Optical wireless communications is a form of optical communication in which unguided light is used "in the air", without an optical fiber. Visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light is used to carry a wi
Illustration of the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) relaying data from ILLUMA-T on the International Space Station to a ground station on Earth.
Free-space optical communication is an optical communication technology that uses light propagating in free space to wirelessly transmit data for telecommunications or computer networking over long di
Optical wireless communications
…infrared (IR), or ultraviolet (UV) light is used to carry a wireless signal. It is generally used in short-range communication; extensions exist for long-range and ultra-long range. OWC systems operating in the visible band (390–750 nm) are commonly referred to as visible light communication (VLC). VLC systems…
An eight-beam free-space–optics laser link, rated for 1 Gbit/s. The receptor is the large lens in the middle, the transmitters the smaller ones. At the top right corner is a monocular for assisting the alignment of the two heads.
A photophone receiver and headset, one half of Bell and Tainter's optical telecommunication system of 1880
WW I German Blinkgerät
DARPA ORCA official concept art created c. 2008