Mobile Multi-Gigabit Visible Light Communication System in Realistic Indoor Environment

Abstract

The main challenges facing high data rate visible light communication (VLC) are the low-modulation bandwidth of the current transmitters (i.e., light emitting diodes), the intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by the multipath propagation and cochannel interference (CCI) due to multiple transmitters. In this paper, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we propose, design, and evaluate the use of laser diodes (LDs) for communication as well as illumination. In addition, we propose an imaging receiver for a mobile VLC system to mitigate ISI. A novel delay adaptation technique is proposed to mitigate CCI, maximize the signal to noise ratio, and reduce the impact of multipath dispersion under user mobility. The proposed imaging system is able to provide data rates of 5 Gb/s in the worst-case scenario. The combination of a delay adaptation approach with an imaging receiver (DAT imaging LD-VLC system) adds a degree of freedom to the link design, which results in a VLC system that has the ability to provide higher data rates (i.e., 10 Gb/s) in the considered harsh indoor environment. The proposed technique (delay adaptation) achieves significant improvements in the VLC channel bandwidth (more than 16 GHz) over an imaging system in the worst-case scenario. The VLC channel characteristics and links were evaluated under diverse situations including an empty room and a room with very strong shadowing effects resulting from minicubicle offices.