Fast target acquisition for steerable light beams in optical wireless communication systems

A target apparatus for setting up a communication with a source apparatus via a steered beam for optical wireless communication, wherein the target apparatus is configured to:

• determine a detection of the steered beam by a photo detector during an acquisition scanning phase;
• derive from the detection an address information embedded in the steered beam and indicating a current direction or position of the steered beam;
• and
• transmit the derived address information to the source transmitter in a hit report via a feedback channel;
• wherein the address information is derived by reading a predetermined number of adjacent bits from the detection, the predetermined number of adjacent bits representing a pseudo-random sequence indicative of a beam position along a trajectory embedded by the source device, and where the predetermined number is at least the log base 2 of the length of the pseudo-random sequence.

A method of controlling an acquisition of a target receiver by a steered beam for optical wireless communication, wherein the method comprises:

• adding to the steered beam an address information indicating a current direction or position of the steered beam;
• controlling a mixed-type or linear feedback shift register with a length L and a sequence length 2L−1 to generate a pseudo-random sequence;
• scanning by the steered beam a scanning area along a trajectory while outputting a continuous stream of bits of the pseudo-random sequence;
• and
• deriving a position of the target receiver based on an address information received from the target receiver in a hit report via a feedback channel and wherein every bit sequence of length L uniquely designates a different beam position along the trajectory.

A method of setting up a communication with a source apparatus via a steered beam for optical wireless communication, wherein the method comprises:

• determining a detection of the steered beam by a photo detector during an acquisition scanning phase;
• deriving from the detection an address information embedded in the steered beam and indicating a current direction or position of the steered beam;
• and
• transmitting the derived address information to the source transmitter in a hit report via a feedback channel;
• wherein the address information is derived by reading a predetermined number of adjacent bits from the detection, the predetermined number of adjacent bits representing a pseudo-random sequence indicative of a beam position along a trajectory embedded by the source device, and where the predetermined number is at least the log base 2 of the length of the pseudo-random sequence.