A photon modeling method for the characterization of indoor optical wireless communication

Abstract

In this paper, an analysis method for optical wave propagation based on photon model is presented for the characterization of optical wireless communication environment. In contrast to radio waves, optical waves have very short wavelengths, so that material properties become important and often cause diffuse reflections. Channel models including diffuse reflections and absorption effects due to material surface textures make conventional electromagnetic wave analysis methods based on ray tracing consume enormous time. To overcome these problems, an analysis method using photon model is presented that approximates light intensity by density of photons. The photon model also ensures that simulation time is within a predictable limit and the accuracy is proportional to the number of total photons used in the simulation.