical meaning. To this end, we propose a huge-ring approximation of the Huygens–Fresnel principle, when the observation point is located on an infinite-radius ring. Based on this approximation, our proof of TC conservation reveals that there exist other quantities that are also propagation-invariant, and the number of these invariants is theoretically infinite. Numerical simulation confirms the conservation of two such invariants for two light fields. The results of this work can find applications in optical data transmission to identify optical signals. Full article
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