International Activities of IEICE Communications Society

This article overviews optical wireless communications using multiple-subcarrier modulation (MSM). The basic principles and characteristics of the optical wireless communications using MSM are presented. The optical wireless systems using MSM are explained where some block codes that convert information bits to be transmitted to the symbol amplitudes of subcarriers are used to increase the minimum value of the multiple-subcarrier (MS) electrical waveform. The MSM optical communication systems using subcarrier signal point sequences (SSPS) that can improve the power efficiency of the MSM systems are also explained. The performance of the MSM optical communication systems are presented in the intensity-modulation with direct-detection (IM/DD) channel without dispersion. Keywords—Multiple-Subcarrier Modulation, Optical Wireless Communications, SCM, Scintillation, Block Code, Subcarrier Signal Point Sequence