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PREFACE
 
About the author
:
David A. Johnson
,
P.E
. is consulting electronics engineer with a broad spectrum of experience thatincludes product research, design and development; electronic circuit design; design, building andtesting prototypes; electro-optics; and custom test instruments. Doing business for more than 17years as David Johnson and Associates, Dave has established himself as an electronics engineerwho can provide a variety of services.His proficiency is based on "hands-on" experience in general engineering, electronics and electro-optics. Mr. Johnson is licensed by the State of Colorado as a Professional Engineer; he is agraduate of University of Idaho and is a member of IEEE. Holds three patents and has four morepending.
 
He remains well informed of the latest scientific and engineering advancements throughindependent studies. Dave is a published author with articles and designs in
 EDN 
,
 Electric Design
,
 Midnight Engineering
and
Popular Electronics
.He may be reach via email atdajpe@aol.com.I became interested in optical through-the-air communications around 1980. At that time I wasdoing research in high-speed fiber optic computer data networks for a large aerospace company. Myresearch assignment was to produce a report that made recommendations for the best ways of usingthe latest optical fiber technologies to satisfy the increased demands for fast data transmission in theaerospace industry. My research involved pouring through mountains of technical papers, scientific journals, patents and manufacturer's application notes.As my research progressed I began to notice that nearly all the optical communications systemsdescribed used optical fibers. Little was being written on the subject of through-the-atmospherecommunications. It seemed logical to me that many of the techniques being used in fiber optic
 
Optical Through-the-Air Communications Handbook -David A. Johnson, PE
Page 
 
2 of 68
 
communications could also be applied in through-the-air communications. I was puzzled by thetechnical hole that seemed to exist. This lack of information started my personal crusade to learnmore about communicating through-the-air using light.During my studies I reviewed many of the light communications construction projects that werepublished in some electronics magazines. I was often disappointed with the lack of sophisticationthey offered and usually found their performance lacking in many ways. Many of the circuits wereonly able to transmit a signal a few feet. I thought that with a few changes they could go miles. Iwas determined to see how far the technology could be pushed without becoming impractical. So, Itook many of the published circuits and made them work better. I discovered better ways to processthe weak light signals and methods to get more light from some common light emitters. I foundways to reduce the influence ambient light had on the sensitive light detector circuits and Ideveloped techniques to increase the practical distance between a light transmitter and receiver. Ialso experimented with many common light sources such as fluorescent lamps and xenon cameraflash tubes to see if they too could be used to send information. To my delight they were indeedfound to be very useful.Today, my crusade continues. I am still discovering ways to apply what I have learned and I'm stillmaking improvements. However, after having devoted some 20 years of work toward advancing thetechnology I felt it was time to collect what I have learned and pass some of the information on toothers. Thus, this book was conceived.This handbook may be found athttp://www.imagineeringezine.com/air-bk2.html.
 
Optical Through-the-Air Communications Handbook -David A. Johnson, PE
Page 
 
3 of 68
 
TABLE OF CONTTENTS
 
Preface
 
……………………………………………………………………………
1
 
Table of Contents
…………………………………………………………….
3
 
Introduction:
……………………………………………………………………. 5
Brief History
……………………………………………………………. 5
Why Optical Communications?
……………………………………………. 7
Why through-the-air communications?
………………………………………. 7
What are some of the limitations of through-the-air communications?
…….. 7
How can these light-beam techniques be used?
…..………………………………
8
Possible uses for optical through-the-air communications
……………. 8
Chapter One – LIGHT THEORY
 …….…………………………….…….……
10
 
The Spectrum, Human Eye Response
………………………………….…. 10
Silicon Detector Response
……………………..……………………………… 11
Units of Light
…………………………………………………………….. 11
Light Power and Intensity
………………………..…………………………… 13
Miscellaneous Stuff 
………………………………..…………………………… 13
Chapter Two – LIGHT DETECTORS
…………………………………….
14
 
What Does a Light Detector Do?
……………………………………………………... 14
The Silicon PIN Photodiode
…………………………………………………… 14
InGaAs PIN Diode
………………………………………………….…………………
 
14
 Typical PIN Diode Specifications
…………………………………………………… 16
Package
…………………………………………………………………… 16
Active Area
…………………………………………………………………… 17
Response Time
…………………………………………………………… 17
Capacitance
…………………………………………………………… 17
Dark Current
…………………………………………………………… 18
Noise Figure
…………………………………………………………………… 18
Other Light Detectors
 
………………………………………………..…………...
 
18
Photo Transistor
……………………………………………………………. 18
Avalanche Photodiode
……………………………………………………. 19
Photo Multiplier Tube
……………………………………………………. 20
Optical Heterodyning
…………………………………………………….. 21
Future Detectors
……………………………………………………………. 21
Detector Noise
……………………………………………………………. 21
Minimum Detectable Light Levels
……………………………………………………..
 
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