Modeling and Development of Low‐Cost Visible Light Communication System

Visible light communication (VLC) is a supportive transient-scale last-mile wireless communication technology established on IEEE P802.15.7 that attempts to combine illumination with communication using existing infrastructure. VLC transmits data by employing intensity modulation in the frequency range of 430 THz to 790 THz. The extensive range of VLC applications encompasses VLC for indoor positioning systems, industrial applications, residential and workplace automation, VLC for advanced 5G and 6G communication systems, VLC for IoT-based smart cities, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This chapter endeavors to achieve three objectives : introduce VLC, its performance and evaluation parameters, introduce the procedures for modeling a VLC system using MATLAB2023®, and provide key technical insights for developing an economical VLC system employing commercial components. The first objective is designed to introduce the concept and working principle of VLC. It also elaborates on various VLC performance parameters for both the transmitter and the receiver such as semi-angle, luminous intensity, field of view (FOV), and area of the detector, to name a few. The second objective is targeted toward developing a hardware model to support VLC communication up to a maximum data speed of 1.2 Mbps for a line-of-sight distance of 1 meter using on-off keying non-return-to-zero (OOK-NRZ) modulation. The experimental VLC model is designed using low-cost ultra-bright 5-mm light-emitting diodes (LEDs), silicon photodiodes, and a TLO81CP FET operational amplifier (OPAMP). The third objective systematically navigates through the procedures to develop a software model to implement the VLC system by considering the effect of all the defined performance parameters. This will aid in understanding the effect of variation of performance parameters on evaluation parameters like received power, zero frequency gain, channel impulse response, and bit error rate. The last objective also aims to provide concluding remarks on how the developed VLC system can be improved upon to support 6G applications.