80-Gbit/s 100-m Free-Space Optical Data Transmission Link via a Flying UAV Using Multiplexing of Orbital-Angular-Momentum Beams
Abstract
We explore the use of orbital-angular-momentum (OAM)-multiplexing to increase the capacity of free-space data transmission to moving platforms, with an added potential benefit of decreasing the probability of data intercept. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate and characterize the performance of an OAM-multiplexed, free-space optical (FSO) communications link between a ground station and a moving unmanned-aerial-vehicle (UAV). We achieve a total capacity of 80 Gbit/s up to 100-m-roundtrip link by multiplexing 2 OAM beams, each carrying a 40-Gbit/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) signal. Moreover, we investigate for static, hovering, and moving conditions the effects of channel impairments, including: tracking errors, propeller-induced airflows, power loss, intermodal crosstalk, and system bit error rate (BER). We find the following: (a) when the UAV hovers in the air, the power on the desired mode fluctuates by 2.1 dB, while the crosstalk to the other mode is -19 dB below the power on the desired mode; and (b) when the UAV moves in the air, the power fluctuation on the desired mode increases to 4.3 dB and the crosstalk to the other mode increases to -10 dB. Furthermore, the channel crosstalk decreases with an increase in OAM mode spacing.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1708.02923,
title = {80-Gbit/s 100-m Free-Space Optical Data Transmission Link via a Flying UAV Using Multiplexing of Orbital-Angular-Momentum Beams},
author = {Long Li and Runzhou Zhang and Zhe Zhao and Guodong Xie and Peicheng Liao and Kai Pang and Haoqian Song and Cong Liu and Yongxiong Ren and Guillaume Labroille and Pu Jian and Dmitry Starodubov and Robert Bock and Moshe Tur and Alan E. Willner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.02923},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
11 pages of text and 6 figures for the main text, and 2 pages of text and 5 figures for the Supplementary Materials