1Gbps x 100m Underwater Optical Wireless Communication Using Laser Module in Deep Sea

In 2021, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and Trimatiz Limited (Trimatiz) conducted an optical wireless communication test in the deep sea using an underwater vehicle. As the result, they achieved the high-rate underwater optical wireless communication which was a communication rate of 1 Gbps with the distance of over 100m. For the tests, JAMSTEC and Trimatiz have begun to research in cooperation the basis of underwater laser communication technology since 2020, and an underwater optical wireless communication system as the first prototype was developed in 2021. It was mounted into the actual ROV and an undersea trial was carried out using it in the sea area of about 900m deep at Sagami-bay, Japan in the November 2021 then the “1Gbps x100m underwater optical wireless communication” was succeed. In this paper, the technical features for the optical wireless communication system are explained and the overview including to test results of a tank test and the undersea trial is shown.