Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks

Aravindh Krishnamoorthy; Hossein Safi; Othman Younus; Hossein Kazemi; Isaac N. O. Osahon; Mingqing Liu; Yi Liu; Sina Babadi; Rizwana Ahmad; Asim Ihsan; Behnaz Majlesein; Yifan Huang; Johannes Herrnsdorf; Sujan Rajbhandari; Jonathan McKendry; Iman Tavakkolnia; Humeyra Caglayan; Henning Helmers; Graham A. Turnbull; Ifor Samuel; Martin Dawson; Robert Schober; Harald Haas

doi:10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366

Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks

Aravindh Krishnamoorthy
, Hossein Safi
, Othman Younus
, Hossein Kazemi
, Isaac N. O. Osahon
, Mingqing Liu
, Yi Liu
, Sina Babadi
, Rizwana Ahmad
, Asim Ihsan
, Behnaz Majlesein
, Yifan Huang
, Johannes Herrnsdorf
, Sujan Rajbhandari
, Jonathan McKendry
, Iman Tavakkolnia
, Humeyra Caglayan
, Henning Helmers
, Graham A. Turnbull
, Ifor Samuel

Martin Dawson, Robert Schober, Harald Haas

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

9 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a promising technology anticipated to play a key role in the next-generation network of networks (NoNs), especially as a complementary technology to traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications, for enhancing networking capabilities beyond conventional terrestrial networks. OWC is already a mature technology with diverse usage scenarios and can enable integrated applications via wireless access and backhaul networks, dynamic drone and satellite networks, underwater networks, inter- and intrasystem interconnecting networks, and vehicular communication networks. Furthermore, novel and emerging technological opportunities such as photovoltaic cells, orbital angular momentum-based modulation, optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, organic light-emitting and photo diodes, and recent advances in ultraviolet communications can help to enhance future OWC capabilities even further. Moreover, OWC networks can also support value-added services such as enhanced positioning and gesture recognition. Hence, OWC provides unique functionalities that can play a crucial role in building convergent and resilient future NoNs alongside RF and optical fiber technologies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	20-39
Number of pages	20
Journal	IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine
Volume	20
Issue number	2
Early online date	23 Apr 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the Future Telecoms Research Hub, Platform for Driving Ultimate Connectivity, sponsored by the Department of Science Innovation and Technology and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/X04047X/1 and Grant EP/Y037243/1. Humeyra Caglayan acknowledges the support of CHIST-ERA Grant CHIST-ERA-21-NOEMS-002, by the Research Council of Finland 357746. Graham Turnbull acknowledges the support of UKRI Grant 10120583. The work of Robert Schober was partly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft German Research Foundation (DFG) under Grant SCHO 831/17-1. Harald Haas and Rizwana Ahmad acknowledge support from the EPSRC under CHIST-ERA Grant EP/X034542/2 (Meta-LiFi), and Harald Haas and Hossein Kazemi acknowledge support by the EPSRC under Grant EP/S016570/1 \"Terabit Bidirectional Multi-User Optical Wireless System for 6G LiFi.\"

Keywords

terahertz communications
vertical cavity surface emitting laser
optical fibers
fiber optics
optical transmitters

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10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366

Krishnamoorthy-etal-2025-Optical-wireless-communicationsAccepted author manuscript, 3.12 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Krishnamoorthy, A., Safi, H., Younus, O., Kazemi, H., Osahon, I. N. O., Liu, M., Liu, Y., Babadi, S., Ahmad, R., Ihsan, A., Majlesein, B., Huang, Y., Herrnsdorf, J., Rajbhandari, S., McKendry, J., Tavakkolnia, I., Caglayan, H., Helmers, H., Turnbull, G. A., ... Haas, H. (2025). Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 20(2), 20-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366

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title = "Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks",

abstract = "Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a promising technology anticipated to play a key role in the next-generation network of networks (NoNs), especially as a complementary technology to traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications, for enhancing networking capabilities beyond conventional terrestrial networks. OWC is already a mature technology with diverse usage scenarios and can enable integrated applications via wireless access and backhaul networks, dynamic drone and satellite networks, underwater networks, inter- and intrasystem interconnecting networks, and vehicular communication networks. Furthermore, novel and emerging technological opportunities such as photovoltaic cells, orbital angular momentum-based modulation, optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, organic light-emitting and photo diodes, and recent advances in ultraviolet communications can help to enhance future OWC capabilities even further. Moreover, OWC networks can also support value-added services such as enhanced positioning and gesture recognition. Hence, OWC provides unique functionalities that can play a crucial role in building convergent and resilient future NoNs alongside RF and optical fiber technologies.",

keywords = "terahertz communications, vertical cavity surface emitting laser, optical fibers, fiber optics, optical transmitters",

author = "Aravindh Krishnamoorthy and Hossein Safi and Othman Younus and Hossein Kazemi and Osahon, \{Isaac N. O.\} and Mingqing Liu and Yi Liu and Sina Babadi and Rizwana Ahmad and Asim Ihsan and Behnaz Majlesein and Yifan Huang and Johannes Herrnsdorf and Sujan Rajbhandari and Jonathan McKendry and Iman Tavakkolnia and Humeyra Caglayan and Henning Helmers and Turnbull, \{Graham A.\} and Ifor Samuel and Martin Dawson and Robert Schober and Harald Haas",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366",

language = "English",

volume = "20",

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journal = "IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine",

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Krishnamoorthy, A, Safi, H, Younus, O, Kazemi, H, Osahon, INO, Liu, M, Liu, Y, Babadi, S, Ahmad, R, Ihsan, A, Majlesein, B, Huang, Y, Herrnsdorf, J , Rajbhandari, S, McKendry, J, Tavakkolnia, I, Caglayan, H, Helmers, H, Turnbull, GA, Samuel, I, Dawson, M, Schober, R & Haas, H 2025, 'Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks', IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 20-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366

TY - JOUR

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T2 - enabling the next generation network of networks

AU - Krishnamoorthy, Aravindh

AU - Safi, Hossein

AU - Younus, Othman

AU - Kazemi, Hossein

AU - Osahon, Isaac N. O.

AU - Liu, Mingqing

AU - Liu, Yi

AU - Babadi, Sina

AU - Ahmad, Rizwana

AU - Ihsan, Asim

AU - Majlesein, Behnaz

AU - Huang, Yifan

AU - Herrnsdorf, Johannes

AU - Rajbhandari, Sujan

AU - McKendry, Jonathan

AU - Tavakkolnia, Iman

AU - Caglayan, Humeyra

AU - Helmers, Henning

AU - Turnbull, Graham A.

AU - Samuel, Ifor

AU - Dawson, Martin

AU - Schober, Robert

AU - Haas, Harald

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a promising technology anticipated to play a key role in the next-generation network of networks (NoNs), especially as a complementary technology to traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications, for enhancing networking capabilities beyond conventional terrestrial networks. OWC is already a mature technology with diverse usage scenarios and can enable integrated applications via wireless access and backhaul networks, dynamic drone and satellite networks, underwater networks, inter- and intrasystem interconnecting networks, and vehicular communication networks. Furthermore, novel and emerging technological opportunities such as photovoltaic cells, orbital angular momentum-based modulation, optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, organic light-emitting and photo diodes, and recent advances in ultraviolet communications can help to enhance future OWC capabilities even further. Moreover, OWC networks can also support value-added services such as enhanced positioning and gesture recognition. Hence, OWC provides unique functionalities that can play a crucial role in building convergent and resilient future NoNs alongside RF and optical fiber technologies.

AB - Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a promising technology anticipated to play a key role in the next-generation network of networks (NoNs), especially as a complementary technology to traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications, for enhancing networking capabilities beyond conventional terrestrial networks. OWC is already a mature technology with diverse usage scenarios and can enable integrated applications via wireless access and backhaul networks, dynamic drone and satellite networks, underwater networks, inter- and intrasystem interconnecting networks, and vehicular communication networks. Furthermore, novel and emerging technological opportunities such as photovoltaic cells, orbital angular momentum-based modulation, optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, organic light-emitting and photo diodes, and recent advances in ultraviolet communications can help to enhance future OWC capabilities even further. Moreover, OWC networks can also support value-added services such as enhanced positioning and gesture recognition. Hence, OWC provides unique functionalities that can play a crucial role in building convergent and resilient future NoNs alongside RF and optical fiber technologies.

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KW - vertical cavity surface emitting laser

KW - optical fibers

KW - fiber optics

KW - optical transmitters

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DO - 10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366

M3 - Article

SN - 1556-6072

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SP - 20

EP - 39

JO - IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine

JF - IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine

IS - 2

ER -

Optical wireless communications: enabling the next generation network of networks

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