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Fast and secure wireless data transmission is a vital component for future military and industrial applications. While currently existing RF solutions can provide wireless data communications, this approach is limited by lack of information security and significantly reduced data bandwidth when a large number of communications channels are needed.
Based on the commercial success of optical telecommunications technology, it has been suggested that optoelectronics could provide a viable wireless communications technology. In contrast to the commercial telecom industry, which uses optical fiber-based communications channels, an optical wireless communication system utilizes free space optical paths to communicate data. It should be noted that the IR remote used in consumer electronics is essentially a single channel version of this systems that is only suitable for relatively short communication distances (i.e. less than 10m). The extension of this technology to a system capable of supporting multiple optical transmitters working over longer distances has been a significant challenge.
The realization of such a free space optical wireless communication system is dependent on the development of a photoreceiver array technology capable of tracking the spatial location of multiple communication transmitters. Similar to commercially available image capture devices the Data Integrated Video Sensor reported here is capable of collecting data over a large field of view. However, the Photonic VLSI based chip presented here is capable of simultaneously detecting (and tracking) multiple optical communications sources transmitting at data rates that are significantly higher than those achievable with commercial image/video capture devices.
Along with a description of the basic operational features of this new optoelectronic device technology, we present here the first working demonstration of a prototype Data Integration Video Sensor chip capable of simultaneously receiving data from two separate optical communication sources. In addition to this experimental verification of the device concept, potential application areas for this new technology will be highlighted.
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