Coherent Free-Space Optical Communications: Opportunities and Challenges

The ever-increasing data rate demand for wireless systems is pushing the physical limits of standalone radio-frequency communications, thus fostering the blooming of novel high-capacity optical wireless solutions. This imminent penetration of optical communication technologies into the wireless doma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 3173 - 3186
Main Authors: Guiomar, Fernando P., Fernandes, Marco A., Nascimento, Jose Leonardo, Rodrigues, Vera, Monteiro, Paulo P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York IEEE 15.05.2022
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:
Adaptive modulation
Atmospheric modeling
Atmospheric turbulence
coherent optics
Domains
Free space optics
Free-space optical communication
High-speed optical techniques
optical beam steering
Optical beams
Optical fibers
Optical receivers
Optical transmitters
Optical wireless
Wireless communication
Wireless communications
ISSN:0733-8724, 1558-2213
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The ever-increasing data rate demand for wireless systems is pushing the physical limits of standalone radio-frequency communications, thus fostering the blooming of novel high-capacity optical wireless solutions. This imminent penetration of optical communication technologies into the wireless domain opens up a set of novel opportunities for the development of a new generation of wireless systems providing unprecedented capacity. Unlocking the full potential of free-space optics (FSO) transmission can only be achieved through a seamless convergence between the optical fiber and optical wireless domains. This will allow taking advantage of the staggering progress that has been made on fiber-based communications during the last decades, namely leveraging on the latest generation of Terabit-capable coherent optical transceivers. On the other hand, the development of these high-capacity optical wireless systems still faces a set of critical challenges, namely regarding the impact of atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors. In this work, we provide an in-depth experimental analysis of the main potentialities and criticalities associated with the development of ultra-high-capacity FSO communications, ultimately leading to the long-term (48-hours) demonstration of a coherent FSO transmission system delivering more than 800 Gbps over <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">\sim</tex-math></inline-formula>42 m link length, in an outdoor deployment exposed to time-varying turbulence and meteorological conditions.
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ISSN:0733-8724
1558-2213
DOI:10.1109/JLT.2022.3164736