Patent ID: 11923900
Assignee: TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. An optical wireless communication (OWC) receiver configured to receive an incoming optical beam modulated with data and output an electrical output signal comprising the modulated data, the OWC receiver comprising:
a lens configured to receive the incoming optical beam;
a plurality of photodiodes positioned at a distance from the lens and positioned at or proximal to a focal plane of the lens, each of the plurality of photodiodes configured to receive a fraction of the incoming optical beam and generate a photocurrent in correspondence with photons received from the fraction of the incoming optical beam, wherein the plurality of photodiodes are arranged in a two-dimensional array comprising rows and columns, and wherein outputs of the columns are combined and their photocurrents are summed; and
an amplifier connected to combined outputs of the columns of the two-dimensional array and configured to convert the summed photocurrents into an output signal of the amplifier;
wherein interconnections of the photodiodes of the two-dimensional array are configured to form at least two parallel branches of photodiodes, and wherein each of the parallel branches comprises a cascade of at least two photodiodes forming a combined photodetector surface.