Patent ID: 7106971

Claim:
A method for optical wireless communication, comprising the steps of: receiving a source data signal having data; creating a set of temporally distinguishable transmission signals, the temporally distinguishable transmission signals being temporally separated from each other, such that a first temporally distinguishable transmission signal is temporally distinguished from a second temporally distinguishable transmission signal by a time-delay; converting the set of temporally distinguishable transmission signals to obtain a corresponding set of temporally and optically distinguishable light signals optically distinguished based on at least one of wavelength and polarization, each light signal having a modulation representation of the data from the source data signal; and transmitting the set of temporally and optically distinguishable light signals in a single output transmission beam through the Earth's atmosphere, wherein a duration of the time-delay is set based on characteristics of atmospheric turbulence to reduce bit errors in the transmitted temporally and optically distinguishable light signals.