Intellectual Merit: The objective of this research is to demonstrate feasibility of using optical wireless communications and sensing technologies to implement very high data rate, self-configuring, low-complexity and low-power in-building multimedia networks, that will not require pointing, allowing the network to be robust and portable-friendly. The intellectual merit of this work is in the exploitation of the 10Gbps optical wireless transceivers along with fly-eye optical receivers for data-rate-intensive, immersive and interactive audio-visual applications for educational purposes, medical collaboration and corporate presentation functions, whereas current high-definition multimedia and video projection units that serve these purposes operate through wired connections to a computer or a portable. The project will primarily focus on faster and efficient modeling and categorization of a variety of indoor optical wireless propagation environments, optimization and design of optical transmitters and fly-eye receivers, and assessment of communications performance measures, such as bandwidth and error rate performance. The anticipated result of the research is a proof-of-concept optical wireless system for high-fidelity video transmission.
Broader Impacts: The broader impact of this research is transformative in several ways. Firstly, it will pave the way for broader commercialization of optical wireless communication products, and serve as a pioneer for other feasible optical wireless applications including wireless area networking. Secondly, it will prove the feasibility of a product capable of delivering high-quality multimedia-rich content to large classrooms and conference audiences. It is anticipated that the high bandwidth, portable-friendly optical wireless communication technology resulting from this research will leap-frog current technologies, providing domestic leadership in the development and manufacture of ultra-high bandwidth optical wireless network components. Thus the United States of America as a whole will see financial benefits in the form of exporting high tech products, training a more globally competitive workforce, and other industries will benefit through increased competitiveness by making early use of the new products. This new paradigm will be a breakthrough in high-speed wireless frontier. Furthermore, this research will contribute to education by being incorporated into lectures on optics and wireless communications engineering, providing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to obtain multi-disciplinary hands-on experience on issues related to wireless optical communications system design and networking.
