Experimental evaluation of LED-based solar blind NLOS communication links

Experimental results are reported demonstrating non-line of sight short-range ultraviolet communication link losses, and performance of photon counting detectors, operating in the solar blind spectrum regime. We employ light emitting diodes with divergent beams, a solar blind filter, and a wide field-of-view detector. Signal and noise statistics are characterized, and receiver performance is demonstrated. The effects of transmitter and receiver elevation angles, separation distance, and path loss are included. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.