Ultraviolet Communication: Increasing the Distance-Rate Product

“该奖项是根据 2009 年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法 111-5）提供资金的。”该研究的目标是将紫外线通信系统的距离吞吐量产品提高几个数量级，以便它们可以用作廉价的短距离非定向链路，例如用于语音和数据。所采用的方法结合了通信理论方法（调制、编码、多光束传输）和改进的紫外线技术（微调光学、强大的电光器件）来获得这种增益。该研究最终开发了一个实验测试台来演示和验证这些概念。这项工作的新颖贡献是将先进的通信技术与巧妙的光学相结合，以提高链路质量并使其适合各种应用。 以前的研究工作都是一维的，专注于设备、物理或调制，并且专门针对军事应用。商业应用程序需要更高的容量和可靠性，以及多个并发用户。 这项研究为实现这一目标提供了一个系统计划，从信道的数学描述开始，到原型系统结束。紫外通信系统吞吐量和可靠性的大幅提高可以增加人们对这种相对不成熟的技术的经济和科学兴趣。人们可以预见，目前廉价技术无法提供服务的应用将出现爆炸式增长，例如城市地区的最后一英里宽带连接、密集的无线传感器网络和军事应用。该研究还为研究生和本科生的教育提供了实用和刺激的媒介。不同背景的本科生被用来设计、开发和管理实验测试平台。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."The objective of the research is to improve the distance-throughput product of ultraviolet communication systems by several orders of magnitude so that they may be used as inexpensive short-distance non-directed links, such as for voice and data. The approach taken combines a mix of communication-theoretic methods (modulation, coding, multi-beam transmission) and improved UV technologies (fine-tuned optics, powerful electro-optic devices) to obtain this gain. The research culminates in the development of an experimental testbed demonstrating and validating the concepts.The novel contribution of this work is the blending of advanced communication techniques with clever optics to improve the link quality and make it suitable for a variety of applications. Previous research efforts have been one-dimensional, focusing on the devices, the physics, or the modulation, and exclusively for military applications. Commercial applications require significantly higher capacity and reliability, and multiple simultaneous users. This research provides a systematic plan for accomplishing this goal, starting with a mathematical description of the channel and ending with a prototype system.A substantial improvement of the throughput and reliability of ultraviolet communication systems can lead to increased economic and scientific interest in this relatively immature technology. One can envision an explosion of applications currently unserved by inexpensive technology, such as the last-mile broadband connectivity in urban areas, densely-packed wireless sensor networks, and military applications. The research also provides a practical and stimulating medium for the education of graduate and undergraduate students. Undergraduate students of diverse backgrounds are used to design, develop and manage the experimental testbed.