Solid state lighting systems typically use multiple Light Emitting Diode (LED) die within a single lamp, and multiple lamps within a coverage space. This infrastructure forms the transmitters for Visible Light Communications (VLC), and the availability of low-cost detector arrays offers the possibility of building Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transmission systems. Different approaches to optical MIMO are being investigated as part of a UK government funded research programme, ‘Ultra-Parallel Visible Light Communications’ (UPVLC). In this paper we present a brief review of the area and report results from systems that use integrated subsystems developed as part of the project. The scalability of these approaches and future directions will also be discussed.

Date Published: 7 February 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9387, Broadband Access Communication Technologies IX, 93870P (7 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079287

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9387:
Broadband Access Communication Technologies IX
Benjamin B. Dingel; Katsutoshi Tsukamoto, Editor(s)