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Performance Investigation of Visible Light Communication System Using

Optisystem Simulation Tool

Article in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY · September 2016

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY,

VOL.11, NO.5, SEPT 2016

Performance Investigation of Visible Light Communication

System Using Optisystem Simulation Tool
K.Manivannan*, A. Sivanantha Raja, S.Selvendran.

Department of ECE, Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering & Technology,

Karaikudi-3. Tamilndu, India.
E-mail : [email protected]

Abstract- Visible light communication is a fast communication technology is the result of the
growing research using LEDs for both illumination almost exponential growth in the demand for
and data communication. In this paper we have high-speed wireless connectivity.
investigated the indoor visible light communication
using Optisystem simulation tool for a practically
The first VLC started at Nakagawa Laboratory in
measured channel characteristics of a white LED.
The performance of the Visible Light
Keio University, Japan in 2003. This was
Communication system is evaluated through followed by a growing research and development
Quality factor and log of BER values for various interest at a global scale. By switching white
bit rate and link distance. This system can support LEDs on and off rapidly, higher data rate in
2 Gbps data rate up to 3 m of link distance with a excess of 100 Mbps can be achieved with RGB
Q factor of 5.76. White LED is used as a source for white LEDs. Resonant cavity LEDs can even go
the communication and the study is carried for further to achieve data rates up to 500 Mbps. The
NRZ-OOK and RZ-OOK modulation formats. main important character in VLC is the switching
The VLC system performance is also measured in of the visible LEDs. They have the ability to be
the case of external atmospheric light influence.
switched on and off very rapidly. This rapid
The designed system provides good Quality factor
for the RZ-OOK signal compare to the NRZ-OOK.
switching of LED is possible to impress data on
And the received signal at our designed indoor their radiated optical power/intensity. This
VLC system worsens drastically if the external process of intensity modulation gives a lower
lighting condition goes above -80 dBm. complexity and cost than modulation in RF
communication this gives unique features to VLC
Index Terms- Free Space optics (FSO), Modulation, [5]. For example, LEDs are used in in cars,
NRZ-OOK, RZ-OOK, Visible Light buses, aircrafts, trains, traffic lights for data
Communication (VLC), White Light Emitting communication. VLC can be used in power lines
Diode (WLED).
and lighting infrastructures in office, homes.
LEDs offers huge unregulated bandwidth
I. INTRODUCTION between 400 THz (780 nm) and 800 THz (375
nm), safer than electromagnetic and does not
Visible light communication using white LEDs create electromagnetic interference. This makes
are ideal sources for future applications (indoor VLC is suitable for hospitals, aircraft cabins,
and outdoor) for dual purpose of lighting and petrochemical industries and so on. Light
data communications, thereby contributing to Emitting Diodes (LEDs) whose data transmission
considerable energy savings at a global level [1- rates for the signals are 10 kb/s and up to 500
4]. Interest in VLC has grown rapidly with the Mb/s [6]. Usually p-i-n and avalanche
growth of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and it is a photodiodes acts as detectors in optical
technology that is “green” in comparison to radio communication but in VLC bidirectional LEDs
frequency (RF) technology, while using the are used as transceivers. A less complex, low-
existing infrastructure of the lighting system. The power system for low data rate applications can
necessity to develop an additional wireless be constructed [7] by using these LEDs for
bidirectional communication using On-Off

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Keying modulation. A LED-to-LED II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

communication system for VLC has been
demonstrated [8] in which the system modulates The proposed experimental setup for the VLC
light intensity with high frequencies and still the system is as in Fig.1. The input Pseudo random
human eye is not affected by the light data sequence is converted to NRZ or RZ
communication. An indoor wireless VLC with a electrical pulses and this signal directly derives
panel of red, green, and blue LEDs was reported the white LED. The white LED emits the
to achieve transmission rates of 19.2 kb/s [9]. modulated output with optical output power of
Numerous research activities focused on VLC are 7 W, the average luminance value is 358 lm.
being carried out by COWA, ByteLight, Inc., Further, this establishes the connection with
Smart Lighting Engineering Centre, Omega receiver (silicon photodiode) through the free
Project, D-Light Project, UC-Light Centre, and space (air) at room temperature. The White LED
Oxford University. Researchers from CICTR at used for practical measurement is a 2x2 Tekhol®
Penn State, in 2006, proposed a combination of White LED has the luminescence of 120-160 lm,
power line communication (PLC) and white light 600 mw/LED optical output power and the view
LED to provide broadband access for indoor angle is 120°. The radiated light power is
applications [10]. Further, real-time video measured or detected with HTC LUX meter. The
streaming using a white LED has been reported typical parameter of the white LED and
at data rates up to 130Mbps [11]. The VLC photodiode is as in Table 1. A VLC system is
standardization process is conducted within IEEE designed with help of Optisystem 13.0.1. The
Wireless Personal Area Networks working group FSO (Free space optics) component is used for
(802.15). VLC channel and the channel parameters are
taken from the practical measurements. Line of
In this paper we propose the indoor short range sight (LOS) model is taken i.e. without any
communication with White LED and its diffusion from the side wall (LED is illuminated
performances are measured with a numerical tool at room center) and the measured FSO
for different bit rates, different modulations parameters are tabulated in Table 2. The system
through various link distance and external light setup to analyze the external light influence on
influence. Practically measured channel visible light communication is as in Fig 2. The
parameters are utilized for VLC system and external white light (noise) is combined with
analysis are carried out for various system modulated White LED signal before the FSO
conditions. Q factor values are measured in transmission link as in Fig.2 and it allows
detected signal for performance comparison. This estimating the external light influence or
paper is organized as follows. Section II, disturbance for the designed VLC system
describes the experimental setup, Section III, performance.
discusses the results and finally the conclusion is
given in the last section IV.

Optical Spectrum Analyzer

Oscilloscope Visualizer_1 Optical Time Domain Visualizer Oscilloscope Visualizer

Optical Power Meter_1

Optical Power Meter

3R Regenerator BER Analyzer

NRZ Pulse Generator W hite LED ( Signal Source) FSO Channel Photodetector PIN Low Pass Bessel Filter
Pseudo-Random Bit Sequence Generator Frequency = 550 nm Range = 3 m Cutoff frequency = 0.75 * Bit rate Hz
Bit rate = Bit rate Bits/s Electron life time = 100e-012 s

VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Fig.1. Experimental setup for the VLC System

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VOL.11, NO.5, SEPT 2016

Optical Spectrum Analyzer

Oscilloscope Visualizer_1 Optical Time Domain Visualizer Optical Power Meter_1 Oscilloscope Visualizer

Optical Power Meter

NRZ Pulse Generator W hite LED ( Signal Source) 3R Regenerator BER Analyzer
F requency = 550 nm Power Combiner 2x1 FSO Channel Photodetector PIN
Low Pass Bessel Filter
Pseudo-Random Bit Sequence Generator Electron life time = 100e-012 s Range = 3 m Cutoff frequency = 0.75 * Bit rate Hz
Bit rate = Bit rate Bits/s

External W hite Light Source

Frequency = 550 nm
Power = -60 dBm

VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH EXTERNAL LIGHT INFLUENCE

Fig.2. Experimental setup for the VLC System with external light influence.

Table 1. LED and Photo diode Specification detail:

LED specification
Centre frequency 550nm
Electron carrier life time .1 ns
RC time constant .1 ns
Quantum efficiency 65%
Photodiode specification
Responsivity type Silicon
Dark current 10nA
Shot noise distribution Gaussian

Table 2. Free space optics component parameter:

FSO specification
Attenuation 8 dB/m Fig.3. Modulated white LED emission spectrum
Beam divergence(FWHM) 63.5ο
Transmitter aperture dia. 7 cm
Receiver aperture dia. 1.5 cm Fig. 4 depicts the Q factor of the detected signals
for the bitrate variation from 100 Mbps to 3 Gbps
The received signal power is determined by both with respect to the link distance up to 3 m. From
atmospheric and aperture loss [9]. And finally the results, it has been found that our simulated VLC
detected electrical signal from the photo diode is system could support 2 Gbps with an optimum Q
filtered out by the low pass Bessel filter. This factor 5.76 at link range 3m, beyond which the
filtered signal is regenerated with help of 3R received signals tend to become degraded. At the
regenerator to analyze the Bit error rate (BER) bit rate of 100 Mbps, our designed system
and Q factor in BER analyzer. provides the superior performance of about Q
factor whose value of 35 for the link range below
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1 m. And for the same bit rate, maximum
transferable distance is obtained as 4.4 m with Q
For the deigned VLC system the white LED factor 5.9. Fig.5 also confirms that our VLC
having the bandwidth of 300 nm at centre systems could support 2 Gbps up to the link
frequency of 550 nm and the emitted spectrum as distance of 3 m, and found log of BER -8.399.
in Fig. 3. The designed system is analysed for Fig. 6 and 7 show the eye diagram along with Q
different bitrates along with different link factor for the link distance of 2 meter and 4 meter
distance in meter. Here, initially the NRZ-OOK at bitrate of 300Mbps and 2Gbps. It clearly
modulated signal is taken for analysis. depicts that at lower bitrate the signal can reach
upto 4 meter link distance with good eye

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opening and Q factor of about 7.5, where as in

2 Gbps signal the eye opening is drastically
disturbed.

Fig.7. Eyediagram of the received signal for the bit

rate of 2 Gbps at
(a) 2 meter link distance (b) 4 meter link distance.

Modulation formats also have a significant

Fig.4. Q factor value of detected signal for the impact on transmission characteristics of the
different bit rate and link range (distance) VLC system. The Fig. 8 shows the comparison of
NRZ-OOK and RZ-OOK at bit rate of 2 Gbps.
The designed system is analyzed for NRZ-OOK
and RZ-OOK at bitrate of 2 Gbps for the
different link distance in meter. Due to the nature
of distinct transition between the encoded bits of
RZ pulses, the reception at the detector enhanced
[12] and provides the better Q factor.

Fig.5. Log of BER value of detected signal for the

different bit rate and link range (distance)

Fig.8. Q factor of the received signal for the

NRZ-OOK and RZ-OOK modulation with respect to
the different link range.

The obtained Q factor for the RZ-OOK is of

about 8.73 up to the 3 m of link distance where as
NRZ is 5.76. Fig. 9 and 10 depicts the NRZ-
OOK signal at transmitter and detector
respectively. As well as Fig.11 and 12 shows the
detected signal that exactly reproduce the
Fig.6. Eyediagram of the received signal for the bit transmitted signal, whereas the blue lines indicate
rate of 300Mbps at the received signal and green lines indicate the
(a) 2 meter link distance (b) 4 meter link distance. noise.

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Table 3. Comparison of our results with literatures.

Authors LED Modul Data Distance

and year source ation rate
Joon-Ho Choi NRZ-
P-LED 1 Mb/s 10 cm
et.al [13] OOK
Le-Minh H 100
P-LED OOK 10 cm
et.al., [14] Mb/s
Fujimoto N RGB LED 477
OOK 40 cm
et al., [15] (Red LED) Mb/s
Li Honglei 500
P-LED OOK 160 cm
et.al., [16] Mb/s
Our proposed
White LED OOK 2 Gb/s 3m
Fig.9. NRZ electrical drive signal at transmitter work

Table 3 shows the comparison of results reported

by authors in their previous investigations in
VLC with our current research work. It clearly
indicates that our proposed system could support
up to 3 m link distance with the bitrate of 2 Gb/s.

Fig.10. Received NRZ electrical signal after the low

pass Filter

Fig 13. Q factor of the received signal for the different

external white light power in dBm
and for the different Bit rate at link range of 3 meter.

In VLC system, it is essential to analyze the

external (atmospheric or artificial) lighting
Fig.11. RZ electrical drive signal at transmitter influence on our received signal quality. The
external light influence is included in VLC by
addition of another one White LED as input
without any modulation with different emissive
power levels. The external White LED power
(noise) level is varied from -130 dBm to -60 dBm
and the respective Q factor value of received as
in Fig. 13.

As the external lighting influence is increased

then the received signal getting worsened.
Fig.12. Received RZ electrical signal after the Particularly, if the external lighting power
low pass Filter increases above -80 dBm then the received signal

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