Optical Wireless Communications for Underwater Monitoring and Smart Indoor Farming Applications

Climate change and the activities of humans are putting constant pressure on ecosystems around the globe. Without notable changes in the linear systems for production and consumption, the growing demand for natural resources will lead to serious impacts on the planet. In this context, Optical Wireless Communications (OWC), a technology that relies on electromagnetic signals in a much higher frequency band than radio communications, has been identified as a competitive solution to enable IoT connectivity in applications related to the Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment of the Horizon Europe program (2021–2027). In this paper, we present an overview of two IoT applications in which OWC can make a difference with respect to radio, which are underwater monitoring and smart indoor farming. The intrinsic advantages of using light signals for IoT connectivity are discussed, including the challenges to be faced for its massive adoption. This paper elaborates in further detail the discussion that has been summarized in the OWC roadmap that NEWFOCUS COST Action 19111 has been recently releasing.