High-speed and large-capacity visible light communication for 6G: advances and perspectives

The sixth generation (6G) of mobile communications aims to establish high-speed, large-capacity space-air-ground-sea integrated networks (SAGSINs) to support the rapidly growing data traffic driven by big data and large-scale artificial intelligence. Visible light communication (VLC), operating in the 380–780 nm spectrum, has emerged as a promising optical wireless technology owing to its abundant spectral resources, high achievable data rates, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. These advantages make VLC a strong candidate for three-dimensional integrated communication networks. This review summarizes recent advances in visible light communication, focusing on key enabling technologies including transmitter and receiver devices, advanced signal processing algorithms, multi-aperture reception, and beamforming techniques. Representative demonstrations of large-capacity VLC systems based on multi-dimensional multiplexing are reviewed. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of VLC are discussed.