Abstract With the advent of the Internet of Things, energy- and bandwidth-related issues are becoming increasingly prominent in the context of supporting the massive connectivity of various smart devices. To this end, we propose that solar cells with the dual functions of energy harvesting and signal acquisition are critical for alleviating energy-related issues and enabling optical wireless communication (OWC) across the satellite–air–ground–ocean (SAGO) boundaries. Moreover, we present the first comprehensive survey on solar cell-based OWC technology. First, the historical evolution of this technology is summarized, from its beginnings to recent advances, to provide the relative merits of a variety of solar cells for simultaneous energy harvesting and OWC in different application scenarios. Second, the performance metrics, circuit design, and architectural design for energy-autonomous solar cell receivers are provided to help understand the basic principles of this technology. Finally, with a view to its future application to SAGO communication networks, we note the challenges and future trends of research related to this technology in terms of channel characterization, light source development, photodetector development, modulation and multiplexing techniques, and network implementations.

中文翻译：

---

星-空-地-海光无线通信能量自主太阳能电池接收器综述

摘要 随着物联网的出现，在支持各种智能设备海量连接的背景下，能源和带宽相关问题日益突出。为此，我们提出具有能量收集和信号采集双重功能的太阳能电池对于缓解能源相关问题和实现跨越卫星-空-地-海洋（SAGO）边界的光无线通信（OWC）至关重要。此外，我们首次对基于太阳能电池的 OWC 技术进行了全面调查。首先，总结了这项技术的历史演变，从它的开始到最近的进展，以提供各种太阳能电池在不同应用场景中同时进行能量收集和 OWC 的相对优点。二、性能指标、电路设计、并提供了能源自主太阳能电池接收器的架构设计，以帮助理解该技术的基本原理。最后，鉴于其未来在 SAGO 通信网络中的应用，我们注意到与该技术相关的研究在信道表征、光源开发、光电探测器开发、调制和复用技术以及网络实现方面的挑战和未来趋势。