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

Multiple-input multiple-output visible light communication receivers for high data-rate mobile applications

Visible light communication (VLC) is an emerging form of optical wireless communication that transmits data by modulating light in the visible spectrum. To meet the growing demand for wireless communication capacity from mobile devices, we investigate multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) VLC to achieve multiplexing capacity gains and to allow multiple users to simultaneously transmit without disrupting each other. Previous approaches to receive VLC signals have either been unable to simultaneously receive multiple independent signals from multiple transmitters, unable to adapt to moving transmitters and receivers, or unable to sample the received signals fast enough for high-speed VLC. In this dissertation, we develop and evaluate two novel approaches to receive high-speed MIMO VLC signals from mobile transmitters that can be practically scaled to support additional transmitters. The first approach, Token-Based Pixel Selection (TBPS) exploits the redundancy and sparsity of high-resolution transmitter images in imaging VLC receivers to greatly increase the rate at which complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) image sensors can sample VLC signals though improved signal routing to enable such high-resolution image sensors to capture high-speed VLC signals. We further model the CMOS APS pixel as a linear shift-invariant system, investigate how it scales to support additional transmitters and higher resolutions, and investigate how noise can affect its performance. The second approach, a spatial light modulator (SLM)-based VLC receiver, uses an SLM to dynamically control the resulting wireless channel matrix to enable relatively few photodetectors to reliably receive from multiple transmitters despite their movements. As part of our analysis, we develop a MIMO VLC channel capacity model that accounts for the non-negativity and peak-power constraints of VLC systems to evaluate the performance of the SLM VLC receiver and to facilitate the optimization of the channel matrix through the SLM

Antenna Systems

This book offers an up-to-date and comprehensive review of modern antenna systems and their applications in the fields of contemporary wireless systems. It constitutes a useful resource of new material, including stochastic versus ray tracing wireless channel modeling for 5G and V2X applications and implantable devices. Chapters discuss modern metalens antennas in microwaves, terahertz, and optical domain. Moreover, the book presents new material on antenna arrays for 5G massive MIMO beamforming. Finally, it discusses new methods, devices, and technologies to enhance the performance of antenna systems

Study, analysis and application of Optical OFDM, Single Carrier (SC) and MIMO in Intensity Modulation Direct Detection (IM/DD)

With the rapid growth of wireless data demands and saturation of radio frequency (RF) capacity, visible light communication (VLC) has become a promising candidate to complement conventional RF communication, especially for indoor short range applications. However the performance of the system depends on the propagation and type of system used. An optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (O-OFDM) together with multiple input multiple output (MIMO) in different scenario and modulation techniques are studied in the thesis. A novel optical wireless communication (OWC) multi-cell system with narrow field of view (FOV) is studied. In this system the intensity modulated beam from four light sources are used for communication. The system allows beams to be concentrated in specific areas of the room to serve multiple mobile devices with low interference and hence increase system capacity. The performance of asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO-OFDM), direct current biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) and single carrier (SC) modulation are then compared in this system considering single user and multiusers scenarios. The performance of the multi-cell is compared with single cell with wide FOV. It is shown that the capacity for multi-cell system increases with the number of users to 4 times the single user capacity. Also the findings show that multi-cell system with narrow beams can outperform a single wide beam system in terms of coverage area and hence average throughput of about 2.7 times the single wide beam system capacity. One of the impairments in line of sight (LOS) OWC systems is coverage which degrades the performance. A mobile receiver with angular diversity detectors in MIMO channels is studied. The objective is to improve the rank of the channel matrix and hence system throughput. Repetition coding (RC), spatial multiplexing (SMP) and spatial modulation (SM) concepts are used to evaluate throughput across multiple locations in a small room scenario. A novel adaptive spatial modulation (ASM) which is capable of combating channel rank deficiency is devised. Since the receiver is mobile, the channel gains are low in some locations of the room due to the lack of LOS paths between transmitters and receivers. To combat the situation adaptive modulation and per antenna rate control (PARC) is employed to maximise spectral efficiency. The throughputs for fixed transmitters and receivers are compared with the oriented/inclined detectors for different cases. Angular diversity detectors offer a better throughput improvement than the state of the art vertical detectors, for example in ASM angular diversity receiver gives throughput of about 1.6 times that of vertical detectors. Also in SMP the angular detectors offer throughput about 1.4 times that of vertical detectors. SMP gives the best performance compared to RC, SM and ASM, for example SMP gives throughput about 2.5 times that of RC in both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. Again SMP gives throughput about 6 times that of SM in both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. Also SMP provides throughput about 2 times that of ASM in both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. ASM exhibit improvement in throughput about average factor of 3.5 times SM performance in both vertical detectors and angular diversity detectors. As the performance of the system may be jeopardized by obstructions, specular and diffuse reflection models for indoor OWC systems using a mobile receiver with angular diversity detectors in MIMO channels are considered. The target is to improve the MIMO throughput compared to vertically oriented detectors by exploiting reflections from different reflecting surfaces in the room. The throughput across multiple locations in the small room by using RC, SMP and SM approaches is again evaluated. The results for LOS only channels against LOS with specular or diffuse reflection conditions, for both vertical and angular oriented receivers are then compared. The results show that exploiting specular and diffuse reflections provide significant improvements in link performance. For example the reflection coefficient (α) of 0.9 and the antenna separation of 0.6 m, RC diffuse model shows throughput improvement of about 1.8 times that of LOS for both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. SM diffuse model shows throughput improvement of about 3 times that of LOS for both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. ASM diffuse model shows throughput improvement of about 2 times that of LOS for both vertical detectors and angular diversity receivers. SMP diffuse model shows throughput improvement of about 1.5 times that of LOS for both vertical detectors and angular diversity receiver

Camera Based Localization for Indoor Optical Wireless Networks

The main focus of this work is to implement device localization in an indoor communication network which employs short range Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) using pencil beams. OWC is becoming increasingly important as a solution to the shortage of available radio spectrum. In order to counter this problem, a radical new approach is proposed by performing wireless communication using optical rather than radio techniques, by deploying optical pencil beam technologies to provide users with access to an indoor optical fiber infrastructure. An architecture based on free-space optics has been adopted. The narrow infrared beam is considered a good solution because of its ability to optimally carry all the information which the optical fiber can transport, in an energy-efficient way. Beam Steered - Infrared Light Communication (BS-ILC) brings the light only where is needed. Multiple beams may independently serve user devices within a room, hence each device can get a non-shared capacity without conflicts with other devices. Infrared light beams, additionally, are allowed to be operated at a higher power than visible light beams, due to a higher eye safety threshold for infrared light. Together with the directivity of a beam, this implies that the received signal-to-noise ratio with BS-ILC can be substantially higher than with Visible Light Communication (VLC), enabling a higher data rate and longer reach at better power efficiency. Current BS-ILC prototypes allow multiple beams with over 100 Gbit/s per beam. This high performance can only be achieved with small footprints, hence the system needs to know the exact location of user devices. In this thesis, an accurate and fast localization/tracking technique using a low-cost camera and simple image processing is presented

1-D broadside-radiating leaky-wave antenna based on a numerically synthesized impedance surface

A newly-developed deterministic numerical technique for the automated design of metasurface antennas is applied here for the first time to the design of a 1-D printed Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA) for broadside radiation. The surface impedance synthesis process does not require any a priori knowledge on the impedance pattern, and starts from a mask constraint on the desired far-field and practical bounds on the unit cell impedance values. The designed reactance surface for broadside radiation exhibits a non conventional patterning; this highlights the merit of using an automated design process for a design well known to be challenging for analytical methods. The antenna is physically implemented with an array of metal strips with varying gap widths and simulation results show very good agreement with the predicted performance