Receiver intend to reduce ambient light noise in visible-light communication using solar panels

Abstract

In the recent years, optical wireless communication using light emitting diode (LED) has increased lot of interest among researchers popularly known as visible-light communication (VLC). In such VLC system, an optical sensor used in the receiver side converts the modulated light signal into electrical signal. Conventionally, photo-diode (PD) is used as an optical sensor to serve this purpose. Instead of photo-diode, solar panel can be used as an optical sensor as it has the advantages of large collection area, easier targeting of light from an optical source, requires no external power supply and it shuns the reqirement of trans-impedance amplifier (TIA). However, ambient light noise due to indirect sunlight and fluorescent light is a major concern that affects the performance of the communication system in an indoor environment. In this paper, a new design of VLC receiver to reduce ambient light noise using solar panels is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed receiver is capable of reducing ambient light noise caused by indirect sunlight and fluorescent lamp in an indoor environment. The implemented VLC system is capable of operating at 5.78 kHz and transmission distance of 0.40m is achieved.