Optical Wireless Communication Systems in the Mb/s to Gb/s Range, Suitable for Industrial Applications

For future short-and mid-range industrial applications, optical wireless (OW) communication systems are expected to play a major role. When moderate transmission rates (100 Mb/s range) are required, OW communications present a viable and promising technology, supplemental to conventional radio wireless systems. Advanced approaches based on diversity techniques and adaptive signal processing show potential to achieve both high spatial coverage and high bit rates of more than 100 Mb/s. Visible-light communication systems using white phosphorescent LEDs equally present an interesting application potential, combining illumination with data transfer. When high data volumes (100 Gb/s range) need to be transmitted, tailored optical data links provide a solution of choice. Exemplarily, a scalable (24-140 Gb/s) optical data link is presented, developed for future implementation in maskless lithography systems. The link comprises a high-speed data buffer with synchronizable architecture and scalable throughput (N x 24 Gb/s), an optical free-space transmission solution, and finally, a 45-channel low-noise optical receiver chip based on BiCMOS 0.6 mu m technology.