Performance Analysis and Optimization for Visible Light Communication with Spatial Modulation

Any realistic indoor multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communication (VLC) system, besides providing reliable high rate transmission, should also support flicker-free, dimming capable, and uniform illumination. In this article, we propose a multi-level multi-pulse modulation for a MIMO VLC system to provide a high data rate with flicker-free uniform illumination. A low complexity detector and a searching algorithm to design the symbol set for transmission are also discussed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed detector can achieve a remarkable reduction in computational complexity without any performance degradation as compared with the conventional maximum likelihood detector. Moreover, the proposed symbols design algorithm can help to reduce the symbol error rate (SER), especially in high correlation MIMO VLC channels.

Visible light communication (VLC) has emerged as a green, low-cost, and secure supplement for existing radio frequency (RF) based systems. Although promising, the performance of VLC based systems is limited by several impairments, which degrade the achievable bit error-rate (BER) performance, viz. variations in channel-gain due to user-mobility, and channel-estimation error. Hence, in this letter, the bit error rate (BER) of maximal ratio combining is quantified over a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) VLC system, while considering the aforementioned impairments. Next, using the derived expressions, exact and asymptotic combiners based on the minimum bit error-rate (MBER) criterion are formulated for MIMO VLC systems impaired by user-mobility, and channel-estimation error. The accuracy of the contributed expressions for BER, and the performance of the proposed MBER combiner (MBERC) are corroborated by simulations performed over realistic MIMO VLC channels. Additionally, it is found that the proposed MBERC delivers improved BER performance in presence of channel-estimation error and user-mobility, which makes the proposed methodology viable.

In this paper, we propose and study a non-imaging receiver design reducing the correlation of channel matrix for indoor multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communication (VLC) systems. Contrary to previous works, our proposed mirror diversity receiver (MDR) not only blocks the reception of light on one specific direction but also improves the channel gain on the other direction by receiving the light reflected by a mirror deployed between the photodetectors. We analyze the channel capacity and optimal height of mirror in terms of maximum channel capacity for a 2 × 2 MIMO-VLC system in a 2-dimensional geometric model. We prove that this constructive and destructive effects in channel matrix resulting from our proposed MDR are more beneficial to obtain well-conditioned channel matrix which is suitable for implementing spatial-multiplexing MIMO-VLC systems in order to support high data rate.

To support multiple users in an indoor multiple-input multiple-output visible light communication (MIMO-VLC) system adopting spatial multiplexing, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is usually adopted, where the overall modulation bandwidth is shared by all the users. In this paper, by fully exploiting the spatial distributions of light-emitting diode (LED) transmitters in the ceiling and end users around the receiving plane, we propose a space division multiple access (SDMA) technique for indoor spatial multiplexing-based MIMO-VLC systems. When applying SDMA, users within the MIMO-VLC system are divided into different user groups (UGs) based on their spatial locations with respect to different LED transmitters. Specifically, each UG can use the overall modulation bandwidth of the system. For efficient implementation of SDMA, two distributed user grouping (DUG) approaches are proposed, including basic DUG and transmit diversity-enhanced DUG (TD-DUG), and a two-step resource allocation algorithm is further designed. The achievable rates of the MIMO-VLC system employing SDMA with both basic DUG and TD-DUG are derived accordingly. To verify the superiority of SDMA over conventional OFDMA, detailed analytical and simulation results are presented. Moreover, a proof-of-concept experiment is conducted to demonstrate the advantage of SDMA in a practical spatial multiplexing-based MIMO-VLC system.

This paper presents a four-dimensional (4-D) modulation scheme combined pulse position modulation (PPM) with four-color (RGBA) light-emitting diode (LED) in a visible light communication (VLC) system. In the proposed scheme, multi-LED selection is used within a symbol interval in order to decrease the cross-talk between each LED and make sure that each LED works in its linear area. Based on the maximal minimum Euclidean distance criteria, the constellations of the new 4-D modulation are constructed under the constraints of the optical power and the illumination. Moreover, the theoretical symbol error rate (SER) of the proposed scheme with maximal likelihood (ML) detection is also analyzed. Finally, we simulate the proposed scheme under both the additive white Gaussian noise channel and the practical optical channel measured from our VLC prototype. The simulation results verify the correctness of our theoretical analysis and reveal that the proposed 4-D modulation scheme outperforms the traditional color shift keying (CSK) in term of the SER.

This paper focuses on the hardware components of smartphones, namely, the use of displays and cameras in mobile devices as transmitters and receivers to establish a near-field multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communication (VLC) system. Based on the relationship between the grayscale values of transmitted and received signals, the physical channel responses are detected and approximated with a high-order regression to obtain the channel gain. With the constraint of bit numbers in the MIMO VLC system, an integer-type water-filling scheme was designed for bit allocation to improve transmission efficiency. The physical examinations show that bit error rate (BER) reduction can be 26.4% with Gaussian noise of 30 dB and detected channel gain compared with the equal bit allocation. The optimization of the simulation was confirmed with the bit assignments in real cases.

Smart city planners pay more attention towards visible light communication (VLC) system to achieve seamless high speed connectivity. A light emitting diode (LED) acts as a transmitter in VLC system. However, the nonlinear characteristics and dimming nature of LED limits the performance of the VLC system by degrading the quality of transmitted signal. In this paper, we propose an adaptive-learning-architecture (ALA) based predistortion technique to estimate and compensate for LED nonlinearities as well as increase the spectral efficiency of a VLC system. A DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) signal is considered. The performance with and without predistorter is analysed assuming optical line-of-sight (LOS) channel. It is shown that degradation due to LED nonlinearity can be compensated by using ALA-based predistortion, and the overall Predistorter-LED system is able to approach near-linear performance. Further, we investigate the impact of dimming on the performance of nonlinear LED in VLC system. Simulation results based on symbol error rate (SER), amplitude distortion (AM/AM) curves and constellation plots validate the performance of our proposed technique.

Multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) technique is adapted to achieve high speed transmission in visible light communication (VLC) system. In MIMO VLC system, spatial modulation (SM) is employed to avoid inter-channel interference (ICI). However, the performance of SM MIMO indoor VLC system is restricted by the high channel response correlation. In this paper, we propose an angular diversity receiver approach for SM MIMO VLC system. By varying the receivers' normal vectors, the correlation of the channel transfer matrix is effectively reduced, which leads to 7 ∼ 8dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains at BER level of 10−3 compared to the conventional SM in MIMO VLC system. Additionally, the horizontal rotation and vertical shift invariance verified by the simulation results makes the proposed scheme more practical and easier to be implemented.

A multiple-input multiple-output visible light communication (VLC) system based on disorder dispersion components is presented. Instead of monochromatic sources and large size photodetectors used in the traditional VLC systems, broadband sources with different spectra act as the transmitters and a compact imaging chip sensor accompanied by a disorder dispersion component and a calculating component serve as the receivers in the proposed system. This system has the merits of small size, more channels, simple structure, easy integration, and low cost. Simultaneously, the broadband sources are suitable to act as illumination sources for their white color. A regularized procedure is designed to solve a matrix equation for decoding the signals at the receivers. A proof-of-concept experiment using on–off keying modulation has been done to prove the feasibility of the design. The experimental results show that the signals decoded by the receivers fit well with those generated from the transmitters, but the bit error ratio is increased with the number of the signal channels. The experimental results can be further improved using a high-speed charge-coupled device, decreasing noises, and increasing the distance between the transmitters and the receivers.

This paper deals with the theoretical symbol error rate (SER) performance analysis of coherent square M-QAM in fading channels. The channels in this paper are modeled as frequency non-selective slowly fading channels corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Closed form expressions for average SERs for square M-QAM in fading channels are derived and analyzed. The solutions presented are in terms of a single finite integral with an integrand composed of elementary (exponential and trigonometric) functions. Because of their simple forms, these expressions readily allow numerical evaluations for cases of practical interest. The dependence of SER performance of M-QAM on Rician parameter K and Nakagami fading parameter m are plotted and examined. The results presented are expected to provide useful information to communication systems design engineers for design and performance evaluation of radio systems over fading channels.

For channel estimation in the relay-assisted multiple-input multiple-output and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing indoor visible light communication (VLC) system affected by light source, there is a problem that the received signal cannot be separated by simple filtering. To solve this problem, a channel estimation by PARATUCK2-PARAFAC-based noise compensation which introduces tensors to construct the suitable model of VLC is proposed. First, the transmitting pilots for channel estimation and noise estimation are constructed separately with the Hermitian symmetry structure. Then the tensor-based transmission model of the indoor VLC system is established, and the signals for channel and noise estimations are received. Finally, an asymptotic estimation for separating signals from different sources and noise is proposed by PARATUCK2-PARAFAC. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides a more effective scheme for channel estimation comparing with the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique is now used in most new broadband communication system, and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is also utilized within current 4^th generation (4G) of mobile telecommunication technology. With MIMO and OFDM combined, visible light communication (VLC) system’s diversity gain is increase, yet system capacity for dispersive channels is also enhanced. Moreover, with the emerging massive MIMO-OFDM VLC system, there are significant advantages than smaller systems’ such as channel hardening, further increasing of energy efficiency (EE) and spectral efficiency (SE) based on law of large number. This paper addresses one of the major technological challenges, system architecture design, which was solved by semispherical beehive structure (SBS) receiver and so that diversity gain can be identified and applied in Massive MIMO VLC system. Simulation results shows that the proposed design clearly presents a spatial diversity over conventional VLC systems.

The exponential rise in wireless communication demands and allied applications have revitalized academia-industries to develop an efficient and potential solution. Furthermore, the high-pace increasing scarcity of radio spectrum has also alarmed researchers to achieve better Quality of Service (QoS) centric solution. To meet such demands Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems have gained global attention; however, up surging high rate, range and reliability (3R) needs demand better performance. Towards these goals, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) based VLC systems is an efficient approach; though its efficacy under Multiple Users (MU) conditions remains least explored. Enabling MIMO-MU based VLC can achieve 3R objectives effectively; however, factors like multipath attenuation, interferences and varied impairment-affects makes classical approached confined. The MIMO-MU VLC systems require robust error, noise or interference resilient transmission even under adverse conditions such as non-linear LED, multipath attenuation and interference. Towards these objectives, in this paper a highly robust MIMO-MU VLC system is developed that incorporates an augmented MIMO channel design and combined pre-coding and post equalization schemes. To alleviate major interference probability in MIMO-MU environment, proposed model incorporates time (delay)-multiplexing based data transmission followed by signal adaptive precoding and Volterra Kernel based Hybrid-equalizer. This approach enables interference and noise removal as well as LED non-linearity handling under MIMO-MU VLC communication. The use of a Volterra Kernel based Decision Feedback Equalization with both linear as well as non-linear equalization enables proposed VLC system to exhibit low Bit Error Rate with low modulation index and taps, that optimizes trade-off between performance as well as complexity.

This paper analyzes the performance of a dual-hop hybrid radio frequency - visible light communications (VLCs) system. VLC exploits high frequencies for signal propagation for short-range and is highly susceptible to blockages. Hence, in this work, the sensitivity of the VLC toward the blockages is explored. This study examines outdoor-indoor communication for an urban scenario featuring an office environment. The VLC system is designed by considering multiple VLC access points serving the end users in the presence of human blockages. Selection combining is employed to select the access point which offers the maximum instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio at the user. To capture the outdoor scenario, path loss modeling is conducted to account for signal attenuation from outdoor to indoor spaces. The outdoor scenario is modeled using Nakagami-m fading channels while VLC is employed for the indoor scenario. System performance is assessed in closed-form expression for outage probability and the symbol error rate for binary phase shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation. A deep learning-based approach detects the symbols by tracking dynamic changes in the channel. Simulation results corroborate the correctness of derived analytical expressions and reveal that blockages significantly impact both single and multiple LED based communication channels.

In general, visible light communication (VLC) systems, which utilise white light-emitting diodes (LEDs), only offer a bandwidth limited to the lower MHz region. Therefore, providing VLC-based high data rate communications systems using VLC becomes a challenging task. To address this challenge, we propose a solution based on multiplexing in both the frequency and space domains. We experimentally demonstrate a 4 × 4 imaging multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) VLC system (i.e., space multiplexing) utilising multiband carrierless amplitude and phase (m-CAP) modulation (i.e., frequency multiplexing). Independently, both MIMO and m-CAP have separately shown the remarkable ability to improve the transmission speeds in VLC systems, and hence, here we combine them to further improve the net data rate. We investigate the link performance by varying the number of subcarriers m, link distance L, and signal bandwidth B <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sig</sub> . From all the values tested, we show that a data rate of ~249 Mb/s can be maximally achieved for m = 20, B <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sig</sub> = 20 MHz, and L = 1 m, at a bit error rate of 3.2 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-3</sup> using LEDs with ~4 MHz bandwidth.