The Bit Error Performance and Information Transfer Rate of SPAD Array Optical Receivers

In this paper the photon counting characteristics, the information rate and the bit error performance of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays are investigated. It is shown that for sufficiently large arrays, the photocount distribution is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution with dead-time-dependent mean and variance. Because of dead time, the SPAD array channel is subject to counting losses, part of which are due to inter-slot interference (ISI) distortions. Consequently, this channel has memory. The information rate of this channel is assessed. Two auxiliary discrete memoryless channels (DMCs) are proposed which provide upper and lower bounds on the SPAD array information rate. It is shown that in sufficiently large arrays, ISI is negligible and the bounds are tight. Under such conditions, the SPAD array channel is precisely modelled as a memoryless channel. A discrete-time Gaussian channel with input-dependent mean and variance is adopted and the properties of the capacity-achieving input distributions are studied. Using a numerical algorithm, the information rate and the capacity-achieving input distributions, subject to peak and average power constraints are obtained. Furthermore, the bit error performance of a SPAD-based system with on-off keying (OOK) is evaluated for various array sizes, dead times and background count levels

Parallel reconfigurable single photon avalanche diode array for optical communications

There is a pressing need to develop alternative communications links due to a number of physical phenomena, limiting the bandwidth and energy efficiency of wire-based systems or economic factors such as cost, material-supply reliability and environmental costs. Networks have moved to optical connections to reduce costs, energy use and to supply high data rates. A primary concern is that current optical-detection devices require high optical power to achieve fast data rates with high signal quality. The energy required therefore, quickly becomes a problem. In this thesis, advances in single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are utilised to reduce the amount of light needed and to reduce the overall energy budget. Current high performance receivers often use exotic materials, many of which have severe environmental impact and have cost, supply and political restrictions. These present a problem when it comes to integration; hence silicon technology is used, allowing small, mass-producible, low power receivers. A reconfigurable SPAD-based integrating receiver in standard 130nm imaging CMOS is presented for links with a readout bandwidth of 100MHz. A maximum count rate of 58G photon/s is observed, with a dynamic range of ≈ 79dB, a sensitivity of ≈ −31.7dBm at 100MHz and a BER of ≈ 1x10−9. We investigate the properties of the receiver for optical communications in the visible spectrum, using its added functionality and reconfigurability to experimentally explore non-ideal influences. The all-digital 32x32 SPAD array, achieves a minimum dead time of 5.9ns, and a median dark count rate (DCR) of 2.5kHz per SPAD. High noise devices can be weighted or removed to optimise the SNR. The power requirements, transient response and received data are explored and limiting factors similar to those of photodiode receivers are observed. The thesis concludes that data can be captured well with such a device but more electrical energy is needed at the receiver due to its fundamental operation. Overall, optical power can be reduced, allowing significant savings in either transmitter power or the transmission length, along with the advantages of an integrated digital chip

Single-photon avalanche diode receivers for optical wireless communications

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been widely applied in many applications over the past few decades thanks to their high sensitivity, high photon detection efficiency and high timing resolution. Nowadays, they are drawing particular attention in the field of optical wireless communication (OWC), resulting in wider and deeper studies among the scientific research community. Compared with positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes and avalanche photodiodes (APDs), SPADs provide much higher internal gains and sensitivities, thereby easily overcoming the thermal noise and enabling the detection of individual photons without the need for transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs). However, upon detecting a photon, the SPAD is unable to respond to subsequent incident photons for a certain period of time, called dead time. This dead time is caused by the quenching circuit, which is of two principal modes: active quenching (AQ) and passive quenching (PQ). Depending on the structure of this circuit, the dead time can be constant or variable, in any case, it degrades the photon counting performance of the SPAD. In this thesis, a comprehensive analytical approach is presented for modelling the counting statistics of SPAD detectors in the presence of dead time. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first in-depth study of the impact of dead time in the context of OWC. Using the concepts of arrival processes and renewal theory, the exact photocount distributions and the count rate models are derived for AQ and PQ single SPADs. It is shown that, unlike ideal photon counting detectors, in AQ and PQ single SPADs, the photocounts do not follow a Poisson distribution. The results confirm that AQ single SPADs generally exhibit less counting losses and therefore, higher count rates compared to PQ single SPADs and the count rate gap in high photon rate regimes is substantial. It is also shown that the photocount distribution of a SPAD array can be well approximated by a Gaussian distribution, for which the mean and variance are dead time dependent. The numerical results suggest that as the size of the array increases, the gap between the photon counting performance of AQ and PQ SPAD arrays tends to vanish. Furthermore, in this thesis, the bit error performance of SPAD-based OWC systems with AQ single SPADs, PQ single SPADs and AQ SPAD arrays are evaluated. The results show that the SPAD dead time significantly degrades the bit error ratio (BER) of the systems. The system with an AQ single SPAD exhibits better BERs compared to the system with a PQ single SPAD. The effect of dead time is mitigated to some extent when an array is employed. The analytical and Monte Carlo simulation results are provided for various dead time values, background count levels and SPAD array sizes. From a communication theory point of view, the dead time also limits the achievable data rate of SPAD-based systems. In this thesis, the information transfer rate of SPAD detectors is also investigated. To this end, the SPAD is modelled as a communication channel. Using an information theoretic approach, the channel capacity and the capacity-achieving input distributions for AQ single SPADs and AQ SPAD arrays are obtained for various dead time values, background count levels, and array sizes

A review of gallium nitride LEDs for multi-gigabit-per-second visible light data communications

The field of visible light communications (VLC) has gained significant interest over the last decade, in both fibre and free-space embodiments. In fibre systems, the availability of low cost plastic optical fibre (POF) that is compatible with visible data communications has been a key enabler. In free-space applications, the availability of hundreds of THz of the unregulated spectrum makes VLC attractive for wireless communications. This paper provides an overview of the recent developments in VLC systems based on gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), covering aspects from sources to systems. The state-of-the-art technology enabling bandwidth of GaN LEDs in the range of >400 MHz is explored. Furthermore, advances in key technologies, including advanced modulation, equalisation, and multiplexing that have enabled free-space VLC data rates beyond 10 Gb/s are also outlined

PAPR reduction in multicarrier modulation techniques based visible light communication systems

Visible light communication (VLC) is an optical wireless communication (OWC) technology that has the potential to provide high data rate transmission for indoor applications. VLC is a promising alternative technology with a large and unlicensed spectrum to complement the congested radio frequency (RF) based communication in order to meet the exponential growth and popularity of smart devices, data intensive services and applications. The use of low-cost commercially available front-end devices further highlights the attraction of VLC system. However, nonlinear dynamic range of front-end devices and optical channel impairments limit full exploitation of VLC available modulation bandwidth. To fully benefit from the inherent resources and mitigate these limitations, multicarrier modulation (MCM) techniques are adopted. However, these techniques are affected by high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) which imposes constraints on the limited dynamic range of the front-end devices and the average radiated optical power. The main focus throughout this thesis is to reduce the high PAPR of MCM modulation techniques-based VLC system by implementing pilot-assisted (PA) technique. Additionally, performance of PAPR reduced modulation techniques is investigated through analytical, simulation, and experimentally. This thesis first presents background of VLC system principles including the front-end devices, VLC channel, system impairments and challenges, and employed solutions. The principles, limitations, and performance of MCM modulation variants that are implemented in this work are presented. Moreover, principles of PAPR challenge in MCM based VLC, PAPR evaluation, impact on the transmitted signal as well as the existing PAPR reduction techniques are discussed. Looking at the gap, a PA is implemented as PAPR reduction technique which is presented in this work including its implementation and performance. Following that, multiple experimental studies on PAPR reduction of PA technique are presented. Two experimental demonstrations on the efficacy of PA PAPR reduction for PAM-DMT and DCO-OFDM based VLC using a single blue LED are presented. These studies are comparing the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed systems with conventional counterparts over a range of sampling rate. This shows that, the proposed systems perform better than conventional systems without PAPR reduction. The results are validated through simulation. Other two experimental studies on the previous systems with parameters optimisation and available modulation bandwidth utilisation are presented, which show that the proposed systems outperform the conventional systems in terms of BER. This is followed by investigating the PA PAPR reduction effect on the achievable data rate of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) based VLC system using three different LEDs for PAPR reduced DCO-OFDM and PAM-DMT systems. The proposed systems have achieved more than 8% data rate higher than that of conventional systems without BER performance degradation. Finally, analytical investigation of clipping noise that leads to distortion in a VLC system due to front-end devices limitations is presented. To mitigate the clipping noise, PAPR of the system is reduced by the PA technique. The analytical BER performance of the system with PAPR reduction is verified through simulation and then compared to that of the conventional system without PAPR reduction at similar clipping levels. The PA proposed system shows better BER performance at all clipping levels

Améliorations des transmissions VLC (Visible Light Communication) sous contrainte d'éclairage : études théoriques et expérimentations

Abstract : Indoor visible light communication (VLC) networks based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) currently enjoy growing interest thanks in part to their robustness against interference, wide license-free available bandwidth, low cost, good energy efficiency and compatibility with existing lighting infrastructure. In this thesis, we investigate spectral-efficient modulation techniques for the physical layer of VLC to increase throughput while considering the quality of illumination as well as implementation costs. Numerical and experimental studies are performed employing pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and carrierless amplitude and phase (CAP) modulation under illumination constraints and for high modulation orders. Furthermore, the impact of LED nonlinearity is investigated and a postdistortion technique is evaluated to compensate these nonlinear effects. Within this framework, transmission rates in the order of a few hundred Mb/s are achieved using a test bench made of low-cost components. In addition, an imaging multiple input multiple-output (MIMO) system is developed and the impact on performance of imaging lens misalignment is theoretically and numerically assessed. Finally, a polynomial matrix decomposition technique based on the classical LU factorization method is studied and applied for the first time to MIMO VLC systems in large space indoor environments.Les réseaux de communication en lumière visible (VLC) s’appuyant sur l’utilisation de diodes électroluminescentes (LED) bénéficient actuellement d’un intérêt grandissant, en partie grâce à leur robustesse face aux interférences électromagnétiques, leur large bande disponible non-régulée, leur faible coût, leur bonne efficacité énergétique, ainsi que leur compatibilité avec les infrastructures d’éclairage déjà existantes. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions des techniques de modulation à haute efficacité spectrale pour la couche physique des VLC pour augmenter les débits tout en considérant la qualité de l’éclairage ainsi que les coûts d’implémentation. Des études numériques et expérimentales sont réalisées sur la modulation d’impulsion d’amplitude (PAM) et sur la modulation d’amplitude et de phase sans porteuse (CAP) sous des contraintes d’éclairage et pour des grands ordres de modulation. De plus, l’impact des non-linéarités de la LED est étudié et une technique de post-distorsion est évaluée pour corriger ces effets non-linéaires. Dans ce cadre, des débits de plusieurs centaines de Mb/s sont atteints en utilisant un banc de test réalisé à partir de composants à bas coûts. Par ailleurs, un système multi-entrées multi-sorties (MIMO) imageant est également développé et l’impact du désaxage de l’imageur sur les performances est étudié. Finalement, une technique de décomposition polynomiale basée sur la méthode de factorisation classique LU est étudiée et appliquée aux systèmes MIMO VLC dans des grands espaces intérieurs

Power and spectrally efficient integrated high-speed LED drivers for visible light communication

Recent trends in mobile broadband indicates that the available radio frequency (RF) spectrum will not be enough to support the data requirements of the immediate future. Visible light communication, which uses visible spectrum to transmit wirelessly could be a potential solution to the RF ’Spectrum Crunch’. Thus there is growing interest all over the world in this domain with support from both academia and industry. Visible light communication( VLC) systems make use of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are semiconductor light sources to transmit information. A number of demonstrators at different data capacity and link distances has been reported in this area. One of the key problems holding this technology from taking off is the unavailability of power efficient, miniature LED drive schemes. Reported demonstrators, mostly using either off the shelf components or arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs) to drive the LEDs have only started to address this problem by adopting integrated drivers designed for driving lighting installations for communications. The voltage regulator based drive schemes provide high power efficiency (> 90 %) but it is difficult to realise the fast switching required to achieve the Mbps or Gbps data rates needed for modern wireless communication devices. In this work, we are exploiting CMOS technology to realise an integrated LED driver for VLC. Instead of using conventional drive schemes (digital to analogue converter (DAC) + power amplifier or voltage regulators), we realised a current steering DAC based LED driver operating at high currents and sampling rates whilst maintaining power efficiency. Compared to a commercial AWG or discrete LED driver, circuit realised utilisng complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology has resulted in area reduction (29mm2). We realised for the first time a multi-channel CMOS LED driver capable of operating up to a 500 MHz sample rate at an output current of 255 mA per channel and >70% power efficiency. We were able to demonstrate the flexibility of the driver by employing it to realise VLC links using micro LEDs and commercial LEDs. Data rates up to 1 Gbps were achieved using this system employing a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) scheme. We also demonstrated the wavelength division multiplexing ability of the driver using a red/green/blue commercial LED. The first integrated digital to light converter (DLC), where depending on the input code, a proportional number of LEDs are turned ON, realising a data converter in the optical domain, is also an output from this research. In addition, we propose a differential optical drive scheme where two output branches of a current DAC are used to drive two LEDs achieving higher link performance and power efficiency compared to single LED drive

Visible Light Optical Camera Communication for Electroencephalography Applications

Due to the cable-free deployment and flexibility of wireless communications, the data transmission in the applications of home and healthcare has shown a trend of moving wired communications to wireless communications. One typical example is electroencephalography (EEG). Evolution in the radio frequency (RF) technology has made it is possible to transmit the EEG data without data cable bundles. However, presently, the RF-based wireless technology used in EEG suffers from electromagnetic interference and might also have adverse effects on the health of patient and other medical equipment used in hospitals or homes. This puts some limits in RF-based EEG solutions, which is particularly true in RF restricted zones like Intensive Care Units (ICUs). As a recently developed optical wireless communication (OWC) technology, visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for both simultaneous illumination and data communication has shown its advantages of free from electromagnetic interference, potential huge unlicensed bandwidth and enhanced data privacy due to the line transmission of light. The most recent development of VLC is the optical camera communication (OCC), which is an extension of VLC IEEE standard 802.15.7, also referred to as visible light optical camera communication (VL-OCC). Different from the conventional VLC where traditional photodiodes are used to detect and receive the data, VL-OCC uses the imaging camera as the photodetector to receive the data in the form of visible light signals. The data rate requirement of EEG is dependent on the application; hence this thesis investigates a low cost, organic LED (OLED)-driven VL-OCC wireless data transmission system for EEG applications

Spectrum and energy efficient digital modulation techniques for practical visible light communication systems

The growth in mobile data traffic is rapidly increasing in an unsustainable direction given the radio frequency (RF) spectrum limits. Visible light communication (VLC) offers a lucrative solution based on an alternative license-free frequency band that is safe to use and inexpensive to utilize. Improving the spectral and energy efficiency of intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) systems is still an on-going challenge in VLC. The energy efficiency of inherently unipolar modulation techniques such as pulse-amplitude modulation discrete multitone modulation (PAM-DMT) and asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO-OFDM) degrades at high spectral efficiency. Two novel superposition modulation techniques are proposed in this thesis based on PAM-DMT and ACO-OFDM. In addition, a practical solution based on the computationally efficient augmented spectral efficiency discrete multi-tone (ASE-DMT) is proposed. The system performance of the proposed superposition modulation techniques offers significant electrical and optical power savings with up to 8 dB in the electrical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when compared with DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM). The theoretical bit error ratio (BER) performance bounds for all of the proposed modulation techniques are in agreement with the Monte-Carlo simulation results. The proposed superposition modulation techniques are promising candidates for spectrum and energy efficient IM/DD systems. Two experimental studies are presented for a VLC system based on DCO-OFDM with adaptive bit and energy loading. Micrometer-sized Gallium Nitride light emitting diode (m-LED) and light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation diode (LD) are used in these studies due to their high modulation bandwidth. Record data rates are achieved with a BER below the forward error correction (FEC) threshold at 7.91 Gb/s using the violet m-LED and at 15 Gb/s using the blue LD. These results highlight the potential of VLC systems in practical high speed communication solutions. An additional experimental study is demonstrated for the proposed superposition modulation techniques based on ASE-DMT. The experimentally achieved results confirm the theoretical and simulation based performance predictions of ASE-DMT. A significant gain of up to 17.33 dB in SNR is demonstrated at a low direct current (DC) bias. Finally, the perception that VLC systems cannot work under the presence of sunlight is addressed in this thesis. A complete framework is presented to evaluate the performance of VLC systems in the presence of solar irradiance at any given location and time. The effect of sunlight is investigated in terms of the degradations in SNR, data rate and BER. A reliable high speed communication system is achieved under the sunlight effect. An optical bandpass blue filter is shown to compensate for half of the reduced data rate in the presence of sunlight. This thesis demonstrates data rates above 1 Gb/s for a practical VLC link under strong solar illuminance measured at 50350 lux in clear weather conditions