Ash Rest Ha

Visible-Light Communication Demonstrator:
System modeling and analogue distribution network

design
by
Amita Shrestha
A thesis for conferral of a Master of Science in Communications,

Systems and Electronics
Advisors:
Prof. Dr. Harald Haas Dr. Joachim W. Walewski

Cellular and Wireless Communications Group Dr. Sebastian Randel
Jacobs University Siemens AG, Corporate Technology,
Bremen, Germany Information and Communications
München, Germany
Date of Submission: August 17, 2009.
School of Engineering and Science

Declaration
I declare that I have prepared the master thesis
“Visible-Light Communication Demonstrator:

System modeling and analogue distribution network design”
without illegal help. I also declare that contributions of other authors which are used
in the thesis or led to the ideas behind the thesis are properly referenced in written form.
I am aware that a master thesis, developed under guidance, is part of the examination and
may not be commercially used or transferred to a third party without written permission
from my supervisors. I declare that this thesis is not submitted elsewhere for conferral of
a degree.
Bremen, .
(Signature)
1
Acknowledgements
No work is possible without the help of well-wishers, friends, teachers and many other
directly or indirectly related people around us. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge
the help and guidance of each and every individual while working on the project.
Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisors Prof. Harald
Haas, Dr. Joachim W. Walewski and Dr. Sebastian Randel for their continuous support,
motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Their guidance helped me in all the time
of research and writing of this thesis.
My sincere gratitude goes to my colleagues Jeffrey, Florian and Beril for their help, and
valuable hints. Furthermore, my heartful thanks also goes to my brother Amit, and my
friend Saksham for their immense support, encouragement and help.
Last but not the least, I owe my deepest gratitude to my family and friends for their
unflagging love and support throughout my life.
i
Abstract
Visible-light communications (VLC) is a technology for wireless communication using light

that can be perceived by the naked eye. VLC uses frequencies other than radio, and they
are unrestricted and licence free. In recent years, optical wireless communication (OWC)
for short ranges (up to 10’s of meters) has experienced increasing interest amongst re-
searchers. Currently, Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) is participating in Home Giga-
bit Access (OMEGA), an EU integrated platform within the seventh Frame Programme.
The technology to be demonstrated is visible-light communication using white LEDs with
a target data rate of 100 Mbits/s. To date, visible light communication using one LED has
been successfully implemented. However, in order to illuminate the VLC area of OMEGA
demonstration showroom, arrays of LEDs have to be placed on the ceiling. Modeling of the
placement of these LEDs needs to be designed such that the VLC area is homogenously
illuminated and leakage outside the area is minimized. In addition, analogue signal distri-
bution network has to be designed in order to distribute the signal to all the LEDs. This
thesis addresses these issues. The lighting levels within the VLC area was simulated for
different configurations of LED placement. Furthermore, various network topologies like
linear-bus, star, and tree were experimented. It was observed that star network uniformly
distributes the signal to all the LEDs and offers higher signal to interference ratio. Fol-
lowing the results of this thesis, star distribution network for the chosen LED placement
scenario will be implemented in the OMEGA demonstration showroom.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 OMEGA Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Organization of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Technical Background 8
2.1 Optical Wireless Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 White Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Visible Light Communication based on White LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.1 VLC Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.2 Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3 Network Architectures 17
3.1 Physical Networking Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2 Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2.1 Ethernet Physical Layer Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2.2 Ethernet Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 Coaxial Cables 27
i
CONTENTS
4.1 Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2 Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5 System Modeling 32
6 Inter-symbol Interference 39
6.1 Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.2 Simulation of ISI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6.2.1 ISI in Linear-Bus Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.2.2 ISI in Star Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7 Measurement and simulation for different network topologies 60

7.1 Linear-Bus Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.2 Star Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.3 Tree Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.4 Summary of the Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
8 Final testing of the distribution network and analogue transmitters 71

8.1 Measurement of the signal for different analogue transmitters. . . . . . . . 73
8.2 Measurement of velocity of the signal propagating through the coaxial cable. 76
8.3 Measurement using power splitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8.4 Summary of the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9 Conclusion and Outlook 80
ii
List of Figures
1.1 Footprint of OMEGA demonstration showroom showing VLC and IR region [1]. 2
1.2 Proposed block Diagram for VLC using multiple LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Footprint of the VLC area [1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 A block diagram of VLC transceiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Two approaches for generating white emission from LEDs. [2] . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Block diagram overview of VLC PHY [3]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Different types of OSTAR Lightings [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Typical LED driver circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5 Picture of LED driving circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.1 Bus Topology [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.2 Ring Topology [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.3 Star Topology [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 Tree Topology [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5 A typical thinnet 10Base2 installation [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.6 A typical thicknet 10Base5 installation [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.7 A typical 10/100BaseT installation [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.1 An example of coaxial cable [7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.2 BNC and SMA connectors [7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
iii
LIST OF FIGURES
4.3 Equivalent circuit diagram of Coaxial Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4.4 Absolute cable impedance as a function of frequency [3]. . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.1 Model Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5.2 LED placement in the OMEGA demonstration showroom. . . . . . . . . . 35
5.3 Illumination for configuration I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.4 Illumination for configuration II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.5 Illumination for configuration III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.1 An optical communication scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6.2 Calculation of optical path difference [8]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.3 Optical power received from the transmitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.4 Time delay of the signal arriving to the receiver, and power received . . . . 43
6.5 An example of linear bus setup with 16 LEDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.6 LED placement in the OMEGA demonstration showroom . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.7 Case I: SIR for a bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.8 Case II: SIR for a bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.9 Case III: SIR for a bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.10 Case I: SIR for linear bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.11 Case II: SIR for linear bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.12 Case III: SIR for linear bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6.13 Star networking of 16 LEDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.14 Case I: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable . . . . . . . . . 54
6.15 Case III: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable . . . . . . . . 55
6.16 Case III: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable . . . . . . . . 56
6.17 Case I: SIR for star network with equal lengths of cable . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.18 Case III: SIR for star network with equal lengths of cable . . . . . . . . . . 58
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
7.1 Possible setup for VLC testbed in tapped bus topology . . . . . . . . . . . 61

7.2 Measured output voltage for tapped bus network using Coax Cable . . . . 62
7.3 Measured output voltage for tapped bus network using Coax Cable . . . . 63
7.4 Circuit diagram for simulation of linear bus network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
7.5 Simulated output voltage for tapped bus network using Coax Cable . . . . 64
7.6 Simulated output voltage for tapped bus network using Coax Cable . . . . 65
7.7 Same measurement as in Figure 7.2, but with a SMA-based network. . . . 65
7.8 Star topology using 1:16 power splitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.9 Tree cabling setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.10 Measured output voltage at each taps of one linear bus in tree network . . 69
8.1 Experimental setup for the measurement with driving circuit board . . . . 72
8.2 Picture of the experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
8.3 Photo-detector signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
8.4 Photo-detector signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
8.5 Signal propagation in different driver circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
8.6 Delay of the signal due to difference in the cable length . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8.7 Effect of using power-splitter to the signal received . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
8.8 Effect of using power-splitter to the signal received . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
v
List of Tables
1.1 Specification of the analogue signal to be distributed. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Electro-optical specifications of OSTAR E3A [9]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1 Summary of different physical topologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.2 Ethernet physical layer specification [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.1 Values used for simulation of lighting levels at desk height . . . . . . . . . 34

5.2 Summary of the requirement and result for the simulation of illumination . 34
7.1 Components used for linear bus network measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . 61

7.2 Components required for the star network measurement. . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.3 Voltage available at the first port of the 16-way power-splitter . . . . . . . 67
7.4 Components required for the tree network measurement. . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.5 Voltage available at the output of 4-way power-splitter . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.1 Summary of the modulation index for each analogue transmitters . . . . . 73
vi
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation
Wireless communications is the fastest growing segment of the communications industry.

From satellite transmission, radio, and television broadcasting to the ubiquitous mobile
telephone, wireless communication has revolutionized the way societies function [10]. The
thirst for higher data rate in wireless access network, wireless multimedia applications,
and wireless video is growing. To date, radio technology has been offering these services.
However, due to the limited unlicensed bandwidth and increasing traffic radio spectrum is
becoming increasingly congested.
On the other hand, optical wireless communication provides a cost-effective, flexible so-
lution to the emerging challenges that system and service providers are facing [11]. Optical
wireless communication is primarily an indoor technology that has the potential to be used
as a medium for short-range high-speed wireless communications [12, 13]. Thus, OWC is an
attractive supplement for the existing radio technologies. Optical wireless communications
can be, for instance infra-red (IR) communications and/or visible-light communications
[12, 13]. IR communication for e.g. Infra-Red Data Association (IrDA), is widely spread
in applications like, in notebooks, cellphones, etc. Visible-light communication (VLC)
promises numerous applications. Room lights can broadcast alarms, smart-home applica-
tion messages, or transfer files. Billboards may transmit messages. Brake-lights of a car
may send warnings to the behind it in case of an emergency brake. In addition, VLC uses
frequencies other than radio frequency and they are licence-free, to the date. Thus, abun-
1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
dant unexploited spectrum is available for VLC [3]. The most appealing feature of VLC
is that the same sources can be simultaneously used for lighting, signalling, and display as
well as data communication.
This thesis is part of the OMEGA (Home Gigabit Access) project. OMEGA’s goal is to
develop a technology, and eventually a global standard that enables people to set up ultra-
broadband home networks without having to install any new home wiring. LED-powered
VLC is one of the technologies to achieve this vision. The OMEGA project also aims
to provide a Gbit/s communications network using infra-red wavelengths and 100 Mbit/s
communication using VLC. Figure 1.1 shows the footprint of VLC area of the OMEGA
showroom and its dimensions. Arrays of LEDs will be placed on the ceiling of the VLC
area in such a way that it is homogeneously illuminated. In addition to illumination these
LEDs will be used for data communication.
Figure 1.1: Footprint of OMEGA demonstration showroom showing VLC and IR region
[1].
2
1.2 Objective
Figure 1.2: Proposed block Diagram for VLC using multiple LEDs
Figure 1.2 shows the one of the possible models for VLC broadcasting with an array of
LEDs. These array of LEDs are placed on the ceiling of a room and are used for lighting
as well as data communication. Major objectives of this thesis is listed below.
1. Find the proper LED placement, homogeneously illuminating the VLC area.
2. Design of analogue distribution network for the LEDs placed.
3. Analysis of inter-symbol interference for different LED placement scenario and net-
work topologies used.
Figure 1.3 shows the ceiling footprint of the OMEGA showroom demonstrator in more
detail. It explicitly shows the VLC area and its proposed dimensions. All LEDs placed on
the ceiling are used to broadcast the same information and need to be driven synchronously.
One of the objectives of this thesis is to model the placement of these LEDs on the ceiling
so that that the VLC area is homogeneously illuminated. In addition, there should be
minimum leakage outside the VLC in order to avoid interruption of TV viewing in IR
area. Also, the IR receiver is sensitive to the light. According to the standard [14],
practical range of illuminance level for office illumination at desk area is 200 to 1000 lx .
3
Figure 1.3: Footprint of the VLC area [1]
Thus, 400 lx of illuminance level is required to illuminate the VLC area [3]. The target is
thus to place the LEDs in such a way that 400 lx of illumination level is maintained over
a maximum percentage of the VLC area.
In addition to the modeling of proper placement of LEDs on the ceiling, a network to
distribute analogue signal to these LEDs, needs to be designed. Nevertheless, it would be
desirable to transmit the baseband modulated signal through the distribution network, to
each of the LEDs. Modulator block and DAC could be placed at the input of each LEDs.
However, at the present situation, it is not feasible to install a modulator and DAC at
each LED. This is because the modulation block is currently implemented on an FPGA
testboard, at the transmitter. Placing such testboards at each LED increases the cost,
and requires extra space which is insufficient in our case. Table 1.1 lists the summary of
the requirements for the LED placement and analogue distribution network design. As
stated earlier the VLC area should be homogeneously illuminated with less leakage, the
4
distribution network should be designed such that the cost is minimum and easy to install.
The issue of inter-symbol interference should also be considered (see Chapter 6).
(a) Qualitative specifications

Qualitative specifications
Illumination • VLC area fully illuminated
• maximum area above threshold (i.e. 400 lx)
• minimum variation
Leakage No leakage outside VLC area
Component Cost Least
Type of cable • Cheap
• easy to install
Pre-Amplifier 1 Ideally no amplifier
Number of LED Minimum possible
ISI No ISI.
This implies that analogue signal has to reach each LED at the same time.
Complexity Lowest
1
Amplifier placed between DAC and the distribution network.
(b) Quantitative specifications
Quantitative specifications
Signal Bandwidth (Upper 3dB) 50 MHz
Signal Bandwidth (Lower 3dB) 100 kHz
Nyquist symbol period (Ts ) 10 ns
Maximum time delay without ISI (half of Ts ) 5 ns
Output of DAC 1 Vpp @ 50 Ω
Input signal to the driver circuit max 0.6 Vpp
Table 1.1: Specification of the analogue signal to be distributed.
Given that the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is limited to 50 MHz (LED mod-
ulation bandwidth), the Nyquist symbol period is limited to 10 ns, and ISI will occur if
transmitted data symbols experience delays larger than 5 ns [15]. The distribution network
needs to be designed in such a way that delay experienced by the data symbol transmitted
through LEDs and arriving at the receiver, is less than 5 ns. Looking into the design of
the distribution network different network topologies like bus, tree, and star and cables
like coaxial, optical fiber, are considered. Different types of networking techniques using
different cables are experimented and simulated (see Chapter 7).
5
1.3 OMEGA Project
OMEGA is an integrated platform within the seventh framework [16] bringing together
19 European partners from industry and academia with the common goal of developing a
new global standard for ultra-broadband home networks reaching one gigabit per second
without the need to install new wires in homes [17]. The targeted services could include
novel entertainment services such as tele-presence, 3D gaming, enhanced interactivity, vir-
tual reality, as well as e-health applications and services for the exchange of user-generated
business or multimedia content.
The realization of high bandwidth transmission networks in homes is not too far off.
Currently OMEGA is involved in establishing such a home network. At the heart of the
new system is a technology-independent media access control (MAC) layer [18]. This layer
controls a multiple-technology gigabit network and provides services as well as connectivity
to any number of devices in any room of the house or flat [17].
The OMEGA project will, among others, rely on infra red and visible light for pro-
viding optical wireless communications. One of the milestones of the OMEGA project is
to provide 100Mbit/s communications using ceiling light VLC. This has to fulfil the illu-
mination function of the ceiling lightings [16]. Figure 1.4 shows a block diagram of the
VLC transceiver, including the MAC layer and it also shows the division of work among
all the partners. Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) is responsible for the digital PHY. The
department of Information and Communications, Siemens AG, is responsible for the ana-
logue PHY, particularly the transmitter side. VLC at 20 Mbit/s has already been realized
successfully with a single LED module in [19]. Now, the next step is to establish successful
visible-light communication with multiple LEDs, for which design of distribution network
and proper placing of these LEDs is a must. This includes the major work of my thesis.
The footprints of OMEGA demonstration showroom was already shown in Figure 1.1.
1.4 Organization of the Thesis
Chapter 2 summarises the technical background necessary for the project. Optical wire-
less communication, visible-light communication and basics of white LEDs are discussed
briefly. Chapter 3 summarises different network topologies like linear bus, star, and tree.
Furthermore, it introduces the Ethernet and its standards. In chapter 4, coaxial cable and
6
Figure 1.4: A block diagram of VLC transceiver to be developed within OMEGA (EU, FP
7-1).
Project Partners: FT: France Telecom, HHI: Fraunhofer-Heinrich Hertz Institute, UoA:
University of Athens, Siemens CT MM 6 (Packaging & Assembly) and Siemens CT IC 2
(Network & Multimedia Communications).
its equivalent circuits are discussed in detail. The simulation for the Illumination and ISI
is presented in chapter 5 and 6 respectively. The measurement of different network topolo-
gies and different cables, and its result are are discussed in chapter 7. The final test of the
analogue transmitters and the chosen distribution network are presented in chapter 8. The
outcomes are discussed together with possible directions for future research in chapter 9.
7
Chapter 2
Technical Background
2.1 Optical Wireless Communication
Optical wireless communication (OWC) refers to the use of free-space propagation of opti-
cal waves. Although ‘wireless’ conventionally is synchronous to radio technology, the next
generation of wireless communication systems (4G) will be based on several complemen-
tary access technologies, one of which could be OWC [20, 21, 12]. The availability of a
huge and unregulated bandwidth, without electromagnetic interference (EMI) with radio
waves, make OWC a viable candidate to supplement the existing spectrum-starved radio
communication. Furthermore, OWC signals can be confined in space since they do not
penetrate through walls. If each room is considered a cell then there is thus no inter-cell
interference. This enables a simple design of high-capacity wireless local-area networks as
the same operating frequencies can be used in adjacent cells. Since, for the same reasons,
OWC offers high degree of privacy and security against eavesdropping, it can also be used
for the transmission of content-sensitive data.
Nevertheless, OWC also comes with some disadvantages. For example, in many indoor
environments there exists intense ambient optical noise arising from sunlight, incandescent
lighting and fluorescent lighting, which induce noise in a visible-light receiver [22]. Because
visible light can not penetrate walls, communication from one room to another requires the
installation of VLC access points that are interconnected via a wired backbone. However,
transmitter power may be limited by concerns of power consumption and eye safety [23].
Visible-light signals can represent a hazard to the human eye when transmitted power
8
CHAPTER 2. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
exceeds a certain threshold [24].

OWC can be classified as Infrared optical wireless or visible-light Optical Wireless de-
pending upon the region of spectrum used as a medium for data transmission. The majority
of installed systems operate in the near infrared (IR) at wavelengths either around 850 nm
or in the range of 1550 nm (mainly due to existing optical sources, receiver technology, and
radiation-safety regulations) [25]. Infrared technologies have been widely researched and
have lead to numerous point-to-point applications such as short-range low-speed links ad-
hering to the Infra-Red Data Association (IrDA) standard [25]. Recently, communication
via visible-light has gained attention in research, driven by progress in visible light LED
technology [20].
9
2.2 White Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)
Figure 2.1: Two approaches for generating white emission from LEDs. [2]
LEDs are semiconductor devices that emit light when biased in the forward direction of
the p-n junction. LEDs present many advantages over traditional light sources, including
lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness and smaller size [26]. One
interesting characteristics of LEDs is that they are capable of switching on and off faster
than than what human eye can distinguish. The power of the light emitted by LED can
be readily modulated by altering the driving current applied to the device. Therefore,
besides becoming popular for illumination purpose, LEDs can also be used in wireless data
transmission. LEDs are also used for architectural lighting due to the inherent ease of
dimming and color rendering [27]. In automotive applications, LEDs are extensively used
for tail, brake and indicator lights. Traffic signals also use LEDs for reasons of reliability
and lifetime [28].
Two approaches are generally used to generate white-light with LEDs. The first ap-
proach is to combine light from, e.g., red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs [2]. Typically, these
triplet devices consist of a single package with three emitters and combining optics, and
they are often used in application where variable color emission is required. These devices
are attractive for VLC as they offer the opportunity for transmitting different data on each
LED. The other technique is to use a single blue LED which is coated with, or sometimes
embedded in, a layer phosphor that emits red-shifted light upon absorbing a portion of
blue light emitted by the LED. The red-shifted emission mixes additively with the non-
absorbed blue component to create the required white color (see Figure 2.1). At present,
the later approach is often favored due to the lower complexity and cost [28]. Nevertheless,
in single-chip devices the phosphor typically limits the speed of overall optical response.
10
However, as observed by Grubor et al in [15], their disadvantageously small modulation

index can be increased from 3 to 20 MHz when detecting only the blue part of the emitted
spectrum [19].
11
2.3 Visible Light Communication based on White LEDs
A blockdiagram overview of simple VLC Physical Layer is shown in Figure 2.2. The
Figure 2.2: Block diagram overview of VLC PHY [3].
VLC PHY consists of mainly digital and analogue transmitter, as well as the analogue
and digital receiver. The digital transmitter consist of data source, baseband modula-
tor, and digital-to-analogue converter (DAC). Similarly, the digital receiver contains a
analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), baseband demodulator, and data sink. The analogue
transmitter includes a LED driving circuit (trans-conductance amplifier, TCA [3]) and
visible-light source, viz. the LED. The receiver includes imaging optics, a photo diode,
a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA), and a band-pass filter. The digital PHY delivers an
AC baseband signal (UAC ) to a driving circuit that linearly amplifies the AC signal and
transforms it into a current. This current is then then added onto the DC bias current by
aid of, e.g., a bias tee. Since LEDs works in a linear region with unipolar driving currents,
12
the absolute driving current (DC+AC) has to be larger than zero. The total current ILED is
fed to the LED, which, in turn, emits a modulated optical power Popt . The received power
(Popt ) impinges onto an optical concentrator (lens), is directed through an optical filter,
and converted into a current IPD in a photo diode. The AC component of the current is
then trans-impedance amplified (UPD ) and band-pass filtered, (UPD,filter ). The output from
the band-pass filter is converted to digital signal by aid of an ADC. Finally, the digital
signal is demodulated.
2.3.1 VLC Components
OSTAR Lighting
In order to illuminate the OMEGA showroom (13 m2 footprint) with manageable number of
LEDs, OSTAR lighting modules were chosen for this project, since they provide noticeable
higher illuminance flux than comparable high-power LED [4, 3]. OSTAR Lighting source
was developed with an emphasis on lighting, e.g., room lighting, architectural lighting,
industrial lighting, radiator as well as spot lighting and flashlights. In general, there
are four variants of the OSTAR Lighting, which differ only slightly from each other (see
Figure 2.3). The first two are based on a module with 4 semiconductor chips (E2); one
variant is constructed without a lens, the other with a lens (ExA and ExB respectively).
The other two modules are based on a construction with 6 semiconductor chips (E3). In
order to keep the overall number of LEDs low, the 6-chip OSTAR version is chosen, viz.
E3A [3]. Table 2.1 states the technical parameter of 6-chip OSTAR modules.
OSTAR Type E3A

No. of LED chips 6
Typical bias voltage (V) 21
Corresponding typical bias current (A) 0.7
Corresponding luminous flux (lm) at 0.7 driving current 300
Corresponding typical illuminance (cd) 95
Maximum Dc bias current (mA) 1
Full viewing angle at half illuminance 130◦
Table 2.1: Electro-optical specifications of OSTAR E3A [9].
13
(a) Modules of the OSTAR-Lighting, with (b) OSTAR-Lighting with lens and 6 chips
and without primary optics (LEW E3B)
Figure 2.3: Different types of OSTAR Lightings [4].
DC Driving Circuit
Figure 2.5 shows the typical LED driver circuit. As mentioned in Section 2.2 the power
of the light emitted by LED can be readily modulated by altering the driving current
applied to the device. For small-package LEDs typical DC driving currents amount to
10’s of mA and for lighting white LEDs the driving currents can exceed 1 A [16]. It was
measured that for E3B LED, the normalised optical power for LED driving current beyond
900 mA were influenced by excess heat dissipation from the LED and these values were
hence dropped when fitting the measured data [3]. The driving currents of several hundred
Figure 2.4: Typical LED driver circuit for modulating the optical output form a (white)
LED [16].
14
milliamps at several volts for OSTAR are supplied by commercial driver ICs and units.
These devices typically create electrical noise in the kHz or MHz region [16]. This noise
does not affect the illumination purpose much as it is a problem in data communication.
However, this electrical noise from the DC source decreases the signal to interference ratio
of the transmitted data signal. This case is of particular concern when increasing the data
rate beyond the bandwidth limit by the use of spectrally efficient modulation [15]. The
picture of the driving circuit used in the project is shown in Figure 2.5.
Figure 2.5: Picture of the LED driving circuit used in the project.
2.3.2 Modulation
Various schemes have been investigated. Non-return-to-zero on-off-keying (NRZ-OOK)

has been used for several demonstrations [29, 15, 28], and this scheme has the advantage
of simplicity and good immunity to LED non-linearity. The high channel signal to noise
ratio (SNR) makes multilevel modulation seems attractive, and discrete multitone (DMT)
has been investigated in this purpose [28, 29, 30, 31]. In OMEGA project, the data link
is bandwidth-limited at the transmitter side to 10’s of MHz, which poses a hurdle for the
OMEGA target data rate of 100 Mbit/s. This bandwidth limitation can, for instance, be
overcome by spatial multiplexing equalisation, and multi-level modulation. The OMEGA
VLC prototype will either rely on the latter or a combination of equalisation and multi-
15
level modulation [28]. Grubor et al. demonstrated VLC data transmission in excess of
100 Mbit/s for a 3-dB bandwidth of ∼ 20 MHz. This result was achieved by the use of
quadrature amplitude modulation on discrete multitones [15].
16
Chapter 3
Network Architectures
Center of the tiles on the ceiling of the VLC area are possible grid points where we can put
the lamps, and the light is produced by LEDs to illuminate the VLC area in the demon-
stration showroom (see Figure 1.3). All these lamps are used for wide-area broadcast and
the same information needs to be transmitted from each of them in a synchronised matter.
Each of the lamps is modulated by the aid of an LED driver circuit (see Section 2.3.1). The
information to be transmitted by the LED is modulated by the use of a digital baseband
modulator and the light is converted in to an analogue signal. This analogue signal needs
to be distributed to all LED driver circuits in order to broadcast the data through the
lamps. The output of the DAC as specified in Table 1.1, is maximum 1 Vpp at 50 Ω, and
the same signal amplitude is required at the input of each driving circuits. Thus, the task
at hand is to design an analogue distribution network satisfying the specifications.
Similar to the physical network topologies used in LAN (typically used for networking
computers and other types of terminals), the analogue transmitter in our system can be
connected using linear bus, star, or tree networks. The properties of these networks is
discussed hereafter. Unlike computer networking in LAN, it is not necessary for us to
follow the Ethernet physical layer specifications as we are designing analogue distribution
network. However, it can be advantageous for us to follow these specifications (see table
3.2). The remainder of this chapter is organized as follows. Different possible physical
networking topologies are explained in Section 3.1, and in Section 3.2 we provide a short
introduction to the Ethernet.
17
CHAPTER 3. NETWORK ARCHITECTURES
3.1 Physical Networking Topologies
Network topology is the study of the arrangement of the elements (links, or nodes etc.)
of a network. The physical topology of a network describes the layout of the cables and
workstations, and the logical order and location of all network components. The four most
widely used topologies are the following
• Bus Topology: A linear bus topology consists of a main run of a cable with a
terminator at each end (see Figure 3.1), and it uses the main run to connect all the
devices. The terminator shown in Figure 3.1 is replaced with 50 − Ω coax terminator
and coaxial cable is used for the cabling. The cable functions as a shared communi-
cation medium, that devices attach or tap into, by aid of an interface connector. A
device willing to communicate with another device on the network sends a message
onto the wire that all devices receive, but only the intended recipient accepts and
processes the information. Bus networks are relatively easy to install and require less
cables compared to the other alternatives [5]. However, failure in the main cable will
disable the whole network.
• Ring Topology: This is a network topology where each device has exactly two
neighboring devices for communication (see Figure 3.2). All messages travel through
a ring in the same direction (clockwise or anticlockwise). However, if there is a failure
at any point the device can send the information in the opposite direction.
• Star Topology: Star topologies are used in many home networks. A star network
features a central connection point called a “hub”, which may be a hub, a switch, or
a router (see Figure 3.3). Typically unshielded-twisted-pair (UTP) cables are used
for connecting devices to the hub. Compared to the bus network, it requires more
cables but a failure in one cable does not affect the other lines.
• Tree Topology: This topology is known as a hybrid of bus and star topology.
It integrates several star topologies together into one bus as shown in Figure 3.4.
Typically hubs are connected to the main bus and devices are connected to the hub
as in a star.
Table 3.1 depicts the summary of different topologies used in our experiment and their
ranking based on their feasibility of implementation in our project, where 1 represents the
best candidate.
18
Figure 3.1: Bus Topology [5]. In the figure computers stand for the devices to be connected.
Figure 3.2: Ring Topology [5]. In the figure computers stand for the end-devices to be
connected in the network.
Figure 3.3: Star Topology [5]. In the figure, computers stand for the end-devices to be
Comparing the characteristics of different topologies with the requirements specified

in table 1.1, star topology seems to be the best networking topology for the project.
Various experiments were conducted using different topologies. Detail description of the
19
Figure 3.4: Tree Topology [5]. In the figure computers stand for the end-devices to be
Characterstics Linear Bus Star Tree
Cables used Coaxial & SMA Coaxial & SMA Coaxial & SMA
Attenuation higher than star and tree lowest higher than star
Output at end-devices non-uniform amplitude 1 uniform non-uniform
ISI higher than star and tree lowest lower than bus
Pre-Amplifier 2 very high-powered medium-powered high-powered
Installation Complexity highest least higher than bus
Ranking (1-3) 3 1 (best) 2
1
non-uniform amplitude of the signal implies that the amplitude of the signal at each tap is not equal. This is the case in
linear-bus and tree network.
2
Pre-Amplifier is needed in between DAC and the power-splitter to amplify the signal before dividing the signal among all
the analogue transmitters.
Table 3.1: Summary of different physical topologies.
20
experiments and results are presented in Chapter 7. They indicate that the star topology
was the most suitable topology for our project.
21
3.2 Ethernet
Ethernet was originally based on the idea of computers communicating over a shared coaxial
cable acting as a broadcast transmission medium. Ethernet LANs consist of network nodes
and interconnecting media. The network nodes fall into two major classes:
• Data Terminal Equipments (DTE): DTEs are either the destination or source
of data frames. Some of the typical DTEs are PCs, workstations, print servers etc.
• Data Communication Equipments (DCE): DCEs are the network devices that
receive and forward frames across the networks. Repeaters, network switches, routers,
interface cards, modems are some of the typical examples of DCE.
3.2.1 Ethernet Physical Layer Specification
Table 3.2 provides a summary of various physical layer specifications defined for 10Mbps
to 100Mb/s Ethernet. The first version of Ethernet, which was introduced in the 1980s,
supported a maximum data rate of 10Mb/s. Later fast Ethernet standards increased this
maximum data rate to 100 Mb/s. Today, Gigabit Ethernet technology further extends
peak performance up to 10 Gb/s.
Standard Cables used Maximum speed Maximum length Topology

10Base2 Thin Coaxial 10 Mbps 185 meters Bus
10Base5 Thick Coaxial 10 Mbps 500 meters Bus
10BaseT Unshielded Twisted Pair 100 Mbps 100 meters Star
100BaseTX Unshielded Twisted Pair 100 Mbps 100 meters Star
10BaseF Optical Fiber 10 Mbps 2000 meters Star or Tree
Table 3.2: Ethernet physical layer specification [6].
3.2.2 Ethernet Types
Different cables like coaxial, Twisted pair and 0ptical fibers are used in the Ethernet
standards.
1. Ethernet Coax
In the beginning, coax was the most common cable used for connecting workstations
22
in a small office or home networks. Depending upon the thickness of the cable, they
are used in the 10Base2 or 10Base5 Ethernet standards. A detailed description of
the 10Base2/5 standards is provided below.
• 10Base2 Ethernet: It is also called cheapernet or thinnet, as it uses the

coaxial cable which is thinner and cheaper compared to the one used in 10Base5
Ethernet. It basically uses RG-58A\U, 50-Ω thin coax cable. It supports a
tapped bus topology as shown in Figure 3.5. The thinnet coax is routed from
one device to another in a daisy-chain fashion. At each device, a T connector
is used to tap the coax. At each end of the cable, a 50-Ω terminator (grounded
at one end) is placed to minimize reflections of the LAN signal [6]. Connectors
that are used with thinnet are BNC connectors. The maximum allowable length
of the thinnet is 185 m, while the minimum separation between two devices is
0.45 m.
Figure 3.5: A typical thinnet 10Base2 installation [6].
• 10Base5 Ethernet: Original implementation of Ethernet used 50-Ω thick coax

cable like RG8, which is now referred as thicknet. It supports the signalling rate
of 10 Mb/s over maximum length of 500 m. It allows larger length than thinnet
but is more complex to install. It consists of a thicknet backbone cable that
is tapped with a series of transceivers or media attachment unit (MAU). Each
device is connected to a single transceiver with a transceiver cable (often referred
to as AUI cable). A typical 10Base5 ethernet installation is shown in Figure 3.6.
Similar to thinnet, two ends of the network should be terminated using 50-Ω
terminators. The connectors used in thicknet are N connectors.
2. Ethernet Twisted pair

The introduction of twisted pair wiring into standard Ethernet networking ushered a
23
Figure 3.6: A typical thicknet 10Base5 installation [6].
new age of network connectivity. 10BaseT (and 100BaseT) Ethernet uses unshielded-
twisted-pair (UTP) cables and it supports active star topology, unlike the tapped
bus topology in 10Base2 and 10Base5. In the beginning, wiring in existing telephone
system was the main goal of 10BaseT. However, now it is extensively used in LAN
connections. According to the Ethernet standard, the maximum allowed cable length
is merely less than 100 m (90 m for horizontal cable and 10 m for other cords at each
end) [6]. Data transmitted by a device first goes through the hub, which repeats the
signal to all other connected devices. Thus, if a hub is used, the cable length of each
terminal is independent of the length of rest of the networks.
3. Ethernet Optical Fibre

Recently, Ethernet over optical fiber is widely used, specially for networking in big
buildings. It supports everything from fast Ethernet to gigabit Ethernet. Optical
fiber network can also be relevant in our project because it supports high data-date,
and is less bulky compared to the coaxial cables. Ethernet over optical fiber has been
standardized as explained below.
• FOIRL: This was the original standard for ethernet over fiber . In this standard,
optical fiber cable is used only as a inter-repeater link. The original FOIRL
specification described a link segment of up to 1,000 meters to be used between
repeaters only [32].
• 10BaseFL: It is an updated version of FOIRL. 10BASE-FL signaling equipment
is designed to inter-operate with existing FOIRL-based equipment. 10BASE-FL
provides a fiber-optic link segment that may be up to 2000 meters long, provided
24
Figure 3.7: A typical 10/100BaseT installation [6].
that the segment only uses 10BASE-FL devices [32].

• 10BaseFB: This system allows many Ethernet repeaters to be linked in series,
exceeding the usual limit on the total number of repeaters that may be used in
a given 10 Mbps Ethernet system.
• 10BaseFP: The fiber passive (FP) standard provides a set of specifications for
a “passive fiber optic mixing segment”. It is based on a non-powered device that
acts as a fiber-optic signal coupler, linking multiple devices (e.g. computers) on
a fiber optic media system. According to the standard, 10BASE-FP segments
may be up to 500 meters long; a single 10BASE-FP fiber optic passive signal
coupler may link up to 33 devices [32].
3.3 Summary
Various experiments and study were done for all the topologies. For linear bus network,
measurements were done using thinnet coaxial cable and SMA cable. For star network,
coaxial cable (SMA and BNC) were used as it is easy to install and has a higher bandwidth
compared to the twisted pair cable. However, BNC cable is preferred to SMA cable because
of its wide availability and low cost, and that of it’s related components. Star networking
25
using optical fiber could also be a good candidate for designing the analogue distribution
network. However, the experiment for optical fiber star network was not performed due
to high complexity in design of the required transceiver, and limited time-frame. Detail
description of the experiments, simulations and results are explained in Chapter 7.
26
Chapter 4
Coaxial Cables
Coaxial cable, or coax, is an electrical cable with an inner conductor surrounded by a

tubular insulating layer, typically of a flexible material with a high dielectric constant (see
Figure 4.1). The insulating layer is surrounded by a conductive layer (metallic shield),
and finally covered with a thin insulating layer on the outside. The inner conductor and
the outer insulating layer have a common geometrical axis. That is why it is called a
coaxial cable. Coaxial cable is used as a transmission line for radio-frequency signals,
in applications such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas,
computer network connections, and in distributing cable television signals. Coaxial cable
confines the electromagnetic field within the space between the inner and outer conductors.
Thus, it protects the signal from electromagnetic interference.
(a) Coaxial cable cutaway (b) RG59 flexible coaxial cable. A: outer
plastic sheath B: copper screen C: inner di-
electric insulator D: copper core
Figure 4.1: An example of coaxial cable [7]
27
CHAPTER 4. COAXIAL CABLES
Similar to an electrical power cord, coaxial cable also conducts AC signals between
locations, but the cable is designed to carry radio-frequency currents (typically few GHz).
Current travels from the source in one of the conductors and returns in the other. Coaxial
lines can be bent and moderately twisted without detrimental impact on its performance.
In radio-frequency applications up to a few gigahertz, the wave propagates primarily in
the transverse electric magnetic (TEM) mode, which means that the electric and magnetic
fields are both perpendicular to the direction of propagation. However, above a certain
cutoff frequency, transverse electric (TE) and/or transverse magnetic (TM) modes can also
propagate, as they do in a waveguide. It is usually undesirable to transmit signals above
the cutoff frequency (typically few GHz), since it may cause multiple modes with different
phase velocities to propagate, interfering with each other. The outer diameter is roughly
inversely proportional to the cutoff frequency.
Coaxial cable come with BNC (BNC cable) connectors as well as SMA connectors (SMA
cable) which is described hereafter.
4.1 Connectors
From the signal point of view, a connector can be viewed as a short, rigid cable. The
connector is designed to have the same impedance as the attached cable in order to avoid
the reflection. Connectors are often plated with high-conductivity metals such as silver or
gold, while some connectors use nickel or tin plating. Silver is used due to its excellent
conductivity. Although silver oxidizes quickly, the silver oxide that is produced is still
conductive. This may pose a cosmetic issue, but it does not degrade performance. Par-
ticularly, in our project we will be using SMA and BNC connectors, which are described
below:
• BNC Connector:
The BNC (Bayonet Neill-Concelman) connector is a very common type of RF con-
nector used for terminating coaxial cable. It is used for RF- signal connections, for
analog and serial digital interface video signals, amateur radio antenna connections,
aviation electronics (avionics) and many other types of electronic test equipments.
BNC connector were commonly used in 10base2 thin Ethernet networks, both on
cable interconnections and network cards. BNC connector that are found commer-
cially, feature impedances of 50 Ω and 75 Ω. 75-Ω BNC connectors are primarily used
28
for video and DS3 Telco central office applications, whereas 50-Ω BNC connectors
are used for data and RF communication [7]. Figure 4.2(a) shows some of the BNC
connectors.
• SMA Connector:
SMA (SubMiniature version A) connectors are coaxial RF connectors developed in
1960s as a minimal connector interface for coaxial cable with a screw type coupling
mechanism. The connector has a 50-Ω impedance. It offers excellent electrical per-
formance from DC to 18 GHz [7]. Some examples of SMA connectors are shown in
Figure 4.2(b).
(a) BNC Connector (b) SMA Connector
Figure 4.2: BNC and SMA connectors [7]
4.2 Equivalent Circuit
A transmission line can be considered to consist of a network of very large number of

cascaded T-sections, each of very small length δl. The Figure 4.3 depicts one of the
T-sections. The parameters associated with transmission lines as shown in the figure are
resistance per unit length, R′ [Ω/m], inductance per unit length, L′ [H/m], conductance per
unit length, G′ [S/m], and capacitance per unit length, C ′ [F/m]. The value of inductance
and capacitance per unit length can be determined using following equations [3].
2πε
C′ = , and (4.1)
ln( Dd )

µ D
L′ = ln , (4.2)
2π d
29
Figure 4.3: Equivalent circuit diagram of Coaxial Cable. The introduced symbols are
explained in the text body [3].
where ε and µ are the dielectric constant and magnetic permeability of the insulator,
respectively. They are mathematically defined as,
ε = ε0 εr , and (4.3)
µ = µ0 µr (4.4)
where, ε0 and εr is dielectric constant of free space and relative dielectric constant, re-
spectively. Similarly, µ0 and µr is the permeability of free space and relative permeability
respectively. D is the inside diameter of the shield, and d is the outside diameter of the
inner conductor [7]. The series resistance per unit length R′ is the resistance of the inner
conductor and the shield at low frequency. At higher frequencies, the skin effect increases
the effective resistance by confining the conduction to a thin layer of each conductor. The
conductance per unit length G′ is usually very small because insulators with good dielectric
properties are used. At high frequencies, a dielectric can have a significant resistive loss
[7].
The most important characteristic of coaxial cable is the characteristic impedance,
denoted by Z0 . It is defined as the ratio of voltage to current and is given by,
s
R′ + jwL′
Z0 = ( . (4.5)
G′ + jwC ′
where, w is the angular frequency in radian. Due to cable insulation, G′ can be neglected
30
when compared to wC ′ . Therefore, the equation for characteristic impedance reduces to,
s
R′ + jwL′
Z0 = ( . (4.6)
jwC ′
At higher frequencies R′ can be neglected compared to wL′ . The equation can thus be
further reduced to r
L′
Z0 = . (4.7)
C′
Eqn. (4.7) implies that the characteristic impedance is independent of the frequency at
higher frequency. This claim is corroborated by help of Figure 4.4. Coaxial cable must
Figure 4.4: Absolute cable impedance as a function of frequency [3].
always be connected to a matched load otherwise the transmitted signal will be reflected
back to the source. Thus, for signal distribution, impedance matching is a must. Commer-
cial coaxial cables have characteristic impedance of 50, 52, 75 and 93 Ω. The RF industry
uses standard type-names for coaxial cables. RG-6 with characteristic impedance of 75 Ω
is the most commonly-used coaxial cable for home use, and the majority of connections
outside Europe are by F connectors. However, in our project BNC and SMA cable with
characteristic impedance of 50 Ω were used because of the standards followed and wide
availability of related components. The performance of both of the cables were found to be
similar. However, coaxial cable is favored because of easy availability and low cost of BNC
cables and other components with BNC connector, compared to the SMA (see Chapter 3).
31
Chapter 5
System Modeling
One of the objectives of the project is to model the number of LEDs and their placement
on the ceiling such that the VLC area (see Figure 1.3) is fully illuminated, satisfying the
specifications listed in Table 1.1. For proper lighting, a certain brightness of the illuminated
surface is required, and for a reliable high-speed data transmission, sufficient optical power
is needed. Both of these conditions need to be considered in the system design.
Since general lighting can be considered as the primary purpose for an LED source
(with data transmission as its secondary function), we need to ensure sufficient horizontal
brightness at the desktop surface. As mentioned earlier in Section 1.2, we regard 400
lx as a minimal brightness at the desktop height within the VLC area in the OMEGA
demonstration showroom (see Figure 1.3), and aim for ≥ 400 lx over the area [15].
The Figure 5.1 shows a model room of desk-top height 1.95 m introducing the illu-
minance and other parameters explained hereafter. According to Gfeller and Bapst [2],
illuminance is defined as luminous flux per unit area
E = δφ/δA = I(θ)/r 2 , (5.1)
and depends on the source luminous intensity I(θ) [cd] in the direction θ [rad]. The
luminous intensity of a generalised Lambertian source with the lambert index mTx , as
assumed in this thesis [13, 33] is given by [2]
I(θ) = I0 cosmTx (θ). (5.2)
32
CHAPTER 5. SYSTEM MODELING
E accounts for the radiation pattern of the light source and the distance to the illuminated
surface, r. The horizontal illuminance is the projection of the illumination E onto the
horizontal plane, viz.
Eh = E · cos ψ = I0 cosmTx (θ) cosψ/r 2 . (5.3)
where I0 = I(θ=0) = (mTx + 1)φ/(2π) is the maximum luminous intensity of an LED [2],
θ is the angle of irradiance, ψ is the angle of incidence, and r is the distance between an
LED and a detector’s surface (see Figure 5.1). The order of Lambertian emission mTx is
given by the semi-angle θmax at half illuminance of an LED φ1/2 :
mTx = −1/ log2 (cos θmax ). (5.4)
Simulations for calculating the horizontal illuminance over the VLC area were done using
Figure 5.1: Model Room. Definition of the shown parameters are introduced in this chap-
ter.
the parameters listed in Table 5.1.

In order to investigate the behavior of each configuration of LED placement, some
parameters like standard deviation of illuminance within the VLC area, and percentage of
the VLC area featuring an illuminance above 400 lx, and leakage percentage which is the
33
Parameters Values
LED modulation bandwidth 50 MHz
Maximum allowed delay without ISI 5 ns 1
Field of View (half-angle) 30◦
Half Power angle (half-angle, θmax ) 19◦
Room height (measured from the floor) 2.75 m
Desk height 0.8 m
Room height (measured from the table) 1.95 m
Minimum separation of LEDs 0.55 m
1
For each submitted data symbol, all signals arriving at the receiver with a delay of more than half of the symbol period
after the first signal, contribute to ISI [15].
Table 5.1: Values used for simulation of lighting levels at desk height, and ISI analysis in
Chapter 6. (see Figure 5.1 and 1.3.)
percentage of illumination outside the VLC area with respect to the total illumination due
to the LEDs. Figure 5.2(a) shows the VLC area and possible locations where LEDs can be
placed. The ceiling of the VLC demonstrator has square tiles and LEDs have to be placed
at the center of these tiles (see Figure 1.3). Different configurations were simulated and
some of the possible configurations are shown in Figure 5.2(b), 5.2(c) and 5.2(d). Results
of the lighting calculations are shown in Figure 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 respectively. Table 5.2 lists
the summary of the simulation result and the requirement.
Config 1 Config 2 Config 3

Parameter Requirement
Fig:5.2(b) Fig:5.2(c) Fig:5.2(d)
Illuminance above 400 lx (in %) maximum 96% 98% 98%
No. of LEDs minimum 17 18 18
Std. deviation of E within the VLC area minimum 12% 9% 11%
Leakage (in %) minimum 10% 10% 10%
Table 5.2: Summary of the requirement and result for the simulation of lighting levels at
desk height.
Comparing the result of various configurations with the requirement of the project (see
Table 5.2), it can be seen that the first configuration is the best with high illumination
within the area, lowest standard deviation and minimum number of LEDs satisfying the
lighting requirement. Configuration I is chosen for final implementation of the OMEGA
project because it uses only 17 number of LEDs ie. one less than other configurations and
it has competitive values for other parameters.
34
Possile placement of LEDs on the ceiling of the showroom: Grid LED Placement
4 4
Grid Grid
LED
3.5 3.5
Room dimension in y−direction [m]

3 3
2.5 2.5
2 VLC area 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Room dimension in x−direction [m] Room dimension in x−direction [m]
(a) Possible positions for LED placement on (b) Configuration I

the ceiling of the showroom
LED Placement LED Placement

4 4
Grid Grid
LED LED
3.5 3.5
Room dimension in y−direction
Room dimension in y−direction
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Room dimension in x−direction Room dimension in x−direction
(c) Configuration II (d) Configuration III
Figure 5.2: LED placement in the OMEGA demonstration showroom.
35
Above 400 lx = 96.6 % Leakage =10.7 % Mean=514 lx σE =12.8 %

0
Illuminance
30
3.5 500
Grid
LED
100
200
200
200
500
300
500
2.5
position of Rx in y direction [m]
400
300
400
400
500
2
400
100
600
500
50
1.5
0
200
200
300
600
1
300
400
500
0.5 40
0
0
10
300
1 2 3 4
position of Rx in x direction [m]
Figure 5.3: Illumination for configuration I.
36
Illuminance
3.5
0
Grid
40
LED
50
200
500
300
300
200
500
400
2.5
600
0
100
60
500
2
400
200
500
600
300
600
1.5
300
200
400
1
500
100
500
0.5
400
200
0
50
1 2 3 4
Figure 5.4: Illumination for configuration II.
37
500 Illuminance
3.5
Grid
300
LED
60
0
200
200
500
100
600
200
300
2.5
300
500
400
400
600
2
600
600
500
0
400
60
1.5
200
500
100
200
300
1
300
600
400
500
0.5
400
10
300 0
0
20
1 2 3 4
Figure 5.5: Illumination for configuration III.
38
Chapter 6
Inter-symbol Interference
6.1 Theory
Intersymbol interference (ISI) is a form of distortion of a signal in which one symbol

transmitted at certain time overlaps with the subsequent symbols. This is an unwanted
phenomenon as the previous delayed signal when combined with the present signal, act
as interference, thus making the communication less reliable and limiting the transmission
speed. ISI stems from multi-path propagation of the emitted signals (through cables as
well as air). Thus, in any communication, one of the important tasks is to limit ISI. In
VLC, the amount of ISI depends on the chosen transmission scenario (like room properties,
distribution of emitters at the ceiling) and the transmitter itself (directionality of emission,
transmitted power, modulation bandwidth). For ISI analysis, it is assumed that for each
submitted symbol all signals arriving at the receiver with a delay of more than half of the
symbol period after the first signal, contribute to ISI [15]. Therefore, the received optical
signal power is,
X
PR,sig = PR (ti ≤ Ts /2) (6.1)
i
X
PR,ISI = PR (ti > Ts /2) (6.2)
i
Given that the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is limited to 50 MHz (see Table 1.1 in
page 5), the nyquist symbol period is limited to 10 ns, and ISI will occur if transmitted
data symbols experience delays larger than 5 ns. Important properties to be considered in
39
CHAPTER 6. INTER-SYMBOL INTERFERENCE
the ISI analysis are the half-power (HP) angle of the transmitter, and field-of-view (FOV)
for the receiver. The half power angle is the angle between the points where radiance
has decreased to half of the maximum values and FOV is the angle between the points
from where the receiver is receiving half of the maximum signal received. Mathematical
definitions of these parameters are given below.
r
1
FOV = tan−1 (6.3)
h
r
2
HP = tan−1 (6.4)
h
where r1 , r2 and h are exemplified in Figure 6.1. The optical path differences between the
Figure 6.1: An optical communication scenario elucidating FOV and HP (see Eqs (6.3)
and (6.4)) [8].
signal can cause delay spread. These path differences are also due to line-of sight (LoS)
signals from different sources arriving at the same receiver. If more than one transmitters
fall within the FOV of the receiver, the receiver will capture strong signals from different
transmitters with certain time delays. For the scenario shown in Figure 6.2, the delay
between the signals is given by Eq. (6.5). In case the signals depart at the same time from
all the transmitters. p √
(w − x)2 + h2 − x2 + h2
∆tair = , (6.5)
c
where c is the vacuum speed of light and w, x, h are defined in Figure 6.2. If all the
transmitters are driven in lock step, which is the case in our scenario, a difference in
cabling length from a common distribution point to each of the LEDs can also lead to ISI.
Therefore, the total delay between the signals arriving from different transmitters is the
sum of delay due to electrical and optical path difference. This total delay must be less
than 5 ns in order to avoid ISI. The time delay due to electrical path difference in the
40
Figure 6.2: Calculation of optical path difference [8].
one-dimensional case of Figure 6.2 is given by,
∆lcable w
∆tcable = = . (6.6)
Vg 0.66c
where Vg = 0.66c is the group velocity in [34]. And the total delay can be calculated as,
∆ttotal = ∆tair + ∆tcable . (6.7)
For a source with Lambertian radiation characteristic, the optical power PR,opt of signal
coming from each LEDs, and incident on the photosensitive area A can be calculated with
the help of Figure 6.3 and eqn. (6.8).
1
dPR,opt = I(θ) T (ψ) dAΠ
r2
1
= 2 I(θ) T (ψ) cos θ dARx
r
I0 mTx + 1 mRx + 1
= 2 cosmTx (θ) cosmRx (ψ) cos θ dARx
r 2π 2π
I0 (mTx + 1)(mRx + 1)
= 2 cosmTx +mRx +1 (θ) dARx , (6.8)
r 4π 2
Here, we assume that the solid angle (dΩ) under which the transmitter appears at the
receiver is much smaller than one [33]. This is because ARx which is the photosensitive
area of the receiver, is very less compared to r 2 (ARx << r2 ). I(θ) is the luminous intensity
in the direction θ, ψ is the angle of irradiance, and T (ψ) is the parameter that measures
how much of the optical power received by the receiver is converted to the electrical current.
mTx , and mRx are the lambert index of transmitter and receiver respectively which is given
41
Figure 6.3: Optical power received from the transmitter. Definition of the shown parame-
ters are explained in Chapter 5 and 6.
by Eq. (5.4) in page 33 and,
mRx = −1/ log2 (cos FOV), (6.9)
The photodiode (receiver) converts optical power into a current that is proportional to
the overall received power. Therefore, the following applies:
iR ∼ (PR,opt ) (6.10)
Furthermore, the electrical power can be calculated with the help of Eq. (6.1),
!2
X
PR,sig = iR (∆ti ≤ 5 ns) , (6.11)
i
X
PR,ISI = i2R (∆ti > 5 ns) . (6.12)
i
Now, in order to calculate the difference in time delay (∆ti ), the first reference signal needs
to be determined. The first signal arriving to the receiver might have negligible power.
42
Thus in our simulation, the first signal received by the receiver with power greater than
or equal to the 5 % of the maximum power received, is considered as the reference signal.
Lets consider a scenario when LED (lets say LED I), which is very near to the receiver is
connected to the signal source by the aid of very long cable and the LED (lets say LED
II), which is far from the receiver is connected by aid of smallest possible length of the
cable. In this case the signal from the LED II will arrive at the receiver earlier but with
negligible signal power. If the the signal from the LED I (nearest LED) arrives 5 ns later
than that from the LED II then LED I is the candidate for ISI. Nevertheless, the power
of the signal received from LED I which is the candidate for ISI, is very high compared to
the LED 2. In order to avoid such conditions, defining the threshold for the signal power
received was necessary to estimate the signal-to- interference ratio (SIR). Figure 6.4 shows
an example of the received signals and their time delay. Thus, the signal to interference
Figure 6.4: Time delay of the signal arriving to the receiver and power received. tref is the
delay of the reference signal and ti is the time delay of the ith signal. Here, Pmax is the
maximum power received by the photodetector.
ratio, SIR, can be inferred by calculating,
PR,sig
SIR = . (6.13)
PR,ISI
43
According to the paper by Grubor et al. [29], the optical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were
greater than 20 dB (SNR >> 20 dB). This implies the target electrical SNR to be 40 dB,
as electrical current is proportional to the optical power. However, we are calculating SIR
assuming zero noise power. The signal to noise and interference ratio (SNIR) is the ratio
of signal power to the sum of noise power and the interference power which can be inferred
as,
PR,sig
SNIR = . (6.14)
Pnoise + PR,ISI
In our simulation we have considered Pnoise = 0. Addition of noise power will even decrease
the SNIR. Thus, the target SIR is considered to be 40 dB. The configuration for which the
SIR is greater than 40 dB is only favorable for the final implementation.
6.2 Simulation of ISI
Simulations were carried out in order to assess the effect of ISI in our system, for various
placements of LEDs. Value of parameters used in the simulation are listed in Table 5.1 on
page 34.
Since these simulations are somewhat involved, especially when it comes to interpreting
their outcome, we discuss one case in detail.
Let us consider 16 LEDs that are placed on the ceiling of the room for illumination and
they are connected through a linear bus network. For simplicity, it is assumed that the
receiver is placed directly under the LED 1 (see Figure 6.5). Depending upon the FOV of
the receiver, it can receive appreciable signals from one or more transmitters. Figure 6.5
shows one of the possible linear bus configurations for the setup using 16 LEDs. However,
the number of LEDs and separation between them depends upon the LED placement
design explained in Chapter 5. Let us assume, LED 2 and LED 8 fall within the field of
view of the receiver (see Figure 6.5). Thus, the delay of the signal coming from LED 2 and
LED 8 should be less than or equal to 5 ns, in order to avoid ISI. In this way, calculating
the power received by the receiver from LEDs within its field of view, the SIR can be
calculated. Such analysis of ISI was conducted for linear bus and star networks, and the
results are presented hereafter.
In our simulation, the contribution from all the LEDs outside the FOV of the receiver
is also calculated, however their contribution to PR,ISI is rather negligible.
44
Figure 6.5: An example of linear bus setup with 16 LEDs. Dotted circle shows the region
within which the receiver can receive signal, when placed directly under the first LED.
6.2.1 ISI in Linear-Bus Network
Possile placement of LEDs on the ceiling of the showroom: Grid LED Placement
4 4
Grid Grid
LED
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 VLC area 2 VLC area
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Room dimension in x−direction [m] Room dimension in x−direction [m]
(a) Possible positions for LED placement on (b) One of the possible configurations for LED
the ceiling of the showroom placement
Figure 6.6: LED placement in the OMEGA demonstration showroom
Figure 6.6(a) shows the VLC area and possible locations where LEDs can be placed.
LEDs should be placed in such a way that the room is homogenously illuminated with
minimum leakage (see Chapter 5). For an example in the simulation, LEDs are placed on
the ceiling as shown in Figure 6.6(b). Moreover, these arrays of LEDs can be connected in
various ways.
45
• Configuration I:
In this configuration, the LEDs are connected as shown in Figure 6.7. Depending
upon the position of the receiver, three cases are simulated and results are presented
here. Initially 16 LEDs were proposed and this configuration was chosen. However,
it was found that this configuration is the worst possible cabling in SIR point of
view. Figure 6.7 shows that when receiver is placed under first LED, the ∆ti for the
signal from all the LEDs except the neighboring LED, is greater than 5 ns [see Eq.
(6.1)]. Thus, all other LEDs contribute to ISI. The signal to interference ratio (SIR)
is calculated to be ∼ 7 dB. Figure 6.9 shows the values of SIR when the receiver is
placed at the grid points. It can be seen that for some positions of the receiver the SIR
is even negative (see Figure 6.8). This is because of the worst cabling configuration.
The signal from the nearest LED is arriving to the receiver with long delay thus,
increasing the ISI power.
This configuration was indeed found to be a worst case compared to the other con-
figurations presented in this chapter. This is because the path difference due to the
difference in cable length between two neighboring LEDs is large enough to qualify
them as ISI. Since the signal received from neighboring LEDs is appreciable (see Fig-
ure 6.7), this results in a low SIR [see Eq. (6.13)]. Since, SIR for this configuration
is very less compared to the target SIR i.e. 40 dB, this configuration is not favorable
for implementation (see Figure 6.9).
• Configuration II:
LEDs can also be connected as shown in Figure 6.10. In this case, SIR is calculated
to be ∼ 7.3 dB and 5.6 dB for the receiver positions shown in Figure 6.10 and
Figure 6.11, respectively. SIR for case II (see Figure 6.11), is less than for case I.
This is because in case II the receiver is near to more LEDs that are contributing
to ISI, thus increasing PR,ISI . SIR of the signal for this cabling configuration, for
different positions of the receiver, is shown in Figure 6.12.
SIR for this configuration is slightly higher than compared to the configuration I. It
can be observed comparing the values of SIR for different positions of the receiver
in Figure 6.9 and 6.12 respectively. This is because in configuration I the cabling
separation between neighboring LEDs are longer than in case of configuration II.
Thus, neighboring LEDs become candidates for ISI, leading to high PR,ISI and low
SIR. However, this configuration is also not favorable, as SIR is very less than 40 dB
46
Grid
SNR (in dB)=7.35 Cabling Type =Linear−bus network, configuration I LED
Rx Position
3.5 Ref LED
6.86e−008 6.6e−008 6.36e−008 6.16e−008
3.58e−024 8.87e−025 1.77e−026 5.47e−029
3
4.77e−008 5.75e−008
1.46e−017 3.58e−024
2.5
4.37e−008 3.69e−008
VLC area
2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2
2.32e−008 2.62e−008 3.34e−008

0.000413 2.61e−005 9.82e−015
1.5
1.96e−008 1.33e−008
1 0.15 1.73e−011
∆ ti [s] 0 3.03e−009 6.5e−009 1.03e−008

0.5 0.269 0.15 0.000413 2.6e−010
PR [W]
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Room dimension in x−direction [m]
Figure 6.7: Configuration I, Case I: SIR for a bus network. (When receiver is placed directly
under the first LED as shown in figure). Dotted arrows show the cabling configuration and
signal propagation in the cables. In the figure, ∆ti represents the difference in time delay
between the arrival of reference signal and the ith signal, and PR represents the normalized
power received by the receiver from each of the LEDs. All these quantities are explained
in Section 6.1. Here, ∆ti for all LEDs except the neighboring LED is > 5 ns. Thus, SIR
is lower.
for every positions of the receiver (see Figure 6.12).
47
Grid
LED
SNR (in dB)=−1.32 Cabling Type =Linear−bus network, configuration I Rx Position

Ref LED
3.5
6.7e−008 6.43e−008 6.2e−008 6e−008
1.46e−017 2.01e−018 8.53e−021 3.58e−024
3
4.62e−008 5.62e−008
2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2.5
4.25e−008 VLC area 3.59e−008

0.000413 9.82e−015
2
2.23e−008 2.53e−008 3.26e−008

0.15 0.0376 1.73e−011
1.5
1.91e−008 1.28e−008
1 0.269 2.6e−010
∆ ti [s] 0 3.03e−009 6.45e−009 1.02e−008

0.5 0.15 0.0376 2.61e−005 1.73e−011
PR [W]
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 6.8: Configuration I, Case II: SIR for a bus network. (When receiver is placed
directly under the neighboring LED). Same cabling configuration and signal propagation
as in Figure 6.7. All the quantities in this figure are introduced in Figure 6.7. Here, ∆ti
for all LEDs except the neighboring LED is > 5 ns. Thus, SIR is lower.
48
Cabling Type = Linear−bus network, configuration I SNR vs position of Rx
Grid
LED
Rx Position
3.5 −4.033 −11.58 −0.9492 7.349
Power Splitter
3 6.391 1.735 −9.773 −4.402

Rx position in y−direction [m]
2.5
−0.6501 2.6 −7.565 7.398
2
4.351 0.3985 −9.321 −3.929
1.5
−1.322 −0.4705 1.15 −0.8727
SNR (in dB) 7.349 6.382 6.593 7.554
0.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Rx position in x−direction [m]
Figure 6.9: Configuration I, Case III: SIR for linear bus network. (When receiver is placed
at the indicated grid positions). Same cabling configuration and signal propagation in the
cable as in Figure 6.7. Here, SIR at every positions of the receiver is very much less than
40 dB.
49
Grid
SNR (in dB)=7.35 Cabling Type =Linear−bus network, configuration II LED
Rx Position
3.5 Ref LED
1.86e−008 2.16e−008 2.47e−008 2.82e−008
3.58e−024 8.87e−025 1.77e−026 5.47e−029
3
1.44e−008 2.97e−008
1.46e−017 3.58e−024
2.5
1.03e−008 VLC area 3.14e−008

2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2
6.5e−009 4.84e−008 3.34e−008

0.000413 2.61e−005 9.82e−015
1.5
3.03e−009 3.55e−008
1 0.15 1.73e−011
∆ ti [s] 0 4.2e−008 3.99e−008 3.81e−008

0.5 0.269 0.15 0.000413 2.6e−010
PR [W]
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 6.10: Configuration II, Case I: SIR for linear bus network. (When receiver is placed
directly under the first LED). Dotted arrows show the cabling configuration and the signal
propagation in the cable. All the quantities in this figure are introduced in Figure 6.7.
Here, ∆ti for all LEDs except the one above the receiver is > 5 ns. Thus, SIR is lower.
50
Grid
SNR (in dB)=5.6 Cabling Type =Linear−bus network, configuration II LED
Rx Position
3.5 Ref LED
1.7e−008 2e−008 2.32e−008 2.67e−008
1.46e−017 2.01e−018 8.53e−021 3.58e−024
3
1.28e−008 2.84e−008
2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2.5
VLC area
9.05e−009 3.04e−008
0.000413 9.82e−015
2
5.55e−009 4.75e−008 3.26e−008

0.15 0.0376 1.73e−011
1.5
2.53e−009 3.51e−008
1 0.269 2.6e−010
∆ ti [s] 0 4.2e−008 3.99e−008 3.81e−008

0.5 0.15 0.0376 2.61e−005 1.73e−011
PR [W]
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 6.11: Configuration II, Case II: SIR for linear bus network. (When receiver is placed
directly under the neighboring LED). Same cabling configuration and signal propagation
as in Figure 6.10. Here, ∆ti for all LEDs except the one above the receiver is > 5 ns. Thus,
SIR is lower.
51
Cabling Type = Linear−bus network, configuration II SNR vs position of Rx

Grid
LED
Rx Position
3.5 7.554 −0.8727 6.642 −4.032 Power Splitter
3 6.594 1.811 1.819 −11.58

2.5
6.585 2.6 −7.795 7.553
2
4.549 0.475 −1.681 7.542
1.5
5.6 −0.4705 1.073 −11.58
SNR (in dB) 7.349 −0.9534 6.391 −4.033
0.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 6.12: Configuration II, Case III: SIR for linear bus network. (When receiver is
placed at the grid position). Same cabling configuration and signal propagation as in
Figure 6.10. In this configuration also SIR for every positions of the reciever is very much
less than 40 dB.
52
6.2.2 ISI in Star Network
Figure 6.13: Star networking of 16 LEDs.
Figure 6.13 shows an example of cabling in a star fashion. In our case, power splitter
is used as a central hub and all LEDs are connected to the power splitter with the aid of
coaxial cable of equal, or unequal lengths as discussed below.
• ISI in Star Network with unequal lengths of cable

Simulations were done for different positions of the receiver, when all LEDs are
connected to the power splitter with different lengths of the coaxial cable. Lets
consider an example as shown in Figure 6.14, power-splitter is placed near the first
LED. All the LEDs are connected to the output ports of the splitter through coaxial
cables. The length of the cables matches that of the distance between power-splitter
and the LEDs. Results of the simulations are shown in Figure 6.14 and 6.15, for
different positions of the receiver.
The simulation was also done by varying the position of the power splitter. It can
be seen in the Figure 6.16 that SIR can be improved if the splitter is placed at the
center of the VLC area. This is because the cabling distance between most of the
LEDs and the splitter is less in comparison to the earlier case (compare Figure 6.15
and 6.16).
In star network, SIR is higher than in a linear bus networks because the cabling
length for every LED is less than that in the case of linear bus network. Thus, for
the particular position of the receiver, the difference in delay of the signal ∆ti is
smaller thus decreasing the number of signals contributing to ISI. This configuration
can be implemented for final demonstration when power splitter is placed at the
53
center of the VLC area, as the SIR is calculated to be higher than 40 dB for most of
the positions of the receiver (see Figure 6.16).
Grid
LED
SNR (in dB)=32.9 Cabling Type =Star Network with unequal lengths of cable Rx Position
Ref LED
Power Splitter
3.5
1.86e−008 1.91e−008 2.03e−008 2.22e−008
3.58e−024 8.87e−025 1.77e−026 5.47e−029
3
1.44e−008 1.86e−008
1.46e−017 3.58e−024
2.5 VLC area
1.03e−008 1.54e−008
2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2
6.5e−009 7.4e−009 1.28e−008

0.000413 2.61e−005 9.82e−015
1.5
3.03e−009 1.1e−008
1 0.15 1.73e−011
∆ t [s] 0 3.03e−009 6.5e−009 1.03e−008

i
0.5 PR [W] 0.269 0.15 0.000413 2.6e−010
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 6.14: Case I: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable. (When receiver is
placed directly under the first LED). Dotted arrows shows the cabling configuration and
signal propagation through the cable. Here, ∆ti for all LEDs except the one above the
receiver and the neighboring LED is > 5 ns. However, the power due to these interfering
LEDs is very small.
• ISI in Star Network with equal lengths of cable

In this case, all the LEDs are connected to the power splitter with equal lengths
of coaxial cable. This configuration was found to be the best case with respect to
the SIR. The delay in the data symbol is only due to optical path difference, thus
reducing the PR,ISI , when compared to the unequal length scenario. Results are
shown in Figure 6.17, and 6.18. This configuration is the best candidate for the
implementation in final demonstration. The SIR for every position of the receiver is
much higher than 40 dB.
54
Cabling Type =Star Network for unequal cable length SNR vs position of Rx
Grid
LED
Rx Position
98.34 37.34 111.2 142.6 Power Splitter
3.5
3 6.642 2.19 143 188.7

2.5
9.205 13.9 −0.3133 35.97
2
10.62 15.25 14.49 36.37
1.5
8.077 6.177 4.59 37.34
SNR (in dB) 32.92 9.033 6.69 36.2
0.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 6.15: Case III: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable. (When receiver
is placed at the grid positions). Same cabling configuration as in Figure 6.14. Here, SIR
for some of the positions of the receiver is > 40 dB.
55
Cabling Type = Star Network with unequal cable length SNR vs position of Rx
Grid
LED
Rx Position
3.5 1002 1004 261.1 98.34
Power Splitter
3 1004 1003 48.7 49.39

2.5
37.13 14.22 33.08 35.97
2
35.36 45.42 82.26 85.99
1.5
100.2 18.24 49.8 96.31
SNR (in dB) 236 180.7 180.6 98.34
0.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 6.16: Case III: SIR for star network with unequal lengths of cable. (When receiver
is placed at the grid positions and power splitter is placed near the center). Dotted arrows
shows the cabling configuration and signal propagation through the cable. Same cabling
configuration as in Figure 6.14. Here, SIR for all of the positions of the receiver is > 40
dB.
56
Grid
LED
Rx Position
SNR (in dB)=260 Cabling Type =Star Network with equal lengths of cable Ref LED
Power Splitter
3.5
4.7e−009 4.9e−009 5.3e−009 6e−009
3.58e−024 8.87e−025 1.77e−026 5.47e−029
3
3.3e−009 4.7e−009
1.46e−017 3.58e−024
VLC area
2.5
2e−009 3.6e−009
2.6e−010 3.01e−019
2
1e−009 1.2e−009 2.8e−009

0.000413 2.61e−005 9.82e−015
1.5
3e−010 2.2e−009
1 0.15 1.73e−011
∆ ti [s] 0 3e−010 1e−009 2e−009

0.5 0.269 0.15 0.000413 2.6e−010
PR [W]
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 6.17: Case I: SIR for star network with equal lengths of cable. (When receiver is
placed directly under first LED). Here, ∆ti for most of the LEDs is < 5 ns. Thus, the SIR
is higher.
57
Cabling Type =Star Network with equal cable length SNR vs position of Rx
Grid
LED
Rx Position
3.5 260 261.1 261.1 260 Power Splitter
3 1004 1003 1003 1004

2.5
1004 1002 1000 1003
2
1005 1003 1002 1003
1.5
1005 1005 1004 1004
SNR (in dB) 260 261.3 261.2 260
0.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 6.18: Case III: SIR for star network with equal lengths of cable. (When receiver
is placed at the grid positions). Same cabling configuration and signal propagation as in
Figure 6.17. Here, the SIR for all of the positions of the receiver is >> 40 dB.
58
6.3 Summary
The simulation result suggests that star networking is better compared to linear bus net-
work. It can also be observed that placing the power-splitter near the center of the VLC
area, improves the SIR in star network. In addition, the SIR is highest when each LED is
connected to the output ports of the splitter by aid of equal lengths of the cable. Thus,
the star network with unequal cable length and power-splitter placed at the center of the
VLC area, and the star network with equal cable length is recommended for the final
demonstration of the project.
59
Chapter 7
Measurement and simulation for

different network topologies
In addition to the analysis of intersymbol interference for different network topologies in a

chosen LED placement scenario, the output signal received by each terminal devices has
to be assessed. The signal received has to be less attenuated and sufficient to drive the
analogue transmitter (see Table 1.1). This can be done by measuring the signal at each
terminal. Terminal devices, sometimes referred to as load in this report stand for the
LED driver circuits and the LED itself. Measurements are done for various distribution
networks, different cables and the network with least attenuation and least reflection will
be implemented in the OMEGA demonstrator. The proposed area for VLC in OMEGA
demonstration showroom is 12 m2 (see Figure 1.3). Initially, for the measurement it was
assumed that 16 LEDs will be placed on the ceiling with the equal spacing of 1 m each.
Now, we will use 17 LEDs (see Chapter 5), because LEDs available were less brighter than
initially assumed. However, we could not find the splitter with higher branching ratio,
signal will be transmitted to 16 LEDs by aid of 1:16 power splitter, while one lamp will be
used just for the illumination purpose.
7.1 Linear-Bus Network
In this case, a tapped bus networking is tested, based on RG-58 coaxial cable and BNC
connectors. Figure 7.1 shows one of the possible cabling configurations for linear-bus
60
CHAPTER 7. MEASUREMENT AND SIMULATION FOR DIFFERENT NETWORK
TOPOLOGIES
network. A list of components required and their specifications is presented in Table 7.1.
Figure 7.1: Possible setup for VLC testbed using coax cable in tapped bus topology. Load
represents LED driver circuit and LED.
Initially, the configuration as shown in Figure 7.1 was tested with a sinusoidal input signal
Components Number Specification

Coax Cable 16 RG-58
BNC T connector 16 F-F-F
LED Driving circuit 16 in-house-built
LED 16 OSTAR E3A
Table 7.1: Components used for linear bus network measurement.
generated from a function generator (Agilent, 33250A). The output signal at each tap of
the configuration was measured with an oscilloscope (Agilent, DSO6054A).
The driver circuit for the project was developed and assembled by Siemens CT MM
6. The input impedance of the first prototype was 220 Ω. The measurements were done
assuming 220 Ω of load at each tap of the linear bus network. It can be seen from the
measurement (see Figure 7.2) that for 220-Ω load the signal is already degraded by 30 %
at the 4th tap. It can be thus predicted that the signal will be almost completely vanished
at the 16th tap. The measurements were repeated for different load impedances. It was
61
TOPOLOGIES
found that increasing the load impedance increases the voltage at each tap as per the
ohms law. It can be seen from Figure 7.2 that the output voltage is uniform and maximum
when the load is open circuited and the signal is highly degraded for 50-Ω load. These
measurements were done at two frequencies i.e. 30 MHz and 50 MHz (see Figure 7.3). The
behavior of the network was also simulated in Multisim (see Figure 7.4 and Figure 7.5).
Both experimental and simulation results support the use of high-impedance loads (see
Figure 7.6). It can be seen in the Figure 7.6 that the voltage at each tap for every load
impedances are almost same. As mentioned earlier, load in this network represents the
LED driver circuits and the load impedance is the input impedance of the driving circuit.
Attenuation of the signal at each tap can be improved by increasing the input impedance
of the driver circuit.
Measurement and simulation results indicate that linear-bus network is only feasible
with high input impedance of the driving circuit (Zin). But, the question is, how large
can we make Zin without compromising performance of the driving circuit. This was
investigated by the measurement by siemens CT MM 6 and was found that the maximum
feasible value of Zin is 1 kΩ. Therefore, the driver circuit with 1 kΩ input impedance is
designed for the final implementation.
Figure 7.2: Measured normalised peak-to-peak output voltage at each tap for different
loads and RG-58 Coax Cable. Input Signal: 30 MHz sinusoidal.
The linear-bus topology were also tested with SMA cable and similar results were
62
TOPOLOGIES
Figure 7.3: Measured normalised peak-to-peak output voltage at each tap for different
loads and RG-58 Coax Cable. Input Signal: 50 MHz sinusoidal.
observed (see Figure 7.7). However, RG-58 coaxial cable with BNC connector is chosen for
the final implementation because of wide availability and low cost of the cable itself, and
that of related components.
63
TOPOLOGIES
Figure 7.4: Circuit diagram for simulation of linear bus network with 4 taps. Wi in the
figure represents the coaxial cables.
Figure 7.5: Simulated normalised peak-to-peak output voltage at each tap for different
loads using Coax Cable. Input Signal: 30 MHz sinusoidal.
64
TOPOLOGIES
Figure 7.6: Simulated vs measured normalised peak-to-peak output voltage at each tap for
different loads using Coax Cable. Input Signal: 30 MHz sinusoidal.
Figure 7.7: Same measurement as in Figure 7.2, but with a SMA-based network.
65
TOPOLOGIES
7.2 Star Network
A distribution network using star topology was also tested. In a star topology, the sig-
nal is input at the main hub (which, in our case, is a passive power splitter). All the
devices attached to coaxial cable are connected to the output ports of the splitter (see
Figure 7.8). The passive power splitter used in this project (Mini-Circuits, ZSC-16-12+,
see Figure 7.9(a)) is a passive element that splits the input power into 16 equal parts and
provides them to the output ports. The measured and calculated output voltage at the
first outlet is listed in the Table 7.3 for a sinusoidal input voltage of 5 Vpp at 50 MHz.
Components required for this measurement with their specifications are summarized in
Table 7.2.
Coax Cable 16 (1m each) RG-58
Power Splitter 1 ZSC-16-12+
LED 16 OSTAR E3A
Table 7.2: Components required for the star network measurement.
Figure 7.8: Star topology using 1:16 power splitter
According to the requirement of the LED driver circuit, the output of the splitter has
to be at least 1 Vpp . The amplitude of the signal at the input of the power-splitter is
determined by specification of the splitter. It can be seen from table 7.3 that if 5 Vpp
is supplied at the input of the splitter results with required 1 Vpp at the output of each
66
TOPOLOGIES
(a) 1:16 Power Splitter ‘ZSC-16-12+’ (b) Picture of the power-splitter used
[35]. in the project.
Datasheet
Insertion Loss (dB) Voltage (Vpp)
12.51 1.18
Measured
Insertion Loss (dB) Voltage (Vpp)
12.86 1.14
Table 7.3: Voltage available at the first port of the 16-way power-splitter. Input Signal:
50 MHz 5 Vpp
port. According to the technical report [3], the DAC of the FPGA board used will only
supply 1 Vpp . Therefore, power amplifier is needed in between DAC and power splitter in
order to amplify the output signal of the DAC and provide sufficient 5 Vpp at the input of
the splitter (see Figure 7.8). The amplifier chosen for our measurement is coaxial 50 − Ω
medium high power amplifier (Mini-Circuits, ZHL-32A). The working frequency range of
the amplifier is 500 kHz to 130 MHz. The gain of the amplifier is 29 dB, which is more
than enough for our measurement.
7.3 Tree Network
Another possible cabling for networking 16 LEDs is the combination of linear buses and a
star. The basic idea is to use a 1:4 power splitter to divide the incoming signal into four
ports, and to use linear bus networking with 4 devices at each output port of the splitter,
as shown in Figure 7.9. A list of the components required for the measurement is provided
in table 7.4.
67
TOPOLOGIES
The measurements showed that if a 5 Vpp signal is supplied to the 1:4 splitter, it divides
the power, resulting in 2.42 Vpp at each port (see table 7.5, which traverses through the
attached bus network. Figure 7.8 shows that there will be a 10 % of signal degradation
at the forth (last) tap. This implies 5 Vpp input signal is more than enough for this
configuration. Thus, even a lower power amplifier is needed in comparison to the star
network.

Coax Cable 16 (1m each) RG-58
BNC T connector 16 F-F-F
Power Splitter 1 ZSC-4-12+
LED 16 OSTAR E3A
Table 7.4: Components required for the tree network measurement.
Figure 7.9: Tree cabling setup
68
TOPOLOGIES
Figure 7.10: Measured normalised peak-to-peak output voltage at each taps of the bus, at
one output of the 1:4 splitter. Input Signal: 50 MHz, 5 Vpp sinusoidal.
Datasheet
input-output node Insertion Loss (dB) Voltage (Vpp)
S-1 6.29 2.421
S-2 6.19 2.420
S-3 6.19 2.420
S-4 6.19 2.420
Measured
input-output node Insertion Loss (dB) Voltage (Vpp)
S-1 6.2 2.4
S-2 6.2 2.4
S-3 6.2 2.4
S-4 6.2 2.4
Table 7.5: Voltage available at the output of 4-way power-splitter. Input Signal: 50 MHz
5 Vpp
69
TOPOLOGIES
7.4 Summary of the Results
Measurements were done for different physical topology using different cables. The results
showed that the star topology is the best choice because of less attenuation, uniform voltage
available at each port, and easy installation (see Table 3.1). Tree topology is ranked in
between star and linear-bus topology. It has higher attenuation than the star but less
than linear bus network. However, it also results non-uniform voltage drop at the devices
connected in a bus branch.
70
Chapter 8
Final testing of the distribution

network and analogue transmitters
In Chapter 7 various measurements were conducted for different network topologies, and
star topology was chosen for the final implementation. For the measurement in Chapter 7
equivalent input impedance of the analogue transmitter was used as a load. Each analogue
transmitter includes driver circuit and LED. Finally, the performance of the system was
assessed replacing the equivalent impedance by the driving circuit board itself, which was
recently fabricated at CT MM 6, Berlin. The main objectives of the experiments conducted
in this section are depicted below:
• To verify that the power splitter distributes same signal to all the branches.
• To verify that the signal emitted by the analogue transmitter is agnostic to be there
being a network or not.
• To calculate the velocity of the signal through the coaxial cable used.
Our experimental setup is shown in Figure 8.2. Some of the following experiments were
conducted.
71
CHAPTER 8. FINAL TESTING OF THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND
ANALOGUE TRANSMITTERS
Figure 8.1: Experimental setup for the measurement with driving circuit board. Note:
LED is integrated into the analogue transmitter.
Figure 8.2: Picture of the experimental setup for the measurement with driving circuit
board. Note: LED is integrated into the analogue transmitter.
72
8.1 Measurement of the signal for different analogue

transmitters.
Experiments were conducted in order to measure and compare the signal received by the
photodetector using different driving circuit boards. As per requirement of the analogue
transmitter, a sinusoidal input of 0.6 Vpp at 1 MHz was supplied by a function generator
(Agilent, 33250A) to the LED driving circuit. The electrical output signal at the out-
put of photodetector was measured by aid of an oscilloscope (Agilent, DSO6054A). The
modulation index (MI) and SFDR of the signal were calculated. For an ideal OMEGA
demonstrator, all the analogue transmitters must have same value for MI and SFDR. The
output of the signal for each of the analogue transmitters are shown in Figure 8.3. The
spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) for each of them was calculated to be 30 dBc, which
implies that the output signals less distorted. For easy understanding, three of the driver
circuits are named as Driver Circuit I, Driver Circuit II and Driver Circuit III, respectively.
The modulation index for Driving Circuit I and II, for a given input signal was nearly equal.
However, the MI for Driving Circuit III seems to be an outlay (see Figure 8.3).
Similar measurements were conducted by supplying a sinusoidal input of 0.6 Vpp at 50
MHz (see Figure 8.4). Similar to the former case at 1 MHz, the modulation index for
the Driving Circuit I is highest and that of the Driver Circuit III is lowest. The value of
MI is approximately half of the former case. The 3 dB cut-off frequency of the designed
driver circuits is 50 MHz, thus the modulation index is half of its maximum value at this
frequency [28]. Also, the bandwidth of the circuits, seems to be slightly different, since
Driver Circuit III shows a lower signal attenuation at 50 MHz than the other circuits.
Input signal : 0.6 Vpp 1 MHz

Driving Circuit MI Normalized MI
I 0.5 1
II 0.47 0.94
III 0.40 0.80
Input signal : 0.6 Vpp 50 MHz
Driving Circuit MI Normalized MI
I 0.068 1
II 0.067 0.98
III 0.060 0.88
Table 8.1: Summary of the modulation index for each analogue transmitters
73
Photodetector Output [V] ANALOGUE TRANSMITTERS
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. I SFDR = 30dBc

2
MI = 0.50
1.5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Time [s] x 10
−6
Photodetector Output [V]
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. II

SFDR = 30dBc
1.8 MI = 0.47
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Time [s] x 10
−6
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. III

Photodetector Output [V]
SFDR = 30dBc
1.8
MI = 0.40
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Time [s] x 10
−6
Figure 8.3: Photo-detector signal in V when applying the same signal (0.6 Vpp @ 1 MHz) to
each analogue transmitter. Note: The amplitude of the signal depends upon the distance
between the photo-detector and the LED. Since the distance was not fixed, the amplitude
of the signal varied from one measurement to the other.
In addition to the calculation of MI and SFDR, the time delay of the signal transmitted
through different analogue transmitter, which are connected to the signal source through
the same lengths of cable is measured and compared. Excitation pulse of 8 ns is supplied
through the function generator to each of the analogue transmitters. When each driver
circuits are excited at the same time, the delay of the signal through each driving circuits
are shown in Figure 8.5. It is seen that the signal through the Driving Circuit I arrives
first, the signal through Driving Circuit II arrives 0.4 ns after and finally the signal through
74
Photodetector output [V]
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. I SFDR = 30dBc

MI = 0.068
1.4
1.35
1.3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time [s] x 10
−8
Photodetector output [V] Photodetector output [V]
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. II SFDR = 30dBc

1.35 MI = 0.067
1.3
1.25
1.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time [s] x 10
−8
Signal at the photodetector using Driver Ckt. III

SFDR = 30dBc
MI = 0.060
1.3
1.25
1.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time [s] x 10
−8
Figure 8.4: Photo-detector signal in V when applying the same signal (0.6 Vpp @ 50 MHz) to
each analogue transmitter. hNote: The amplitude of the signal depends upon the distance
between the photo-detector and the LED. Since the distance was not fixed, the amplitude
of the signal varied from one measurement to the other.
Driving Circuit III arrives 1 ns after the first signal. However, the delay between these
signals are very small. Thus, it can be inferred that all the driving circuits shows same
behavior to the signal transmitted through different analogue transmitter do not contribute
to the ISI, if they are connected by aid of the same lengths of the cable.
75
2 Driver Ckt 2 t
2
1.5
Driver Ckt 3
t
3
1
Triggering Pulse
Driver Ckt1
0.5 t
1
0
−2 0 2 4 6
Time [s] −8
x 10
Figure 8.5: Signal propagation in different driver circuits. Here, t2 − t1 = 0.4 ns and
t3 − t1 = 1 ns.
8.2 Measurement of velocity of the signal propagating

through the coaxial cable.
Measurements were also done for each driver circuit boards connected to the function
generator by aid of cables of different lengths. Theoretically, the input signal transmitted
through the longer cable (3 m) will arrive the receiver, later than the signal transmitted
through the shorter cable (1 m). The difference in time delay between two signals can be
expressed as
3 m−1m
∆tcable = = 10 ns, (8.1)
vg
where, vg is the group velocity of the cable used, which is equal to 1.98 × 108 m/s (see
Chapter 6). In order to calculate the delay of the signal experimentally, a pulse signal of
width 8 ns was sent to the driving circuit through the cable of length 3 m (case: I) and
1 m (case: II), respectively, both triggered at the same time. Same measurement setup
as in the above measurement was used, but with the distribution network placed between
function generator and analogue transmitter. The diagram showing the propagation of the
signal through the longer and shorter coaxial cable is shown in Figure 8.6. Comparing
76
the output of the two cases, the difference in delay of the signal was calculated to be
10 ns, experimentally. This confirms the velocity of the signal through the cable to be
1.98 × 108 m/s and supports our ISI calculation in Chapter 6. The same difference in
time delay was found for all the driving circuits when connected to randomly chosen ports
of the splitter. This result also verifies that when the LEDs are connected to the signal
Signal progation in the cable of different lengths
1.6
Triggering pulse
1.4
1.2
t1
1
1 m cable
0.8
0.6
0.4
3 m cable
t2
0.2
0
−4 −2 0 2 4 6 8
Time [ns] −8
x 10
Figure 8.6: Delay of the signal due to difference in the cable length. ∆tcable = t2 − t1 = 10
ns.
source with the cable of different lengths, this can indeed cause intersymbol interference,
as thoroughly discussed in Chapter 6.
8.3 Measurement using power splitter
It was observed in Chapters 6 and 7 that star network is the best distribution network
which uniformly distributes the signal to all the LEDs with minimum ISI and high SIR
(>> 40 dB). 1:16 power splitter is used as the central distribution unit. In Chapter 5,
the scenario using 17 LEDs was chosen. Since, we could not find 1:17 power splitter, 1:16
power splitter is used instead. Thus, one LED will be mute and will only be used for the
77
illumination. The signal received by the photodetector using the splitter was compared
with the case when signal was directly fed into the driver circuit. It can be seen in the
Figure 8.8, that modulation index of the output signal in both of the cases is same for both
1 MHz an 50 MHz signal. This concludes that the use of power-splitter does not distort
the signal. However, the input signal of high amplitude has to be supplied as the power-
splitter divides the input power equally to all of the 16 analogue transmitters. Simiar
measurements were also conducted to compare the signal transmitted through different
ports of the splitter to the analogue transmitter. The signal received from different ports
has same modulation index and SFDR confirming the sameness of different ports of the
splitter.
Signal at the photodetector without using power−splitter

2
MI = 0.38
1.5
1 2 3 4 5
Time [s] x 10
−6
Signal at the photodetector using power−splitter

MI = 0.38
2
1.5
1 2 3 4 5
Time [s] x 10
−6
Figure 8.7: Effect of using power-splitter to the signal received when applying the same
signal (0.6 Vpp @ 1 MHz)
8.4 Summary of the Measurement
Results of the experiments explained in this section shows that the optical signal arriving
at photodetector is independent of the analogue transmitters used except for the Driving
Circuit III. The SFDR of the signal received using each analogue transmitters was mea-
sured to be 30 dBc, which infers that the output signal is comparable to the input signal.
78
Signal at the photodetector without using power−splitter MI = 0.063

1.45
1.4
1.35
1.3
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time [s] −8
x 10
Signal at the photodetector using power−splitter MI = 0.058
1.55
1.5
1.45
1.4
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time [s] x 10
−8
Figure 8.8: Effect of using power-splitter to the signal received when applying the same
signal (0.6 Vpp @ 50 MHz)
Moreover, it was also verified that the group velocity of the signal through RG-58 coaxial
cable is 1.98 × 108 m/s. Finally, it confirms that the power-splitter used as a central dis-
tribution point, is a passive device and it delivers same signal to all of its branches. It was
also confirmed that the signal received at the receiver is independent of which output port
of the splitter is used.
79
Chapter 9
Conclusion and Outlook
This thesis is a part of OMEGA project. One of the targets of the OMEGA project
is to achieve 100 Mbit/s communications using VLC. To date, VLC has been realized
successfully with a single LED module [19]. The next step is to establish successful visible-
light communication with arrays of LEDs placed on the ceiling of the VLC area. The main
objective of this thesis is to model the placements of these LEDs on the ceiling and design
the analogue distribution network for these LEDs.
Various configurations for LED placement were evaluated. Parameters like standard
deviation of illuminance within the VLC area and percentage of the area featuring an
illuminance above 400 lx were calculated. The percentage of illuminance that leaked outside
the VLC area with respect to the total illuminance was also calculated. For an ideal
OMEGA demonstrator, the configuration with 100% of the area illuminated above 400 lx,
0% leakage and 0% standard deviation of the illuminance is targeted. The configuration
very close to the requirement is chosen for the final demonstration. Furthermore, effect
of inter-symbol interference were also evaluated for linear bus, and star network using
different LED placements. The evaluation was done by calculating the SIR for different
LED placement scenarios. It was found that networking LEDs in a star fashion using
equal lengths of coaxial cable to connect the LEDs to the central distribution point (power-
splitter) has highest SIR. In addition, star network distributes the signal uniformly to all
the LEDs. Thus, star network using equal lengths of the cable is recommended for the
final implementation.
The research presented here could be further extended in various directions. The ana-
logue distribution network could also be designed using polymer optical fiber. In addition,
80
CHAPTER 9. CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
the SIR calculation in this project could be further improved by considering the influence
of signals coming via diffuse reflection as calculated by Grubor et al. in [15]. In Chapter
6, the linear bus configuration (see Figure 6.9), is found to be the worst from ISI point of
view, however in future when MIMO technology will be introduced in VLC, this configu-
ration could be advantageous. Furthermore, the visible-light communication system could
also be realized sending the digital signal directly to all the LEDs and placing the digital
PHY including the DMT modulator and DAC, at each of the LEDs. This might require
the design of digital network similar to LAN.
81
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Visible-Light Communication Demonstrator:

System modeling and analogue distribution network

A thesis for conferral of a Master of Science in Communications,

Prof. Dr. Harald Haas Dr. Joachim W. Walewski

Date of Submission: August 17, 2009.

School of Engineering and Science

I declare that I have prepared the master thesis

“Visible-Light Communication Demonstrator:

Visible-light communications (VLC) is a technology for wireless communication using light

7 Measurement and simulation for different network topologies 60

8 Final testing of the distribution network and analogue transmitters 71

9 Conclusion and Outlook 80

3.1 Bus Topology [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.1 An example of coaxial cable [7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.3 Equivalent circuit diagram of Coaxial Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

5.1 Model Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

6.1 An optical communication scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

7.1 Possible setup for VLC testbed in tapped bus topology . . . . . . . . . . . 61

1.1 Specification of the analogue signal to be distributed. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2.1 Electro-optical specifications of OSTAR E3A [9]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.1 Summary of different physical topologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5.1 Values used for simulation of lighting levels at desk height . . . . . . . . . 34

7.1 Components used for linear bus network measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . 61

8.1 Summary of the modulation index for each analogue transmitters . . . . . 73

Wireless communications is the fastest growing segment of the communications industry.

2. Design of analogue distribution network for the LEDs placed.

Figure 1.3: Footprint of the VLC area [1]

(a) Qualitative specifications

Table 1.1: Specification of the analogue signal to be distributed.

1.3 OMEGA Project

1.4 Organization of the Thesis

2.1 Optical Wireless Communication

exceeds a certain threshold [24].

2.2 White Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)

However, as observed by Grubor et al in [15], their disadvantageously small modulation

2.3 Visible Light Communication based on White LEDs

Figure 2.2: Block diagram overview of VLC PHY [3].

2.3.1 VLC Components

OSTAR Type E3A

Table 2.1: Electro-optical specifications of OSTAR E3A [9].

Figure 2.3: Different types of OSTAR Lightings [4].

Various schemes have been investigated. Non-return-to-zero on-off-keying (NRZ-OOK)

3.1 Physical Networking Topologies

Comparing the characteristics of different topologies with the requirements specified

Table 3.1: Summary of different physical topologies.

3.2.1 Ethernet Physical Layer Specification

Standard Cables used Maximum speed Maximum length Topology

Table 3.2: Ethernet physical layer specification [6].

3.2.2 Ethernet Types

• 10Base2 Ethernet: It is also called cheapernet or thinnet, as it uses the

Figure 3.5: A typical thinnet 10Base2 installation [6].

• 10Base5 Ethernet: Original implementation of Ethernet used 50-Ω thick coax

2. Ethernet Twisted pair

Figure 3.6: A typical thicknet 10Base5 installation [6].

3. Ethernet Optical Fibre

Figure 3.7: A typical 10/100BaseT installation [6].

that the segment only uses 10BASE-FL devices [32].

Coaxial cable, or coax, is an electrical cable with an inner conductor surrounded by a

Figure 4.1: An example of coaxial cable [7]

(a) BNC Connector (b) SMA Connector

Figure 4.2: BNC and SMA connectors [7]

4.2 Equivalent Circuit

A transmission line can be considered to consist of a network of very large number of