Statistical Studies of Fading in Underwater Wireless Optical Channels in the Presence of Air Bubble, Temperature, and Salinity Random Variations (Long Version)

Optical signal propagation through underwater channels is affected by three main degrading phenomena, namely absorption, scattering, and fading. In this paper, we experimentally study the statistical distribution of intensity fluctuations in underwater wireless optical channels with random temperature and salinity variations as well as the presence of air bubbles. In particular, we define different scenarios to produce random fluctuations on the water refractive index across the propagation path, and then examine the accuracy of various statistical distributions in terms of their goodness of fit to the experimental data. We also obtain the channel coherence time to address the average period of fading temporal variations. The scenarios under consideration cover a wide range of scintillation index from weak to strong turbulence. Moreover, the effects of beam-collimator at the transmitter side and aperture averaging lens at the receiver side are experimentally investigated. We show that the use of a transmitter beam-collimator and/or a receiver aperture averaging lens suits single-lobe distributions such that the generalized Gamma and exponential Weibull distributions can excellently match the histograms of the acquired data. Our experimental results further reveal that the channel coherence time is on the order of $10^{-3}$ seconds and larger which implies to the slow fading turbulent channels

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

Security at the Physical Layer over GG Fading and mEGG Turbulence Induced RF-UOWC Mixed System

This work was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean Government (Ministry of Science and ICT) under Grant 2019R1A2C1083988, in part by the Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, under the Information Technology Research Center Support Program supervised by the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation, under Grant IITP-2021-2016-0-00313, and in part by Sejong University through its Faculty Research Program under Grant 20202021.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Performance of Spatial Diversity DCO-OFDM in a Weak Turbulence Underwater Visible Light Communication Channel

The performance of underwater visible light communication (UVLC) system is severely affected by absorption, scattering and turbulence. In this article, we study the performance of spectral efficient DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) in combination with the transceiver spatial diversity in turbulence channel. Based on the approximation of the weighted sum of lognormal random variables (RVs), we derived a theoretical exact bit error rate (BER) for DCO-OFDM systems with spatial diversity. The simulation results are compared with the analytical prediction, confirming the validity of the analysis. It is shown that spatial diversity can effectively reduce the turbulence-induced channel fading. The obtained results can be useful for designing, predicting, and evaluating the DCO-OFDM UVLC system in a weak oceanic turbulence condition

Impulse response modeling for underwater optical wireless channels

In underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) channels, impulse response is widely used to describe the temporal dispersion of the received signals. In this paper, we propose a new function to model the impulse response in most realistic cases in UOWC channels. By exploiting the inherent properties of such channels, our newly proposed model is superior to the conventional weighted double gamma functions (WDGF) model in explaining the behavior of the channel. We use Monte Carlo simulation to verify that our newly proposed model has a better accuracy of numerical fitting in most cases. Therefore, this new modeling approach offers a more convenient way to evaluate the performance of different kinds of UOWC channels

Underwater optical wireless communications in turbulent conditions: from simulation to experimentation

Underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) is a technology that aims to apply high speed optical wireless communication (OWC) techniques to the underwater channel. UOWC has the potential to provide high speed links over relatively short distances as part of a hybrid underwater network, along with radio frequency (RF) and underwater acoustic communications (UAC) technologies. However, there are some difficulties involved in developing a reliable UOWC link, namely, the complexity of the channel. The main focus throughout this thesis is to develop a greater understanding of the effects of the UOWC channel, especially underwater turbulence. This understanding is developed from basic theory through to simulation and experimental studies in order to gain a holistic understanding of turbulence in the UOWC channel. This thesis first presents a method of modelling optical underwater turbulence through simulation that allows it to be examined in conjunction with absorption and scattering. In a stationary channel, this turbulence induced scattering is shown to cause and increase both spatial and temporal spreading at the receiver plane. It is also demonstrated using the technique presented that the relative impact of turbulence on a received signal is lower in a highly scattering channel, showing an in-built resilience of these channels. Received intensity distributions are presented confirming that fluctuations in received power from this method follow the commonly used Log-Normal fading model. The impact of turbulence - as measured using this new modelling framework - on link performance, in terms of maximum achievable data rate and bit error rate is equally investigated. Following that, experimental studies comparing both the relative impact of turbulence induced scattering on coherent and non-coherent light propagating through water and the relative impact of turbulence in different water conditions are presented. It is shown that the scintillation index increases with increasing temperature inhomogeneity in the underwater channel. These results indicate that a light beam from a non-coherent source has a greater resilience to temperature inhomogeneity induced turbulence effect in an underwater channel. These results will help researchers in simulating realistic channel conditions when modelling a light emitting diode (LED) based intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD) UOWC link. Finally, a comparison of different modulation schemes in still and turbulent water conditions is presented. Using an underwater channel emulator, it is shown that pulse position modulation (PPM) and subcarrier intensity modulation (SIM) have an inherent resilience to turbulence induced fading with SIM achieving higher data rates under all conditions. The signal processing technique termed pair-wise coding (PWC) is applied to SIM in underwater optical wireless communications for the first time. The performance of PWC is compared with the, state-of-the-art, bit and power loading optimisation algorithm. Using PWC, a maximum data rate of 5.2 Gbps is achieved in still water conditions

Characterisation of long-range horizontal performance of underwater acoustic communication

Underwater acoustic communication is a rapidly progressing field of technology, largely due to recent advances in low cost and power efficient digital signal processors. Unfortunately, the unpredictable and time varying physical properties of the underwater acoustic channel reduce communication reliability over long ranges. This study sought to characterise the performance of horizontal underwater acoustic data communication in various scenarios with particular application to subsea monitoring and control systems.To fulfil the experimental needs, two custom-built high frequency ambient noise recorder and modem control units were developed to operate with commercial underwater acoustic modems. Additionally, an underwater acoustic communication simulator based on the Bellhop propagation model was developed for Matlab, capable of producing performance predictions in both spatial and temporal studies. A series of short-term trials were conducted to determine the limitations of modem performance over different ranges. These trials included shallow water studies off the coast of Perth, Western Australia (D < 30 m), and a French deep water trial (D ≤ 1000 m) which used stand-alone modems. Experimental findings were compared to predictions obtained using two-dimensional range-depth performance simulations.A long-term investigation of the environmental influences on modem reliability was carried out off the coast of Perth in approximately 100 m of water. This involved simultaneously collecting environmental and modem performance data for over 16 days. The signal to noise ratio remained high for the duration of the trial so modem performance fluctuations could be attributed to changes in channel propagation. Using multiple linear regression, the measured environmental parameters were correlated with the observed modem performance and their contributions to an overall fitting curve were calculated. It was determined that the sound speed profile, in addition to the sea surface roughness, contributed strongly to the fitting curve, with a weaker contribution from the measured signal to noise ratio. This result was confirmed by performing temporal simulations which incorporated more detailed time-dependant environmental parameters. By progressively adding more parameters to the simulator including ambient noise, wave height and the sound speed profile, simulations provided more accurate predictions of the observed performanceOverall, the horizontal performance of underwater acoustic communication was characterised in several scenarios from a series of experimental and numerical investigations. Additionally, the developed simulator was shown to be an effective and flexible tool for predicting the performance of an underwater acoustic communication system. The results and tools discussed in this thesis provide an extensive investigation into the factors influencing horizontal underwater acoustic communication. The analysis demonstrates that whilst underwater acoustic communication can be effective, it is not yet a viable alternative to cabled telemetry for long-range subsea monitoring and control applications, where reliability is crucial. Underwater acoustic communication would best be suited as a non-critical or backup method for continuous monitoring systems until channel prediction and equalisation techniques are further refined

Visible Light Communication (VLC)

Visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) has been envisioned as one of the key enabling technologies for 6G and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, owing to its appealing advantages, including abundant and unregulated spectrum resources, no electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation and high security. However, despite its many advantages, VLC faces several technical challenges, such as the limited bandwidth and severe nonlinearity of opto-electronic devices, link blockage and user mobility. Therefore, significant efforts are needed from the global VLC community to develop VLC technology further. This Special Issue, “Visible Light Communication (VLC)”, provides an opportunity for global researchers to share their new ideas and cutting-edge techniques to address the above-mentioned challenges. The 16 papers published in this Special Issue represent the fascinating progress of VLC in various contexts, including general indoor and underwater scenarios, and the emerging application of machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) techniques in VLC