Optical Networking Best Practices Handbook

Chapter 13. Developing Areas in Optical Networking

Optical wireless networking connectivity can typically be achieved using radio frequency (RF) or optical wireless approaches at the physical level. The RF spectrum is congested, and the provision of broadband services in new bands is increasingly more difficult. Optical wireless networking offers a vast unregulated bandwidth that can be exploited by mobile terminals within an indoor environment to set up high-speed multimedia services. Optical signal transmission and detection offers immunity from fading and security at the physical level where the optical signal is typically contained within the indoor communication environment. The same communication equipment and wavelengths can be reused in other parts of a building, thus offering wavelength diversity. The optical medium is, however, far from ideal. Diffuse optical wireless networking systems offer user mobility and are robust in the presence of shadowing, but they can be significantly impaired by multipath propagation, which results in pulse dispersion and inter-symbol interference. Background radiation from natural and artificial lighting contains significant energy in the near-infrared band typically used in optical wireless networking systems [1].

Moreover, particular attention has to be paid to eye safety, and the maximum transmitter power allowed is thus limited. Despite these limitations, optical wireless networking systems have been implemented where bit rates of up ...