Research on field of view of optical receiving antenna based on indoor visible light communication system

Abstract

Optical receiving antenna is usually positioned before the detector of an indoor visible light communication (VLC) system in order to collect more optical energy into the detector. Besides optical gain of the antenna, the field of view (FOV) plays also an important role to the performance of a VLC system. In this paper, the signal noise ratio (SNR) and inter-symbol interference (ISI) versus FOV of the antenna are simulated via Line-of-Sight (LOS) and non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) links within a room with a size of 5m × 5m × 3m. Results show that, the blind area appears while the FOV is less than 40 deg. and the SNR reduces as FOV increases and keeps small when FOV is more than 70 deg.. Furthermore, the average power of ISI rises with the increase of FOV, and the rising trend is relatively moderate when FOV is below 50 deg., while there is a rapid increase between 50 deg. and 70 deg. and finally tends to be stable after 70 deg. Therefore, it is practical to determine the FOV of the optical receiving antenna in the scope of 40 to 50 deg. based on the installment of LED lights on the ceiling here so as to avoid the blind area, attain high SNR, and reduce the influence of ISI. It is also worthwhile in practice to provide an identifiable evidence for the determination of FOV of the optical antenna.