A Low-complex OFDM based DCO-OTFS modulation for VLC systems

Abstract

Visible Light Communication (VLC) has emerged as a promising alternative for indoor and vehicular wireless communication, offering several advantages over traditional radio frequency (RF) technology. With the adoption of optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (O-OFDM) schemes, visible light communication (VLC) has become more robust and adaptable in indoor, outdoor, vehicular, and underwear communications. Recently, an orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation technique has evolved with better performance than OFDM. The recent finding in the context of VLC shows that the OTFS technique shows remarkable advantages over conventional OFDM techniques except for the modem design complexity. This work introduces a low-complexity direct current-biased optical OTFS (DCO-OTFS) modulation based on OFDM. This paper evaluates the proposed system’s performance through simulations, providing evidence of its bit-error-rate (BER), peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), and complexity behavior. Comparative assessments against the DCO-OFDM system are presented to understand the advantages of the low-complex DCO-OTFS system. The findings reveal that the proposed system not only provides low computational complexity in modem design but also maintains superior error performance, with a notable 10 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain over DCO-OFDM along with a superior PAPR, making it a commendable choice for VLC applications.