*Article* **WON-OCDMA System Based on MW-ZCC Codes for Applications in Optical Wireless Sensor Networks**

**Saleh Seyedzadeh 1, Andrew Agapiou 1, Majid Moghaddasi 2, Milan Dado <sup>3</sup> and Ivan Glesk 1,\***


**Abstract:** The growing demand for extensive and reliable structural health monitoring resulted in the development of advanced optical sensing systems (OSS) that in conjunction with wireless optical networks (WON) are capable of extending the reach of optical sensing to places where fibre provision is not feasible. To support this effort, the paper proposes a new type of a variable weight code called multiweight zero cross-correlation (MW-ZCC) code for its application in wireless optical networks based optical code division multiple access (WON-OCDMA). The code provides improved quality of service (QoS) and better support for simultaneous transmission of video surveillance, comms and sensor data by reducing the impact of multiple access interference (MAI). The MW-ZCC code's power of two code-weight properties provide enhanced support for the needed service differentiation provisioning. The performance of this novel code has been studied by simulations. This investigation revealed that for a minimum allowable bit error rate of 10−3, 10−<sup>9</sup> and 10−<sup>12</sup> when supporting triple-play services (sensing, datacomms and video surveillance, respectively), the proposed WON-OCDMA using MW-ZCC codes could support up to 32 simultaneous services over transmission distances up to 32 km in the presence of moderate atmospheric turbulence.

**Keywords:** optical sensors; vibration sensing; quality of service differentiation; wireless optical networks; free space optics; multiwavelength laser; optical code division multiple access (OCDMA)
