Multiuser MIMO-OFDM for visible light communications

Visible light communication (VLC) is emerging as a promising technique to provide ubiquitous wireless connection. In this paper, a multiuser VLC system utilizing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is investigated. Since the distances of the multiple transmitter-receiver links are different, their temporal delays are also different, resulting in complex channel gain and phase differences when transformed to the frequency domain. For each subcarrier in OFDM, the corresponding precoding matrix is calculated in the frequency domain to eliminate multiuser interference. Phase information in the frequency domain is first considered, where complex, instead of real, channel matrices are used for precoding, which reduces the channel correlation and achieves better performance. Moreover, minimum dc bias, unified dc bias, and asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM-based schemes are proposed to generate real-valued nonnegative signals for intensity modulation, and their performances are validated via simulations with zero forcing and minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) precoding techniques

The Novel PAPR Reduction Schemes for O‐OFDM‐Based Visible Light Communications

In this chapter, we propose two novel peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction schemes for the asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO-OFDM) scheme used in the visible light communications (VLC) system. In the first scheme, we implement the Toeplitz matrix based Gaussian blur method to reduce the high PAPR of ACO-OFDM at the transmitter and use the orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm to recover the original ACO-OFDM frame at the receiver. Simulation results show that for the 256-subcarrier ACO-OFDM system a ~6 dB improvement in PAPR is achieved compared with the original ACO-OFDM in terms of the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF), while maintaining a competitive bit-error rate performance compared with the ideal ACO-OFDM lower bound. In the second scheme, we propose an improved hybrid optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (O-OFDM) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme to reduce the PAPR for ACO-OFDM. The bipolar O-OFDM signal without negative clipping is converted into a PWM format where the leading and trailing edges carry the frame synchronization and modulated information, respectively. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed OFDM-PWM scheme offers a significant PAPR reduction compared to the ACO-OFDM with an improved bit error rate

DFT-Spread Spectrally Overlapped Hybrid OFDM-Digital Filter Multiple Access IMDD PONs

A novel transmission technique—namely, a DFT-spread spectrally overlapped hybrid OFDM–digital filter multiple access (DFMA) PON based on intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD)—is here proposed by employing the discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread technique in each optical network unit (ONU) and the optical line terminal (OLT). Detailed numerical simulations are carried out to identify optimal ONU transceiver parameters and explore their maximum achievable upstream transmission performances on the IMDD PON systems. The results show that the DFT-spread technique in the proposed PON is effective in enhancing the upstream transmission performance to its maximum potential, whilst still maintaining all of the salient features associated with previously reported PONs. Compared with previously reported PONs excluding DFT-spread, a significant peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction of over 2 dB is achieved, leading to a 1 dB reduction in the optimal signal clipping ratio (CR). As a direct consequence of the PAPR reduction, the proposed PON has excellent tolerance to reduced digital-to-analogue converter/analogue-to-digital converter (DAC/ADC) bit resolution, and can therefore ensure the utilization of a minimum DAC/ADC resolution of only 6 bits at the forward error correction (FEC) limit (1 × 10−3). In addition, the proposed PON can improve the upstream power budget by >1.4 dB and increase the aggregate upstream signal transmission rate by up to 10% without degrading nonlinearity tolerances

Comprehensive investigation of coherent optical OFDM-RoF employing 16QAM external modulation for long-haul optical communication system

Given the growing need for long haul transmission that requires a high rate of data, the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing scheme (OFDM), is regarded as a technique with high potentials for high-capacity optical networks. OFDM transmits over both optical and wireless channels, with the data distributed over a huge amount of the subcarrier, and the data is distributed over a huge number of subcarriers. OFDM achieves RF signal for a long-haul transmitting by utilizing Radio over Fiber (RoF) system, which is known to produce higher orthogonality of the OFDM modulated signal designed for the wireless network. RoF systems comprise of heterogeneous networks designed through the use of wireless and optical links. The aim of this paper is to carry out an investigation of the performance of the external modulation in RoF links, while analyzing the shortcomings caused by the various elements of the optical system. The Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) can be applied in external modulation, and exhibits a more robust performance when implemented with the OFDM modulation technique

Visible Light Communication (VLC)

Visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) has been envisioned as one of the key enabling technologies for 6G and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, owing to its appealing advantages, including abundant and unregulated spectrum resources, no electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation and high security. However, despite its many advantages, VLC faces several technical challenges, such as the limited bandwidth and severe nonlinearity of opto-electronic devices, link blockage and user mobility. Therefore, significant efforts are needed from the global VLC community to develop VLC technology further. This Special Issue, “Visible Light Communication (VLC)”, provides an opportunity for global researchers to share their new ideas and cutting-edge techniques to address the above-mentioned challenges. The 16 papers published in this Special Issue represent the fascinating progress of VLC in various contexts, including general indoor and underwater scenarios, and the emerging application of machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) techniques in VLC