Underwater Optical Communications Channel Models: Trends and Challenges

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Communication and Network".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 2859

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Telecommunication Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
Interests: underwater optical communications; atmospheric and oceanic turbulence; optical propagation through random media; scintillation
Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: wireless communications and networking; wireless optical communications; channel modeling and estimation; machine learning and optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Underwater wireless communications refer to data transmission in unguided water environment through wireless carriers, i.e., radio-frequency (RF) wave, acoustic wave, and optical wave. In comparison to RF and acoustic counterparts, underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) can provide a much higher transmission bandwidth and much higher data rate. In recent years, many potential applications of UOWC systems have been proposed for environmental monitoring, offshore exploration, disaster precaution, and military operations. However, UOWC systems also suffer from severe absorption and scattering introduced by underwater channels. Together with the absorption and scattering, underwater optical tur­bulence is also one of the most important physical events that prevent the optical waves to propagate long distances in underwater media. Various effects of underwater turbulence on the propagating optical wave, thus on the receive optical signal are studied. These effects sub­stantially degrade the performance of UOWC links operating in underwater medium. In addition to single channel UOWC systems, multi-channel technologies, such as MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), are recommended to overcome turbuelnce-induced fading or enlarge the capacity with channel multiplexing. Such multi-channel modeling plays an importante role in the UOWC design.

This Special Issue aims at presenting an overview of UOWC channel modeling, recent progress, and furture trends. We welcome broad, visionary contributions of research reports as well as collection of reviews of accomplishments. We are excited to invite researchers to submit their contributions to this Spectial Issue.

Dr. Xiang Yi
Dr. Yuhan Dong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • underwater optical communications
  • oceanic turbulence
  • IOPs in seawater
  • radiance transfer equation solution
  • monte-carlo photon tracing
  • scintillation and PDF modelling
  • MIMO and OAM multi-channel modelling
  • hareware-in-the-loop simulations of channels

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 7624 KiB  
Article
Angular Circle Array Multiple Input Multiple Output Underwater Optical Wireless Communications
by Zhuoqi Chen, Yuhe Liu, Xiang Yi and Ruiqin Zhao
Photonics 2025, 12(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12010012 - 26 Dec 2024
Viewed by 610
Abstract
This paper constructs a simulation platform for underwater wireless optical single-input single-output (SISO) communication systems and quantitatively evaluates communication performance indicators. To improve channel capacity, we propose an angular circle array MIMO scheme. The path loss, CIR, and channel capacity of the angular [...] Read more.
This paper constructs a simulation platform for underwater wireless optical single-input single-output (SISO) communication systems and quantitatively evaluates communication performance indicators. To improve channel capacity, we propose an angular circle array MIMO scheme. The path loss, CIR, and channel capacity of the angular circular array MIMO communication system are calculated by using the Monte Carlo method. Results show that the proposed angular circular array MIMO communication system has a higher channel capacity compared to planar circular array MIMO communication systems and SISO communication systems. Full article
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11 pages, 2571 KiB  
Article
Optimization and Modeling of Optical Emission Spatial Coverage from Underwater Multi-Faceted Optical Base Stations
by Junjie Shi, Chunbo Ma, Xu Tian, Hanjun Guo and Jun Ao
Photonics 2025, 12(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12010004 - 24 Dec 2024
Viewed by 414
Abstract
Compared with point-to-point wireless optical communication systems, multi-faceted Optical Base Stations (OBSs) offer the advantages of supporting multi-user access and achieving omnidirectional dynamic communication. The emission structure of the multi-faceted OBSs, which offer wide beam coverage and ensure uniform distribution of optical signals, [...] Read more.
Compared with point-to-point wireless optical communication systems, multi-faceted Optical Base Stations (OBSs) offer the advantages of supporting multi-user access and achieving omnidirectional dynamic communication. The emission structure of the multi-faceted OBSs, which offer wide beam coverage and ensure uniform distribution of optical signals, is essential for users to receive signals while in motion. This paper presents a modeling method for three-dimensional beam coverage based on the multi-faceted OBS architecture. Additionally, a Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is used to optimize the configuration of the multi-faceted LED array by adjusting the deflection angles of the LED arrays and the emission half-angle of the LEDs at the OBS. These advancements aim to enhance beam coverage performance while also providing technical support for achieving omnidirectional communication in underwater optical wireless networks (UOWN). Full article
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11 pages, 3785 KiB  
Article
Experimental Study of Fast Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Transmission over a Random Media Channel for Optical Wireless Communications
by Lu Zhang and Yanan Chen
Photonics 2024, 11(5), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11050406 - 26 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1260
Abstract
In this paper, a 4 amplitude shift keying (4-ASK) fast orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (FOFDM) scheme was experimentally investigated over a turbulent air–water channel for optical wireless communications. The experiment results showed that the 4-ASK-FOFDM modulated signals were not sensitive to weak atmospheric [...] Read more.
In this paper, a 4 amplitude shift keying (4-ASK) fast orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (FOFDM) scheme was experimentally investigated over a turbulent air–water channel for optical wireless communications. The experiment results showed that the 4-ASK-FOFDM modulated signals were not sensitive to weak atmospheric turbulence, and the bit-error rate (BER) was lower than the 7% forward error correction (FEC) limit of 3.8 × 10−3. Under the condition of the same spectra efficiency, the 4-ASK-FOFDM scheme just had a tiny performance penalty compared to the 16-QAM-OFDM scheme. Consequently, the 4-ASK-FOFDM scheme is a promising alternative to the conventional 16-QAM-OFDM scheme in optical wireless communications. Full article
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