Optical Wireless Technologies as Upgrade and Extension to Traditional RF for Communications and Sensing

Abstract: 5G Technology is still the hype within the modern and future Communications field. But we also know very well, that 5G is not the final stage of Telecommunications, the user and telecom clients will need higher data rates soon, so 6G and beyond is under development. But still in a lot of countries 5G is not available in all parts of rural areas, and so far still frequency slots (within the 5G relevant RF-spectrum) are free and unused. Only in and around cities 5G is well installed and established and existent for users. In deed the GBit/s data rates in 5G Technology will not be available in all regions within the next 5 years, but the user and clients will need TBit/s (already available with fibre cables and optical data transmission) very soon. Within this contribution Optical Wireless Communication (OWC), well known as Free Space Optics (FSO) also in combination (as hybrid transmission methods) with other telecommunication technologies (including WLAN and satellite communications) and applications for 5G are presented. Modular communication systems are considered, which allows worldwide access to the Internet or other networks by combining satellite communications, 5G mobile and FSO with local networks (like Wireless LAN, Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS) and DVB-T (terrestrial digital video broadcast)). Current and future applications of OWC and hybrid solutions also on deep space missions and for autonomous driving systems (for cars, ships and planes) in combination with 5G networks are shown in this talk. Optical Wave Propagation is also important for Sensing and Detection Technologies for different future applications. As example and as shown later, illumination modules are used for Visible Light Communications (VLC) too, but also for Visible Light Sensing (VLS) or Visible Light Positioning (VLP). Most sophisticated systems for tracking are using LIDAR-based (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning. The contribution deals with possible fields of applications for optical wireless (discussed and compared to 5G and RF) in conjunction with automated driving. The scope considers requirements (including infrastructural view and regulations), differences of Optical and RF-Wave Propagation and promising combinations of optical techniques with conventional wireless technologies. Optical wireless has a huge potential to cover the expected high data rate demands (wished and awaited for 5G and beyond). A welcome side effect (of combining OWC and RF) is the load relieving of the crowded RF bands. It turned out that hybrid systems are currently the most promising approach as each technology has its own specific drawbacks (by different weather influences) and the combination provides the advantages without the disadvantages. As mentioned Visible Light Communication (VLC) offers a sophisticated concept of optical communications, and headlamps and taillights of vehicles could also be used for communication purposes as well as serving exact position data in locations, where no satellite position system is in reach (e.g. tunnels, narrow housecanyons in cities). Optical Communication can also be implemented inside the vehicle. A reduction of vehicle weight and the complete lack of electromagnetic disturbances are interesting properties. All those examples demonstrate optical wireless as an important part for modern data transmission and as future innovation optical technologies for automated driving and future sensor networks. Current and future applications of OWC and hybrid solutions in combination with 5G networks will become more and more important and will be supplemented for autonomous driving systems (for cars, ships and planes) by combining Optical- and RF-waves (also for sensing and detecting targets, obstacles and neighbour-systems). Additional persons can be detected by disturbance of Line-of-Sight between the transmitter and receiver of an OWC system, but the OWC can also be used for tracking the position of persons (positioning).

Biography: Erich Leitgeb was born in 1964 in Fürstenfeld (Styria, Austria) and received his master degree at the University of Technology Graz in 1994. From 1982 to 1984 he attended the military service, including a training to an officer for Communications in the Austrian army, and he is still active as an expert in military communications (current military rank Lieutenant-Colonel). In 1994 he started research work in Optical Communications at the Department of Communications and Wave Propagation (TU Graz). In February 1999 he received his PhD-degree with honours. Since January 2000 he is project leader of international research projects in the field of optical communications and he established and leads the research group for Optical Communications at TU Graz and joined international projects (like COST 270, the EU projects SatNEx / SatNEx 2, COST 291, COST IC0802, IC1101 MP1401, CA15127 CA16220 and currently CA19111 (NEWFOCUS) and ESA projects in different functions). Currently he is involved in 2 international projects, the CEEPUS network BG-1103-07-2223 (Modelling, Simulation and Computer-aided Design in Engineering and Management) and IoT-ECO. End of 2003 he submitted his research work for the Associate Professor. Since 2011, he is Professor for Optical Communications and Wireless Applications at the Institute of Microwave and Photonic Engineering at TU Graz. He is giving lectures in Optical Communications Engineering, Antennas and Wave Propagation and Microwaves. Erich Leitgeb had research stays at the Institute of Telecommunications (FER) at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), at the University of Ljubljana and the Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) in Ljubljana (Slovenia), and later within international projects and exchange programmes at Northumbria University (UK), TU Brno and TU Ostrava (Czech. Republic) and TU Poznan (Poland). He gave guest lectures in “Optical Wireless” in the frame of ERASMUS / SOCRATES lecture mobility at University of Patras (2008 and 2009) at University of Zagreb (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013) and in 2019 at TU Sofia and University of Niš. He is a Visiting Professor at the Northumbria University in Newcastle (UK) and he is a Member of IEEE, SPIE (the International Society for Optics and Photonics), OSA (Optical Society of America) and WCA (Wireless Communications Association). From 2012 (the EuCAP 2012) till 2021, he was representative of “Optical Wireless” at EurAAP and since 2011 Austrian delegate of URSI Commission B (Fields and Waves). Since 2003 he is reviewer for IEEE and SPIE conferences and journals and he acts as member of Technical Committees and Chairpersons on these conferences. Since 2007 he prepared international IEEE conferences (like CSNDSP 2008, ConTEL 2011, NOC 2013, ICTON 2014, ConTEL 2015, CoBCom 2016, CoBCom 2018, ConTEL 2019, CoBCom 2020, CoBCom 2022, and this year ConTEL 2023) as local organizer in Graz. Erich Leitgeb is author and co-author of 7 book-chapters, around 50 Journal publications, 160 reviewed Conference papers, around 40 Invited Talks and more than 70 international scientific reports. For further information see the publication data within the TUG-Online system under Erich Leitgeb https://pure.tugraz.at/admin/workspace/personal/overview

Impact of transformative innovations on the society and new research opportunities

Abstract: The impact of disruptive technologies on the society will be discussed. It will be examined how the Information Technology (IT) was transformed into the Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE) business like industry. What are resulting consequences of this transformation, what is their impact on the society and what are arising technological challenges and research opportunities?

Biography: Professor Ivan Glesk received his RNDr and CSc degrees in Quantum Electronics and Optics from Comenius University in Bratislava, in 1981 and 1989, respectively, the DrSc degree from Slovak Academy of Sciences in 1998, and Dr.h.c. from University of Žilina in 2022. In 1985 he joined the Department of Experimental Physics at Comenius University where he later became Professor of Physics. In 1990, as a recipient of the IREX Fellowship, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, USA. In 1991 he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering where he became a Senior Research Scholar and the Manager of the Lightwave Communication Research Laboratory. Between 2007 and 2022, he was with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK as Professor of Broadband Communication Systems. Currently, he is Visiting Professor at University of Žilina, Slovakia. Professor Glesk has co-authored a number of book chapters, over 350 scientific publications, presented over 86 invited talks and lectures and holds 5 US patents. His current research interests encompass e-Health, broadband communications, optical interconnects and ultra-fast all-optical devices for switching, signal processing and applications of machine learning.

ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3176-8069

Scopus Author ID: 7005410107

Web of Science Researcher ID: K-7437-2018

AI/ML Integration in 5G and Beyond

Abstract: Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts are gradually being integrated in modern cellular networks. The process started by introducing AI/ML functions in the 5G core network (5G CN) and besides evolving there, it is also expanding to 5G radio access network (RAN). AI/ML is currently at the early stage of design within 3GPP standardisation and many pathways for its impact are still open. In this talk, we present a review of AI/ML integration in 5G and Beyond. We start from 5G CN and move towards 5G RAN, focusing towards AI/ML impact on 5G and B5G physical layer design. We also cover complementary work done by Open RAN (O-RAN) Alliance. The talk concludes with various challenges on the road towards full AI/ML integration in mobile cellular networks.

Biography: Dr Dejan Vukobratović (male) received a PhD.degree in electrical engineering from University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2008, where he is currently a Full Professor. During 2009 and 2010, he was Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, after which he reintegrated to UNS supported by 3-year Marie Curie Reintegration Grant. He has published about 50 journal papers and more than 100 conference papers in top-tier IEEE journals and conferences. According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited over 2500 times. He received a best paper award at IEEE MMSP 2010 and IEEE SmartGridComm 2017. He was TPC Co-Chair of IEEE VTC Spring 2020 (Antwerp) and IEEE SmartGridComm 2022 (Singapore), Symposia Chair on IEEE SmartGridComm 2021 (Aachen) and IEEE International Conference on Communications 2023 (Rome) and was General Chair for BalkanCom 2021 (Novi Sad). His research group was involved in several EU and national projects (H2020 C4IIoT, H2020 COLLABS, H2020 SENSIBLE, HE REMARKABLE), and he was the coordinator of the H2020 twinning project INCOMING. His research interests include communications, signal processing, machine learning and information theory applied in mobile cellular systems (5G and beyond 5G) and IoT communications.