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Topic · Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Optical Wireless Communication Technologies

Optical Wireless Communication Technologies is a research topic within Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the advancements, challenges, and applications of optical wireless communication systems and technologies, including visible light communication, free-space optical communication, underwater optical communication, MIMO techniques, and channel modeling. It covers topics such as indoor positioning systems, high data rate transmission, LED-based communication, and the effects of atmospheric turbulence.

  • Visible Light Communication
  • Free-Space Optical Communication
  • Underwater Optical Communication
  • Optical Wireless Networks
  • LED-Based Communication
  • Atmospheric Turbulence Effects
  • MIMO Techniques
  • Indoor Positioning Systems
  • High Data Rate Transmission
  • Channel Modeling
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+29%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
49% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Optical Wireless Communication Technologies

Which countries lead Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (2.4k and 889 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 India 889 works
  3. 3 United States 505 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 235 works
  5. 5 Japan 221 works
  6. 6 South Korea 168 works
  7. 7 France 134 works
  8. 8 Germany 127 works
  9. 9 Iraq 126 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 112 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 49.2%India: 17.9%United States: 10.2%United Kingdom: 4.8%6 others listed: 17.9%49%largest
China2,438 · 49.2%India889 · 17.9%United States505 · 10.2%United Kingdom235 · 4.8%6 others listed888 · 17.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research, followed by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Xidian University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 141 works
  2. 2 Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 110 works
  3. 3 Xidian UniversityChina 64 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 53 works
  5. 5 Xi'an University of TechnologyChina 50 works
  6. 6 Changchun University of Science and TechnologyChina 47 works
  7. 7 Southeast UniversityChina 47 works
  8. 8 Fudan UniversityChina 45 works
  9. 9 Nanjing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 44 works
  10. 10 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 44 works

Who are the leading researchers in Optical Wireless Communication Technologies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Optical Wireless Communication Technologies include Zhong Lin Wang, Kai You Wang and H. Vincent Poor.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 H. Vincent Poor United States 165k citations
  4. 4 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  5. 5 Seyedali Mirjalili Australia 154k citations
  6. 6 R. W. Moore Australia 145k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Optical Wireless Communication Technologies?

The most cited paper in Optical Wireless Communication Technologies is "Terabit free-space data transmission employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing" (Jian Wang, Jeng-Yuan Yang, Irfan M. Fazal et al., 2012), with 4,661 citations. Next come "Statistical fluid mechanics" (3,684) and "Wireless Communications Through Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces" (3,516).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Terabit free-space data transmission employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing Jian Wang, Jeng-Yuan Yang, Irfan M. Fazal et al. · Nature Photonics 22 Jun 2012 4,661
2 Statistical fluid mechanics A. Tsinober · European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids Jul 1998 3,684
3 Wireless Communications Through Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces Ertuğrul Başar, Marco Di Renzo, Julien de Rosny et al. · IEEE Access Open access 2019 3,516
4 Wireless infrared communications Joseph M. Kahn, John R. Barry · Proceedings of the IEEE 1997 3,364
5 Fundamental analysis for visible-light communication system using LED lights Toshihiko Komine, Masaki Nakagawa · IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics Feb 2004 3,350
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research done?

The largest centres of Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Nanjing (China) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 502 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 225 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 191 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 155 works
  5. 5 ShenzhenChina 110 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 93 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 89 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 84 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 83 works
  10. 10 SeoulSouth Korea 78 works
See Optical Wireless Communication Technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Optical Wireless Communication Technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Queen Mary University of London and University of Houston score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 20.31%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of HoustonQueen Mary Universit…King Abdullah Univer…Beijing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologySaudi Arabia 66.328.7%19.0×30 -26.0%
2Queen Mary University of LondonUnited Kingdom 66.233.2%4.8×12 +27.2%
3University of HoustonUnited States 62.938.3%5.1×10 +425.8%
4Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 61.610.6%29.9×110 +32.5%
5Southeast UniversityChina 58.616.6%5.5×47 +67.4%
6Tsinghua UniversityChina 56.816.1%3.9×52 +26.3%
7National Yang Ming Chiao Tung UniversityTaiwan 55.716.8%9.3×22 +71.8%
8Khalifa University of Science and TechnologyUnited Arab Emirates 54.920.8%8.5×12 +111.0%
9Xidian UniversityChina 53.76.7%15.3×64 +22.3%
10Zhejiang UniversityChina 51.815.3%2.2×35 +39.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Optical Wireless Communication Technologies, country by country

Is Optical Wireless Communication Technologies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 29% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Optical Wireless Communication Technologies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Optical Wireless Communication Technologies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.030% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Optical Wireless Communication Technologies0.028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Optical Wireless Communication Technologies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Optical Wireless Communication Technologies9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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