The purpose of the present invention is to provide an optical/RF wireless hybrid communication system and a control method capable of solving the instability of link conditions of an RF wireless link and an optical wireless link. In the optical/RF wireless hybrid communication system and the control method according to the present invention, links for data transmission are not limited to one of an RF wireless link and an optical wireless link, the quality of link conditions is determined from signal quality received through channels of both the RF wireless link and the optical wireless link, and the distribution of data to be transmitted through the respective links is determined on the basis of the determination result. Thus, the links can be flexibly switched depending on the transmission conditions such as disturbance.

A method for controlling a passenger service unit includes receiving, by a personal device of a passenger, an electromagnetic (EM) signal. The EM signal includes identification information of the passenger service unit. The method also includes transmitting, by the personal device, a message for controlling operation of one or more selected devices of the passenger service unit. The message includes an identification of the one or more selected devices of the passenger service unit and a control input for each of the one or more selected devices.

Embodiments relate to a local free space optical (FSO) terminal that transmits and receives optical beams. The FSO terminal includes a fore optic, an optical relay system, and an actuator system. The fore optic focuses a receive (Rx) beam to a Rx spot on a focal plane of the fore optic. The focal plane also includes a Tx spot formed by a transmit (Tx) optical beam, however the Rx and Tx spots are laterally separated at the focal plane. The optical relay system creates a conjugate spot for the Rx or Tx spot so that the Rx and Tx fibers may be axially separated. Due to the axial separation, the actuator system can adjust a lateral separation of the Rx and Tx fibers to account for point ahead of the local FSO communication terminal.

An apparatus includes an optical phased array having multiple array elements. Each array element includes an antenna element configured to transmit or receive an optical signal. Each array element also includes an electro-optic (EO) modulator associated with the antenna element, where the EO modulator is configured to modulate the optical signal transmitted or received by the antenna element. The antenna elements may be configured to transmit optical signals, the EO modulator of each array element may be configured to perform at least one of amplitude modulation and phase modulation, where at least one of the amplitude modulations and the phase modulation is based on encoded data. The antenna elements may be configured to receive optical signals, the EO modulator of each array element may be configured to perform at least one of phase modulation and amplitude modulation, and a decoder may be configured to recover data.

An apparatus embodiment includes a remote control interface unit configured to accept an appliance control code carried in a radio frequency signal transmitted from a smart phone, extract the appliance control code from the radio frequency signal, send the extracted appliance control code to an optical frequency interface, and initiate transmission of an optical frequency signal including the appliance control code to an appliance configured to receive signals from an optical remote control.

There is provided a method including receiving an incoming ID at a first wearable heads-up display (WHUD), which incoming ID is associated with a communicant device. The method also includes sending match data from the first WHUD to a match engine. The match data includes a first WHUD ID and the incoming ID. Moreover, the method includes receiving a match indicator at the first WHUD from the match engine. The match indicator is to indicate a match event between the first WHUD and the communicant device based on the match data. Furthermore, the method includes effecting communication between the first WHUD and the communicant device comprising at least one of sending a message from the first WHUD to the communicant device and receiving at the first WHUD a corresponding message from the communicant device. The first WHUD, and a method of operating the match engine are also described.

A method of communicating information via optical data transmission between two utility vehicles includes providing a control unit on a first utility vehicle, a work light on the first utility vehicle, and a second utility vehicle. The method also includes generating activation signals by the control unit of the first utility vehicle in dependence on transmission data to be transmitted, activating the work light by the activation signals, and emitting light signals via the activated work light to the second utility vehicle. The light signals represent the transmission data.

An assembly for optical to electrical power conversion including a photodiode assembly having a substrate layer and an internal side, an antireflective layer, a heterojunction buffer layer adjacent the internal side; an active area positioned adjacent the heterojunction buffer layer, a plurality of n+ electrode regions and p+ electrode regions positioned adjacent the active area, and back-contacts configured to align with the n+ and p+ electrode regions. The active area converts photons from incoming light into liberated electron hole pairs. The heterojunction buffer layer prevents electrons and holes of the liberated electron hole pairs from moving toward the substrate layer. The plurality of electrode regions are configured in an alternating pattern with gaps between each n+ and p+ electrode region. The electrode regions receive and generate electrical current from migration of the electrons and the holes, provide electrical pathways for the electrical current, and provide thermal pathways to dissipate heat.

A light ranging system including a shaft having a longitudinal axis; a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses; a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem.

An image sensing device that includes a lens housing; a bulk lens system coupled to the lens housing and configured to receive light from the surrounding environment and focus the received light to a focal plane, the bulk lens system comprising a first lens, a second lens, and a third lens mounted in the lens housing; wherein the first lens, the second lens, or the first lens and the second lens are plastic; and wherein the third lens is glass; an array of photosensors configured to receive light from the bulk lens system and detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment; and a mount that mechanically couples the lens housing with the array of photosensors, wherein the lens housing, the bulk lens system, and the mount are configured to passively focus light from the bulk lens system onto the array of photosensors over a temperature range.