Design and implementation of a methodology to characterize indoor visible light communication channels

Abstract

Understanding the channel behavior in communication systems is important for ensuring reliable and robust connectivity. This is also true for Visible Light Communication systems in different environments and scenarios. In this work, we develop an adaptable, simple, and reliable method to quantify, characterize, and evaluate the optical channel of Visible Light Communication systems in various scenarios. Our approach first characterizes the frequency response of an indoor Visible Light Communication link. We then compute the optical channel impulse response in the time domain and channel metrics such as path loss, RMS delay spread, coherence bandwidth, and maximum bitrate. Our method accurately estimates path loss, with a measured value of $15$ dB at $30$ cm transceiver distance, consistent with simulation results in the literature. However, our lowest value for the RMS delay spread is $17.4132$ ns, greater than values found in literature. Future work will focus on improving the proposed method and characterizing the optical channel of Visible Light Communication systems in different environmental conditions, such as introducing dust particles or humidity.