Ergodic Capacity and Error Performance of Spatial Diversity UWOC Systems over Generalized Gamma Turbulence Channels

In this paper, we study the ergodic capacity (EC) and average bit error rate (BER) of spatial diversity underwater wireless optical communications (UWOC) over the generalized gamma (GG) fading channels using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) direct current-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM). We derive closed-form expressions of the EC and BER for the spatial diversity UWOC with the equal gain combining (EGC) at receivers based on the approximation of the sum of independent identical distributed (i.i.d) GG random variables (RVs). Numerical results of EC and BER for QAM DCO-OFDM spatial diversity systems over GG fading channels are presented. The numerical results are shown to be closely matched by the Monte Carlo simulations, verifying the analysis. The study clearly shows the adverse effect of turbulence on the EC & BER and advantage of EGC to overcome the turbulence effect

Enhanced energy and spectrum efficiency in visible light communications

In recent years, there has been a surge in data traffic, leading to the investigation of using optical frequencies in conjunction with radio frequency (RF) wireless communication systems. One such technology is visible light communication (VLC), which uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the visible light spectrum to transmit data. VLC has gained popularity for short-range wireless connections due to its energy efficiency, low-cost, and wide availability of front-end devices. However, one of the main challenges in designing a VLC system is improving its energy and spectral efficiency. This thesis aims to investigate techniques and determine the most effective methods for enhancing the energy and spectral efficiency of VLC systems. The thesis examined methods for optimising the bias point of an LED to benefit from increasing bandwidth at higher driving current while minimising the resulting signal distortion. The approaches are based on allowing for some nonlinear distortion or reducing signal swing/signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while benefiting from higher bandwidth at higher driving currents. A framework is presented to estimate the attainable capacity under both conditions. Simulation results showed that the optimal bias point does not lie in the middle of the dynamic range. This was verified through a PAM-based VLC experiment, which showed that the transmission rate can be increased by choosing the optimal bias current instead of the midpoint of the linear range. Subsequently, VLC with probabilistic shaping (PS) is studied to optimise the distribution of source symbols and improve system performance. In this study, the error performance of PS is analysed, and closed-form analytical expressions are provided. The results show that PS outperforms the conventional uniform distribution and significantly reduces the required SNR to achieve a certain error probability. To demonstrate the practical application of PS in VLC, it was implemented in conjunction with optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. This allowed for continuous and adaptive loading of information bits to the channel response, resulting in an efficient use of available modulation bandwidth and transmission rates close to the channel capacity limits. In the two experimental demonstrations, a single low-power LED and a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system using three off-the-shelf LEDs were used to achieve bit rates of 1.13~Gbps and 10.81~Gbps, respectively, representing increases of 27.13\% and 25.7\% over the traditional bit-power loading technique. Finally, an alternative approach towards enhancing the energy of VLC systems is introduced using frequency shift chirp modulation (FSCM). The error performance of FSCM was analysed in different types of channels, and a proof-of-concept experiment was conducted to demonstrate its potential use in VLC systems. FSCM offers improved robustness in band-limited, frequency-selective channels compared to other modulation techniques. This makes it a promising choice for integrating into VLC systems, particularly in low-power and low-rate application scenarios

Evaluation of spectrally efficient indoor optical wireless transmission techniques

Optical wireless communications (OWC) has the potential to become a remedy for the shortage of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Especially in indoor environments, OWC could enable wireless home networking systems which offload data traffic from existing RF systems. In OWC, data is transmitted by modulating the intensity of light sources, typically incoherent light emitting diodes (LEDs). Thus, OWC systems employ intensity modulation (IM) and direct detection (DD) of the optical carrier. Since off-the-shelf LEDs have a limited modulation capability, the transmission bandwidth of practical OWC systems is restricted. Consequently, the available bandwidth has to be used efficiently. In this thesis, spectrally efficient optical wireless transmission techniques are evaluated. Firstly, multiple transmitter-receiver techniques are investigated. These multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques provide high spectral efficiency, and therefore high data rates. Specifically, the MIMO techniques repetition coding (RC), spatial multiplexing (SMP) and spatial modulation (SM) are analysed for indoor OWC. The performance of these techniques is evaluated analytically and by means of computer simulations. It is shown that inducing power imbalance between the multiple optical transmitters can substantially improve the performance of optical MIMO techniques as the power imbalance improves the differentiability of the multiple channels. In addition, it is found that link blockage and the utilisation of transmitters having different optical wavelengths enhance channel differentiability as well. These methods enable the utilisation of optical MIMO techniques under conditions which typically disallow the application of MIMO schemes due to little differences between the multiple links. Secondly, a novel optical wireless transmitter concept is developed. This concept uses discrete power level stepping to generate intensity modulated optical signals, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms. The transmitter consists of several on-off-switchable LED groups which are individually controlled to emit scaled optical intensities. As a result, the digital-to-analogue conversion of the signals to be sent is done in the optical domain. This method enables the implementation of low-complex and power-efficient optical transmitter front-ends – the major shortcoming of conventional optical OFDM transmitters. Thirdly, a novel approach for wireless data transmission within an aircraft cabin is presented. The data is transferred by 2-dimensional visual code sequences. These sequences are displayed on the in-flight entertainment (IFE) screen and are captured by the built-in camera of a user device which acts as receiver. Transmission experiments within an aircraft cabin mock-up demonstrate the functionality of the implemented system under realistic conditions, such as ambient illumination and geometric configuration. Altogether, this thesis has analysed the potential of spectrally efficient optical wireless transmission techniques. It is shown that OWC systems can greatly benefit from these techniques

Novel Insights into Orbital Angular Momentum Beams: From Fundamentals, Devices to Applications

It is well-known by now that the angular momentum carried by elementary particles can be categorized as spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM). In the early 1900s, Poynting recognized that a particle, such as a photon, can carry SAM, which has only two possible states, i.e., clockwise and anticlockwise circular polarization states. However, only fairly recently, in 1992, Allen et al. discovered that photons with helical phase fronts can carry OAM, which has infinite orthogonal states. In the past two decades, the OAM-carrying beam, due to its unique features, has gained increasing interest from many different research communities, including physics, chemistry, and engineering. Its twisted phase front and intensity distribution have enabled a variety of applications, such as micromanipulation, laser beam machining, nonlinear matter interactions, imaging, sensing, quantum cryptography and classical communications. This book aims to explore novel insights of OAM beams. It focuses on state-of-the-art advances in fundamental theories, devices and applications, as well as future perspectives of OAM beams

Διάδοση Σήματος στις Επίγειες Οπτικές Ασύρματες Ζεύξεις με Πολυπλεξία και Τεχνικές Διαφορικής Λήψης

Οι ασύρματες οπτικές επικοινωνίες ελευθέρου χώρου (Free-Space Optical, FSO) έχουν κερδίσει σημαντικό εμπορικό και ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον τα τελευταία χρόνια ως αποτέλεσμα των διαφόρων πλεονεκτικών χαρακτηριστικών τους. Είναι σε θέση να ανταποκριθούν στις σημαντικά αυξανόμενες ανάγκες μεταφοράς τεράστιου όγκου πληροφοριακών δεδομένων στα υφιστάμενα και μελλοντικά τηλεπικοινωνιακά δίκτυα. Τα συστήματα FSO λειτουργούν στη ζώνη συχνοτήτων μεταξύ 300 GHz - 430 THz η οποία δεν απαιτεί ειδικές άδειες για τη χρήση της, προσφέροντας ένα σημαντικό οικονομικό πλεονέκτημα σε σύγκριση με τα αντίστοιχα συστήματα ραδιοσυχνοτήτων (RF). Τα FSO συστήματα δεν επηρεάζονται από ηλεκτρομαγνητικές παρεμβολές και παρουσιάζουν υψηλό επίπεδο ασφάλειας λόγω των στενών οπτικών δεσμών laser. Επίσης, θεωρούνται φιλικές προς το περιβάλλον λόγω της χαμηλής κατανάλωσης ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας κατά τη λειτουργία τους. Σε αντίθεση με τα ευεργετικά χαρακτηριστικά τους, οι επίγειες οπτικές ασύρματες ζεύξεις είναι ευάλωτες στις ατμοσφαιρικές επιδράσεις. Το φαινόμενο της ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής (atmospheric turbulence) είναι ένας από τους σημαντικότερους επιβλαβείς παράγοντες κατά τη διάδοση του οπτικού ηλεκτρομαγνητικού κύματος διαμέσου της ατμόσφαιρας. Η ατμοσφαιρική τυρβώδης ροή δημιουργείται ως αποτέλεσμα των ανομοιογενειών στον δείκτη διάθλασης μεταξύ των αέριων μαζών στην ατμόσφαιρα, οδηγώντας σε διακυμάνσεις της λαμβανόμενης έντασης και φάσης και τελικώς σε απώλεια ισχύος στην πλευρά του δέκτη. Λόγω των ραγδαίων διακυμάνσεων που προκαλούνται στο λαμβανόμενο οπτικό σήμα, η επίδραση της ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής μελετάται μέσω στατιστικών μοντέλων για την συνάρτηση της πυκνότητας πιθανότητας της λαμβανόμενης οπτικής έντασης, φαινόμενο γνωστό και ως σπινθηρισμός. Τα συστήματα FSO συνήθως εγκαθίστανται στις στέγες υψηλών κτιρίων ή σε μεγάλα υψόμετρα πάνω από το έδαφος. Έτσι, αυτά τα συστήματα είναι ευάλωτα σε ριπές ανέμου, σε πιθανή ταλάντευση των κτιρίων π.χ. λόγω μικρών σεισμών και σε θερμικές συστολές και διαστολές. Κατά αυτό το τρόπο, μπορούν να προκληθούν επιπρόσθετες διακυμάνσεις στο οπτικό σήμα. Αυτό το φαινόμενο είναι γνωστό στην τεχνική βιβλιογραφία ως σφάλματα σκόπευσης (pointing errors) και μελετάται με κατάλληλα στατιστικά μοντέλα σε σύνδεση με το φαινόμενο της ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής. Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι στην πλειονότητα των περιπτώσεων χρησιμοποιείται ένα προσεγγιστικό μοντέλο της κατανομής του Beckmann, η οποία λαμβάνει υπόψη την πιθανή σταθερή μη μηδενική απόκλιση του κέντρου της οπτικής δέσμης από το κέντρο του δέκτη και διαφορετικές τυπικές αποκλίσεις για την ακτινική μετατόπιση στους κατακόρυφους άξονες στο επίπεδο του δέκτη. Εκτός από τα προαναφερθέντα στατιστικά φαινόμενα, οι FSO ζεύξεις υποφέρουν από διάφορες προκαθοριστικές επιπτώσεις, όπως ο θόρυβος περιβάλλοντος, απώλειες οπτικής ισχύος λόγω διαφόρων ατμοσφαιρικών συστατικών (σωματιδίων, μορίων) και από ποικίλες καιρικές συνθήκες όπως ομίχλη, βροχή, χαλάζι κλπ., και απώλειες διάδοσης ελευθέρου χώρου. Όλα τα μαθηματικά μοντέλα που περιγράφουν την επίδραση αυτών των φαινομένων, με πολύ υψηλή ακρίβεια, περιλαμβάνονται στη διατριβή και ο αντίκτυπός τους μελετάται στην τελική αξιολόγηση των επιδόσεων των ασύρματων οπτικών ζεύξεων. Οι τεχνικές διαφορικής λήψης έχουν αποδειχθεί πολύ αποτελεσματικές στην καταπολέμηση διαλείψεων και εξασθενίσεων στα RF τηλεπικοινωνιακά συστήματα. Στην παρούσα διατριβή μελετάται η εφαρμογή διαφορικής λήψης στα FSO συστήματα. Συγκεκριμένα, διερευνάται η διαφορική λήψη στο δέκτη μαζί με τη βέλτιστη περίπτωση χρήσης του συνδυαστή μέγιστης αναλογίας (MRC). Η διαφορική λήψη δεκτών μελετάται για ένα FSO σύστημα μονής εισόδου πολλαπλής εξόδου (SIMO) με χρήση τεχνικών ψηφιακής διαμόρφωσης. Μελετώνται οι πιο συχνά εφαρμοζόμενες τεχνικές ψηφιακής διαμόρφωσης στα συστήματα οπτικών επικοινωνιών, όπως η κωδικοποίηση on-off (OOK), η διαμόρφωση πλάτους παλμού (PAM ) και η διαμόρφωση θέσης παλμού (PPM). Η απόδοση της SIMO FSO ζεύξης με διαφορική λήψη εκτιμάται με βάση την μέτρηση του μέσου ρυθμού σφάλματος δυαδικών ψηφίων (average BER), υπό την επίδραση της ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής που μοντελοποιείται είτε μέσω της Gamma-Gamma (GG) κατανομής είτε μέσω της εκθετικής κατανομής (NE). Ο ρυθμός σφάλματος μπλοκ πληροφορίας (BLER) αποτελεί μια βασική μετρική απόδοσης για κάθε τηλεπικοινωνιακή ζεύξη που λειτουργεί σε σχετικά υψηλούς ρυθμούς μετάδοσης. Είναι μια μετρική που έχει ερευνηθεί κυρίως στις RF επικοινωνίες. Στο πλαίσιο της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής, διερευνάται η μέση απόδοση BLER ενός OOK FSO συστήματος σε συνθήκες ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής που μοντελοποιείται μέσω των κατανομών GG και NE με σφάλματα σκόπευσης μη-μηδενικής απόκλισης. Η τεχνική αναλογικής διαμόρφωσης έντασης (AIM) έχει διερευνηθεί εκτενώς στις επικοινωνίες οπτικών ινών μέσω των πεδίων της μικροκυματικής φωτονικής (MWP) και των ραδιοσυχνοτήτων μέσω οπτικών ινών (RoF). Ωστόσο, η εφαρμογή της στις ασύρματες οπτικές συνδέσεις βρίσκεται ακόμη σε πρώιμο στάδιο. Σε αυτή τη διατριβή διεξάγεται εκτενής έρευνα για την εφαρμογή των τεχνικών AIM στις FSO ζεύξεις και ειδικότερα στη τεχνική μεταφοράς RF σήματος μέσω των FSO συστημάτων, μια τεχνική γνωστή ως Radio-over-FSO (RoFSO). Έτσι, οι συνδέσεις RoFSO εξετάζονται για τη μετάδοση σημάτων με πολυπλεξία όπως OFDM και CDMA σε κανάλια ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής με σφάλματα σκόπευσης. Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι για την περίπτωση της CDMA RoFSO μετάδοσης, η απόδοση ενός τέτοιου συστήματος διερευνάται για πρώτη φορά στις κατευθύνσεις της εμπρόσθιας και της αντίστροφης ζεύξης σε συνθήκες τυρβώδους ροής που μοντελοποιούνται από το ενοποιητικό μοντέλο της M(alaga) κατανομής. Μια από τις πιο ελπιδοφόρες λύσεις, προκειμένου να βελτιωθεί η απόδοση, να ξεπεραστούν οι επιβλαβείς ατμοσφαιρικές επιπτώσεις και να επεκταθεί τελικά η απόσταση κάλυψης των FSO συστημάτων, είναι η χρήση αρχιτεκτονικών αναμετάδοσης. Εξετάζεται η εφαρμογή αρχιτεκτονικής πολλαπλών αλμάτων με σειριακούς κόμβους αποκωδικοποίησης και προώθησης (DF) για ένα σύστημα OFDM RoFSO. Οι συγκεκριμένοι DF κόμβοι δρουν ως αναγεννητές για το σήμα πληροφορίας και έτσι επιτυγχάνεται μια βέλτιστη απόδοση. Η βελτίωση της απόδοσης για το σύστημα πολλαπλών αλμάτων αξιολογείται μέσω του μέσου ρυθμού σφάλματος δυαδικών ψηφίων και της εκτίμησης της πιθανότητας διακοπής. Τέλος, μελετάται η διαφορική λήψη δεκτών για OFDM και CDMA RoFSO ζεύξεις, όπου οι συγκεκριμένες χωρικά ποικιλόμορφες ζεύξεις χρησιμοποιούν πολλαπλές πηγές laser. Σε αυτό το σύστημα διαφορικής λήψης, κάθε μία από τις πηγές laser συνδέεται με ένα συγκεκριμένο δέκτη, μέσω της χρήσης πολύ στενών οπτικών δεσμών. Τα αποτελέσματα που προκύπτουν αποκαλύπτουν την αποτελεσματικότητα αυτής της διαμόρφωσης καθιστώντας αυτά τα συστήματα RoFSO με διαφορική λήψη δεκτών πολύ αξιόπιστα ακόμη και στις πιο δυσμενείς συνθήκες λειτουργίας τους υπό ισχυρή επίδραση της ατμοσφαιρικής τυρβώδους ροής, των σφαλμάτων σκόπευσης και μη γραμμικών φαινομένων που σχετίζονται με τα συστήματα RoFSO.Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication systems have been gaining significant commercial and research interest in the last few years as a result of their various advantageous features. They are capable of meeting the fast-paced growing needs for transferring huge amounts of data in the existing and future telecommunications networks. FSO systems operate in the unlicensed band of frequencies between 300 GHz – 430 THz, offering a significant economic advantage compared to their radio frequency (RF) counterparts. They are immune to electromagnetic interference and exhibit high-security level due to their narrow optical laser beams. Also, they are considered as environmental-friendly due to their low electrical energy consumption. Unlike their beneficial characteristics, the terrestrial FSO links are vulnerable to atmospheric effects. The atmospheric turbulence phenomenon is one of the main degradation factors for the electromagnetic optical-wave propagation in the atmospheric medium. Atmospheric turbulence arises as a result of inhomogeneities in the refractive index between air masses in the atmosphere, leading to intensity and phase fluctuations and eventually to amplitude loss on the receiver side. Due to the rapid fluctuations induced to the optical signal, the atmospheric turbulence effect is studied in a statistical manner through probability density functions for the characterization of irradiance fluctuations or the commonly referred to as scintillations. FSO systems are usually installed at the rooftops of tall buildings or at high altitudes above the ground. Thus, these systems are susceptible to gusts of wind, potential sway of the buildings e.g. due to small earthquakes and thermal contraction and expansion. In a similar vein, additional irradiance fluctuations can be provoked to the optical signal. This phenomenon is well-known in the technical literature as pointing errors and is studied statistically in conjunction with the atmospheric turbulence effect. It is worth noting that an approximation of the Beckmann’s distribution model is employed in most cases, which takes account of the potential fixed non-zero deviation of the optical beam centre from the receiver centre and different standard deviations for the radial displacement for the vertical axes at the receiver. Apart from the foregoing statistical phenomena, FSO links suffer from various deterministic effects such as background noise, optical power losses due to various atmospheric constituents and weather conditions such as fog, haze, rain, hail etc and free-space loss. All the mathematical models that describe the behavior of the aforementioned effects, with very high accuracy, are included in the thesis and their impact is studied to the final performance evaluation of the wireless optical links. Spatial diversity techniques have been proved very effective in combating fading in RF wireless communication systems. In the present thesis, the application of spatial diversity to the FSO systems is studied. Specifically, the spatial diversity of the receivers is investigated along with the optimum case of using the maximum ratio combiner (MRC). The spatial diversity of the receivers is studied for a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) FSO link employing some of the most widely used modulation schemes in optical communications, such as on-off keying (OOK), pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and pulse position modulation (PPM). The performance of the link is assessed in terms of the average bit error rate (BER) metric estimation, under the influence of the atmospheric turbulence effect modeled either by the gamma-gamma (GG) or the negative exponential (NE) distribution with pointing errors. The block error rate (BLER) constitutes an essential performance measure for every communication link operating at relatively high throughput conditions. It’s a metric which has been investigated mostly in RF communications. In the context of the current thesis, the average BLER performance of an OOK FSO link is investigated over atmospheric turbulent conditions modeled by the GG and NE distributions with non-zero boresight pointing errors. Analogue intensity modulation (AIM) technique has been extensively researched in optical fibre communications through the fields of microwave photonics (MWP) and radio over fibre (RoF). However, its application to the wireless optical links is at an immature stage. In this thesis, extensive research is conducted for the application of AIM techniques to the FSO links and especially of the RF signal transport scheme over FSO links, a technique known as Radio-over-FSO (RoFSO). Thus, RoFSO links are examined for transmission of OFDM and CDMA RF signals over atmospheric turbulence channels with pointing errors. It is worth mentioning that for the case of the CDMA RoFSO link, the performance is investigated for the first time for both directions of the forward and the reverse link over atmospheric turbulent conditions modeled by the M(alaga) distribution. One of the most promising solutions, in order to enhance the performance, overcome the harmful atmospheric effects and eventually extend the distance coverage of FSO systems, is the use of relay architectures. The application of multi-hop architecture with serial decode-and-forward (DF) relay nodes to an OFDM RoFSO system is investigated. The specific DF relay nodes act as regenerators for the information signal and thus an optimum performance is achieved. The performance improvement for the multi-hop system is evaluated through the average bit error rate and the outage probability estimation. Finally, the spatial diversity of the receivers is studied for OFDM and CDMA RoFSO links, where the specific spatially diverse links employ multiple laser sources. In this scheme, each one of the laser sources is linked to a specific receiver, through the use of very narrow optical beams. The derived results reveal the effectiveness of this configuration, rendering the links very reliable even in the most adverse operating conditions under the strong influence of the atmospheric turbulence and the pointing errors and the enhanced impact of the nonlinear distortion effects related to the RoFSO systems

Advanced Trends in Wireless Communications

Physical limitations on wireless communication channels impose huge challenges to reliable communication. Bandwidth limitations, propagation loss, noise and interference make the wireless channel a narrow pipe that does not readily accommodate rapid flow of data. Thus, researches aim to design systems that are suitable to operate in such channels, in order to have high performance quality of service. Also, the mobility of the communication systems requires further investigations to reduce the complexity and the power consumption of the receiver. This book aims to provide highlights of the current research in the field of wireless communications. The subjects discussed are very valuable to communication researchers rather than researchers in the wireless related areas. The book chapters cover a wide range of wireless communication topics

Modelling, Dimensioning and Optimization of 5G Communication Networks, Resources and Services

This reprint aims to collect state-of-the-art research contributions that address challenges in the emerging 5G networks design, dimensioning and optimization. Designing, dimensioning and optimization of communication networks resources and services have been an inseparable part of telecom network development. The latter must convey a large volume of traffic, providing service to traffic streams with highly differentiated requirements in terms of bit-rate and service time, required quality of service and quality of experience parameters. Such a communication infrastructure presents many important challenges, such as the study of necessary multi-layer cooperation, new protocols, performance evaluation of different network parts, low layer network design, network management and security issues, and new technologies in general, which will be discussed in this book

Spatial Modulation for Generalized MIMO:Challenges, Opportunities, and Implementation

A key challenge of future mobile communication research is to strike an attractive compromise between wireless network's area spectral efficiency and energy efficiency. This necessitates a clean-slate approach to wireless system design, embracing the rich body of existing knowledge, especially on multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technologies. This motivates the proposal of an emerging wireless communications concept conceived for single-radio-frequency (RF) large-scale MIMO communications, which is termed as SM. The concept of SM has established itself as a beneficial transmission paradigm, subsuming numerous members of the MIMO system family. The research of SM has reached sufficient maturity to motivate its comparison to state-of-the-art MIMO communications, as well as to inspire its application to other emerging wireless systems such as relay-aided, cooperative, small-cell, optical wireless, and power-efficient communications. Furthermore, it has received sufficient research attention to be implemented in testbeds, and it holds the promise of stimulating further vigorous interdisciplinary research in the years to come. This tutorial paper is intended to offer a comprehensive state-of-the-art survey on SM-MIMO research, to provide a critical appraisal of its potential advantages, and to promote the discussion of its beneficial application areas and their research challenges leading to the analysis of the technological issues associated with the implementation of SM-MIMO. The paper is concluded with the description of the world's first experimental activities in this vibrant research field