Non-line-of-sight serial relayed link for optical wireless communications

Ultraviolet (UV) is a promising enabling technology for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) optical wireless communication. However, the communication range is limited due to large path loss and low transmitted power from the light source. We thus consider end-to-end communication through a serial relayed link. Each pair of the relay nodes shares information via a NLOS UV channel whose path loss was measured through a test campaign. Considering possible interference from neighboring nodes and spatial reuse, we propose cooperative reception at the relay node to achieve performance close to the quantum limited case. The benefits in range extension and power savings of the UV relay network are demonstrated through error performance and data rate analysis, as well as numerical simulation. Light weight nodes with low power consumption are shown to be feasible to implement and deploy.