Prof. Shlomi Arnon

In the communication world, optical wireless communication (OWC) is one of the major areas that remain to be comprehensively researched. OWC uses light beams propagating through the atmosphere to carry information. The OWC terminal includes an optical transmitter and a receiver, which are placed on high-rise buildings at a separation distance of several hundred meters. The main advantages of OWC are: (a) there are no licensing requirements or tariffs for its utilization; (b) it enables very high data rates; and (c) it is small, light and compact. In this paper we analyze a fast optical frequency hopping code division multiple access for OWC systems. The encoding and decoding device is based on a tunable fiber Bragg grating. Transmission through free space is done using a pair of matched telescopes, and a single mode fiber coupled receiver. The usage of both the time and the frequency domain allow us better flexibility to select our codes. Performance analysis of the system in terms of BER vs. number of users, power to be transmitted, cross talk and other environmental effects on system performance is presented. We propose this system in order to answer the ever-growing demand for communication bandwidth in the field of wireless communication while maintaining a flexible connection setup using multiple access techniques.