Special Session - Optical Wireless Communications in Scotland: From Research to Adoption

Optical wireless communication (OWC) has been a popular research topic for several decades and is now being adopted in various vertical industries. With off-the-shelf devices, data rates greater than 100 Gbps have been demonstrated, making OWC a strong candidate for 6G technology. Scotland is home to several world-class academic research groups and industry pioneers in photonics, optoelectronics, and LiFi. ECOC in Glasgow provides a unique opportunity to showcase Scotland's latest advances in OWC and engage with the global community. Local research groups and companies will present live demos and products, and will cover the entire OWC ecosystem, from devices to systems, and discuss applications in non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), defence, and consumer devices. The event will address the most important questions regarding the future deployment of OWC, with the aim of building on Scotland's existing momentum to expand international research and development in this field.

Speakers

Keynote 

Mr Huw Saunders, OFCOM

Challenges for commercialising free-space optical communications

Dr Gerald Bonner, Fraunhofer CAP

OWC in defence applications

Dr Iain Butler, DSTL

Communication Systems LiFi adoption in consumer devices

Mr Ron Schaeffer, pureLiFi

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces  for optical communications

Dr Hanaa Abumarshoud, Glasgow University

Demonstration of machine learning assisted underwater wireless optical communication

Dr Xu Wang, Heriot Watt University

Waveform Design for Optical Wireless

Dr Wasiu Popoola, Edinburgh University

Panel Discussion: When and why are OWC systems superior to RF systems? 

Moderator: Dr Heather Anderson, Strathclyde University

All speakers including keynote speaker

Transmitters Devices

High speed OWC using Micro LEDs 

Prof Martin Dawson, Strathclyde University

GaN lasers for high speed OWC

Prof Anthony Kelly, Glasgow University

Potential of PSCELs for OWC

Dr Richard Taylor, Vector Photonics

Break

Receiver devices & systems

High speed organic semiconductor receivers

Prof Graham Turnbull, St. Andrews University

Solar cell LiFi Receivers

Dr Iman Tavakkolnia, Strathclyde University

Receiver Design for Reliable Optical Wireless Communications

Dr Majid Safari, Edinburgh University

Panel Discussion: Which transmitter technology will win? How critical is the receiver system in an OWC system? 

Moderator: Prof Harald Haas, Strathclyde University

All speakers 

Demonstrations from: Strathclyde,  Heriot Watt, St. Andrews, Fraunhofer CAP, Vector Photonics, pureLiFi