TITAN Showcases Recent Advances in Optical Wireless Communications

TITAN members were strongly represented at the successful three-day Rank Prize Symposium on “Optical Wireless Communications in Challenging Environments” held from 9-12 September 2024 at the Leeming House Hotel in the Lake…

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TITAN members were strongly represented at the successful three-day Rank Prize Symposium on “Optical Wireless Communications in Challenging Environments” held from 9-12 September 2024 at the Leeming House Hotel in the Lake District, UK. The event gathered leading researchers and early-career scientists to explore advancements in Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) technologies, focusing on challenging environments like underwater, space, and turbulent atmospheres.

The symposium was organised by three TITAN hub co-investigators: Professor Martin Dawson (University of Strathclyde), Professor Richard Penty (University of Cambridge), and Dr. Sujan Rajbhandari (University of Strathclyde). There were 25 speakers from 14 institutions, covering a broad spectrum of OWC topics across eight thematic sessions. Researchers from the UK, the USA, and Saudi Arabia, among other countries, presented cutting-edge work on communication and signal processing techniques, including quantum communication and non-line-of-sight communications.  

TITAN hub investigators from the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh, University of Strathclyde and King’s College London presented their work. Featuring prominently, were research outcomes related to Lighthouse Project 3 (optical wireless networks integration) and Lighthouse Project 6 (quantum networks integration).

Key highlights from the event included:  

  • TITAN Director, Professor Harald Haas (University of Cambridge), discussed recent advances in OWC, highlighting a proposed array of  Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) –based systems capable of achieving data rates of 1 Tbps.  
  • TITAN co-investigator, Professor Dominic O’Brien (University of Oxford), shared practical demonstrations on overcoming the challenges of scaling OWC from Mbps to Tbps and emphasised its future role in classical and quantum communications. 
  • TITAN researcher, Dr. Jonathan McKendry (University of Strathclyde), highlighted optical wireless systems using deep ultraviolet micro-LEDs, demonstrating the successful transmission of gigabits per second of data over 100 meters. 
  • TITAN co-investigator, Professor Wasiu Popoola (University of Edinburgh), outlined his vision to address the limitations of spatial coverage and line-of-sight requirements in OWC systems. He presented field trial results using scattering-mediated optical wireless communication with deep ultraviolet wavelengths.
  • TITAN co-investigator, Dr. Taisir Elgorashi (King’s College London) proposed an alternative solution to line-of-sight challenges, discussing intelligent reflective surfaces and real-time reconfiguration using low-complexity algorithms.

Overall, the event underscored TITAN’s significant contributions to OWC advancements and its future potential in both classical and quantum communications. 

If you have any questions relating to the research discussed in this article, please contact titan-enquiries@eng.cam.ac.uk.