IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 28, NO. 20, OCTOBER 15, 2016 2133
Underwater Laser Communication Using an
OFDM-Modulated 520-nm Laser Diode
Jing Xu, Aobo Lin, Xiangyu Yu, Yuhang Song, Meiwei Kong, Fengzhong Qu, Jun Han, Wei Jia, and Ning Deng
Abstract—In this letter, we propose and experimentally
demonstrate an underwater wireless optical communication sys-
tem based on a simple and cost-effective TO56 transversal multi-
mode green-light laser diode (LD) and a low-cost 150-MHz
positive-intrinsic-negative detector. We use quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM)–orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
modulation, with fine frequency granularity and high spectral
efficiency, to tackle the challenging issue imposed by the ragged
and uneven frequency response of the green LD within a limited
bandwidth. We have demonstrated that a bit rate of 1.118 Gb/s
(net bit rate: 0.927 Gb/s) can be achieved at a bit-error-rate
of 2.98 × 10
−3
, with the assistance of bit loading (using both
16-QAM and 256-QAM signals). A spectral efficiency as high
as 6.18 bit/s/Hz is also obtained in the proposed underwater
wireless optical communication system.
Index Terms—UWOC,LD,PIN,QAM,OFDM.
I. INTRODUCTION
O
CEANS are the cradle of life and the lifeblood of
planet Earth and humankind. Ocean exploration has
attracted more and more attention due to its scientific, strategic
and economic importance. Foreseeing the rapid development
of underwater exploration, a high-speed underwater wire-
less communication system becomes indispensable. Compared
with the well-established underwater acoustic communica-
tions, underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC)
suffers shorter transmission distance, but it can provide a
much higher transmission bandwidth with a much smaller
transmission delay [1]. Keeping this feature in mind, we envi-
sion many situations where the wireless optical links can be
more competitive than its acoustic counterpart, such as broad-
band communications between various underwater vehicles
and underwater sensors [1]. By leveraging the low-absorption
Manuscript received May 30, 2016; accepted June 15, 2016. Date of
publication June 20, 2016; date of current version August 26, 2016. This
work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China under Grant 61301141, in part by the Qianjiang Talent Program of
Zhejiang Province under Grant QJD1402014, and in part by the Open Funding
Program within the Joint Laboratory of Flight Vehicle Ocean-Based Measure-
ment and Control under Contract FOM20150F007 (Corresponding author:
Fengzhong Qu.)
J. Xu is with the Optical Communications Laboratory, Ocean College,
Zhejiang University, Zhoushan 316021, China, and also with the
ZTT-Ocean College Joint Research Center for Marine Optoelectronic Tech-
nology, Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan 316021, China (e-mail:
jxu-optics@zju.edu.cn).
A. Lin, X. Yu, Y. Song, M. Kong, F. Qu, and J. Han are with
the Optical Communications Laboratory, Ocean College, Zhejiang
University, Zhoushan 316021, China (e-mail: 21434093@zju.edu.cn;
21434096@zju.edu.cn; 1589257052@qq.com; jimqufz@zju.edu.cn).
W. Jia and N. Deng are with the Fixed Networks Research Department,
Huawei Technologies Company, Ltd., Shenzhen 518129, China (e-mail:
jiawei5@huawei.com; ning.deng@huawei.com).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LPT.2016.2582542
window of seawater in the blue-green band, optical signals
can transmit several tens or hundreds of meters in general
waters before becoming too weak for detection. In addition,
an underwater optical wireless communication network can be
implemented based on these optical links, to further enhance
the transmission range, flexibility and robustness by virtue of
multiple hops, and reliable network operation [2]–[4].
How to generate the transmitted optical signals is the first
and foremost question to ask when implanting an UWOC
system. Directly modulated light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have
been used to generate the optical signals [5], with a limited
modulation bandwidth. Alternatively, external modulation of
light carrier can generate very high-speed optical signals at
the expense of increased complexity. As reported in [6],
continuous-wave light at 1064 nm was first modulated by
a lithium niobate waveguide amplitude modulator (AM),
and then frequency doubled to 532 nm in a periodically
poled lithium niobate (PPLN) that was heated to ∼180 °C.
Although this scheme can support 1-Gb/s or above transmis-
sion, the transmitter part requires too many discrete optical
components, like AM, PPLN and high-power ytterbium-doped
fiber amplifier, leading to increased volume and power con-
sumption as well as reduced robustness. Directly modulated
semiconductor lasers, with a modulation bandwidth above
10 GHz, have been widely available for optical fiber commu-
nications [7]. However, their great potential for UWOC has
not been fully investigated due to the long-term challenge of
stretching the emission wavelength of a semiconductor laser
toward green [8]. Since the 1960s, worldwide academic and
industrial communities have been running a race to build the
first reliable semiconductor laser emitting green light. How-
ever, the first green-light nitride laser at ∼532 nm just appeared
in 2009 [9], more than 20 years later than the first blue-light
laser diode (LD). Directly modulated blue-light LDs [10], [11],
rather than the immature green-light ones, were commonly
used in recently reported UWOC systems to realize high-speed
optical signal generation. Although blue light has the smallest
absorption coefficient than any other light in pure water [10],
it suffers larger absorption and scattering than green light
in certain realistic waters [11]. Until very recently, a special
TO-9 packaged pigtailed 520-nm LD with a 1.2-GHz band-
width was used as an underwater optical transmitter [12],
enabling a 7-meter transmission of 2.3-Gbit/s on-off key-
ing (OOK) signals with a high-sensitivity avalanche pho-
todiode (APD) module as the receiver. We should stress
that APDs are not as widely used as their positive-intrinsic-
negative (PIN) counterparts due to a high operation volt-
age normally required, combined with a lower reliability.
In addition, although the OOK modulation is quite simple,
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