Hybrid optical transmitter for high-speed optical wireless communications

Abstract

To meet application requirements for high data rates and large coverage in optical wireless communication systems, an optical wireless communication (OWC) transmitter 100 is disclosed in the present invention. The OWC transmitter 100 includes a first light source 150 configured to emit a first optical data signal 151 in a first field of view (FoV) 155 and a second light source 160 configured to emit a second optical data signal 161 in a second FoV 165. The first light source 150 and the second light source 160 are of different types, and the first FoV 155 is wider than the second FoV 165. The OWC transmitter (100) is configured to simultaneously emit a first optical data signal (151) via a first light source (150) and emit a second optical data signal (161) via a second light source (160).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of optical wireless communication networks, such as Li-Fi networks. In particular, various methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are disclosed herein relating to a system having a hybrid optical transmitter for supporting high-speed optical wireless communications. [Background technology]

[0002] To enable more and more electronic devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, to connect wirelessly to the Internet, wireless communications face unprecedented requirements on data rates and link quality, which are increasing year by year in light of the new digital revolution related to the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Radio frequency technologies such as Wi-Fi have limited spectrum capacity to address this revolution. On the other hand, light fidelity (Li-Fi) is increasingly attracting attention for its intrinsic security enhancement and its capability to support higher data rates in the available bandwidth of the visible, ultraviolet (UV), and infrared (IR) spectrum. Furthermore, since Li-Fi is directional and shielded by light-blocking materials, it has the potential to deploy more access points in user-dense areas by spatially reusing the same bandwidth, compared to Wi-Fi. These key advantages over wireless radio frequency communication make Li-Fi a promising secure solution to ease the pressure on the crowded radio spectrum for IoT applications and indoor wireless access. Other advantages of Li-Fi include guaranteed bandwidth for specific users and its ability to operate securely in areas prone to electromagnetic interference. Therefore, Li-Fi is a very promising technology to enable the next generation of immersive connectivity.

[0003] There are several relevant terminologies in the field of lighting-based communication. Visible-light communication (VLC) transmits data faster than the persistence of the human eye by intensity-modulated light sources such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs). Li-Fi is often used to embed signals in the light emitted by lighting sources such as everyday luminaires, e.g., indoor or outdoor lights, thus allowing the light from the luminaire to be used as a carrier of information. Thus, the light may include both a visible lighting contribution (typically the primary purpose of the light) to illuminate a target environment such as a room, and an embedded signal (typically considered a secondary function of the light) to provide information to the environment. In such cases, the modulation is typically done at a frequency high enough to exceed human perception, or at least such that visible temporary light artifacts (e.g., flicker and / or strobe artifacts, etc.) are weak enough at a frequency high enough that humans do not notice them or at least can tolerate them. In this way, the embedded signal does not affect the primary lighting function: the user only perceives the overall lighting, and not the effect of the data being modulated onto that lighting.

[0004] For high-speed wireless optical communications, infrared (IR) communication is often used rather than visible light communication. Although ultraviolet and infrared radiation are invisible to the human eye, the techniques that utilize these regions of the spectrum are similar, although variations may occur as a result of wavelength dependence, such as in the case of refractive index. In many cases, utilizing ultraviolet and / or infrared light is advantageous because these frequency ranges are invisible to the human eye, allowing more flexibility to be introduced into the system. Of course, ultraviolet quantum has a higher energy level compared to infrared and / or visible light, so the use of ultraviolet light may not be desirable in some situations.

[0005] Based on the modulation, the information in the light can be detected using any suitable light sensor or photodetector. For example, the light sensor may be a photodiode. The light sensor may be a dedicated photocell (point detector), an array of photocells, possibly with a lens, reflector, diffuser or phosphor converter (for low speed), or an array of photocells (pixels) and a lens to form an image on the array. For example, the light sensor may be a dedicated photocell included in a dongle that plugs into a user device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop, or the sensor may be integrated and / or dual purpose, such as an array of infrared detectors originally designed for 3D face recognition. Either way, this allows applications running on the user device to receive data via the light.

[0006] Although Li-Fi systems may support very high data rates in the unlicensed bandwidth in the THz range, currently commercially achievable bit rates are typically in the range of hundreds of Mbps using spectrally efficient modulation such as OFDM due to the low inherent bandwidth (10-20 MHz) of LEDs (visible or IR). Furthermore, it is very attractive for Li-Fi systems to support large coverage (e.g., 30-60° according to the full width at half maximum (FWHM) function). However, the requirement of large coverage typically results in a significant reduction in received optical power (high path loss, keeping TX power below eye safety limits), thus potentially further limiting the overall throughput. On the other hand, laser, or vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) based Li-Fi systems can support large modulation bandwidths. However, due to eye safety, the total power emitted by the laser / VCSEL is quite limited, and thus it is still difficult to achieve large coverage.

[0007] GB2568659A relates to an optical wireless communication transmitter that includes a media access control (MAC) layer and two different physical (PHY) layers, each driving a different light source.

[0008] "Smart multiple-mode indoor optical wireless design and multimode light source smart energy-efficient links" by MARRACCINI PHILIP J et al. relates to a smart multi-mode indoor optical wireless system that combines line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS optical wireless methods to smartly adapt to changes in the environment and applications. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] The performance of an optical wireless communication link depends heavily on the optical front-end, i.e., the light source at the transmitter side. For example, in an LED-based optical wireless communication system, low to medium data rates can be achieved with a relatively large Field of View (FoV) and long communication distance. In a laser / VCSEL-based optical wireless communication system, higher data rates can be achieved with a relatively small coverage (narrow beam) and short communication distance.

[0010] In order to take advantage of the benefits of different light sources, we propose to deploy a transmitter with a hybrid optical front-end that includes at least two different light sources. As an example, with a hybrid of LED and VCSEL, the transmitter can provide high data rates in the LED and VCSEL overlap zones and provide moderate data rates in the LED-only coverage zones. However, due to the response time difference between different light sources, the co-located different light sources may cause interference with each other at the receiver side, compromising the communication performance.

[0011] In view of the above, the present disclosure relates to a method, an apparatus and a system for providing a hybrid transmitter to achieve both high speed and large coverage. In particular, the object of the present invention is achieved by an optical wireless communication (OWC) transmitter according to claim 1, an OWC system according to claim 9, an OWC transmitter method according to claim 10 and a computer program according to claim 13. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an OWC transmitter, the OWC transmitter includes a first light source configured to emit a first optical data signal in a first field of view (FoV) and a second light source configured to emit a second optical data signal in a second FoV, the first light source and the second light source being of different types, the first FoV being wider than the second FoV, and the optical wireless communication transmitter is further configured to simultaneously emit the first optical data signal via the first light source and emit the second optical data signal via the second light source.

[0013] The OWC transmitter is further configured to compensate for a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source, which may be measured locally at the OWC transmitter or obtained from a remote OWC receiver via a feedback loop.

[0014] There are different types of light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, VCSELs (vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers), VCSEL arrays, laser diodes, LEPs (light-emitting plasma), etc. The disclosed OWC transmitter includes at least two different light sources. The difference between the two light sources may be in power consumption, coverage, maximum output power, response time, or signal bandwidth. As mentioned above, LED-based optical wireless communication systems are characterized by low to medium data rates, but relatively long communication distances and large FoV / coverage areas, while VCSEL-based optical wireless communication systems are characterized by high data rates, but relatively small angular coverage with a narrow FoV.

[0015] In order to increase the data rate of the transmitter, two heterogeneous light sources are configured to transmit simultaneously. It should be noted that the two light sources emit substantially simultaneously. Since the two light sources may support different data rates, if the same amount of information is to be transmitted, the two light sources may start transmitting substantially simultaneously, but one may finish earlier than the other due to differences in transmission speed or data rate.

[0016] In a preferred configuration, the second light source supports a larger bandwidth than the first light source.

[0017] With the larger bandwidth of the second light source, a higher data rate can be supported. In this sense, the second light source is more powerful than the first light source. Typically, this also implies that the second light source may consume higher power consumption. However, since the second light source requires less time to transmit the same amount of data and has a smaller FoV compared to the first light source, the energy consumed to transmit a certain amount of data may be the same or even less.

[0018] Beneficially, the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal are from a common data stream provided to the OWC transmitter.

[0019] To achieve both high speed and large coverage, it is beneficial to generate the first and second optical data signals from a common data stream. Thus, the same raw data is fed to a first transmitter chain with a first light source and a second transmitter chain with a second light source. Since the first light source has a narrower bandwidth compared to the second light source, a lower resolution or compressed version of the data stream may be transmitted by the first light source and the complete information may be delivered by the second light source. If the data rate of the first light source is sufficient to support the throughput of the data stream, the same information may be transmitted by both light sources. It may also be configured that the first light source and the second light source transmit the same raw data in a collective manner, with different parts or frequency components of the same data being transmitted via the two light sources, respectively.

[0020] When a common data stream is provided to the OWC transmitter, in a first option, the first optical data signal includes a low frequency portion of the common data stream and the second optical data signal includes a high frequency portion of the common data stream.

[0021] To avoid interference between two simultaneous optical links via the first and second light sources, the common data stream is split into a low frequency part and a high frequency part and distributed as the first and second optical data signals, respectively. Preferably, the bandwidth of the low frequency part of the common data stream matches the bandwidth of the first light source to maximize the throughput of the first light source. Thus, the split is kept such that the high frequency part of the common data stream has a larger bandwidth than the low frequency part.

[0022] In this option, the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal originate from a common data stream, but different frequency components of the same data source are transmitted via the first light source and the second light source, and thus the first light source and the second light source are operated in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode.

[0023] When a common data stream is provided to the OWC transmitter, in a second option, the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal overlap in frequency and the information contained in the first optical data signal is completely contained in the second optical data signal.

[0024] To further improve the throughput, it is more preferable to share the same frequency band by both the first light source and the second light source. Thus, the frequency of the first optical data signal is completely covered by the frequency of the second optical data signal. In this setup, it is important to keep the light emitted via the first light source and the second light source to arrive at the remote receiver side synchronously.

[0025] In this option, two versions of the same signal, a low-resolution version and a high-resolution version, are transmitted via a first light source and a second light source, respectively. Since the first light source has a wider FoV than the second light source, transmitting the low-resolution signal via the first light source extends the coverage of the OWC transmitter. Therefore, if the remote receiver is located within the FoV of the second light source, it can enjoy the full details of the signal. If the remote receiver moves out of the area but within the FoV of the first light source, the remote device can still get the low-resolution signal.

[0026] In the second option, the OWC transmitter is advantageously further configured to compensate for differences in response times between the first light source and the second light source.

[0027] Since the signals can be precisely controlled in the time domain in the electrical part of the transmitter, the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal can arrive at the two optical front ends substantially simultaneously. Additional latency, such as the difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source, can be added to the emitted signal in the optical part of the transmitter.

[0028] The response times (delay response) of different light sources may be quite different. For example, for an LED, the response time may be up to 10-20 ns, whereas for a VCSEL, the response time may be less than 1 ns. Such a difference in response time may result in a phase shift between the signals transmitted through the two light sources, and at the remote receiver side, such a phase shift may result in destructive interference with each other, degrading communication performance. Therefore, it is preferable to compensate the difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source to enable the remote receiver to constructively receive the branches of the two signals, further improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

[0029] To derive the response time difference, the OWC transmitter preferably further includes a sniffer circuit for measuring the response time of the first light source, and the OWC transmitter is further configured to compensate for the response time difference by adding an extra delay to the signal path from the common data stream to the second light source in response to the measured response time of the first light source.

[0030] One scheme to derive the response time difference is to directly measure the response time of the first light source, the slow light source. The measurement is performed via a sniffer circuit. Then, an additional delay corresponding to the response time of the slow light source is intentionally introduced into the transmitter chain including the second light source, the fast light source. The assumption here is that the response time of the second light source is negligibly small compared to the response time of the first light source. This scheme can be performed locally in the OWC transmitter.

[0031] As an alternative approach to deriving the response time difference, the OWC transmitter is further configured to perform the following steps before transmitting the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal: transmitting a test signal to a remote OWC receiver via the first light source and the second light source, respectively; receiving a response signal from the remote OWC receiver, the response signal including feedback on channel state information (CSI) derived from the test signals transmitted by the first light source and the second light source, respectively; determining a response time difference between the first light source and the second light source based on the response signal; and compensating for the response time difference by adding an additional delay to a signal path from the common data stream to the second light source in response to the determined response time difference.

[0032] In this scheme, the difference in response time is obtained by the OWC transmitter through a feedback loop from the remote OWC receiver. A test signal is transmitted by the OWC transmitter to the remote OWC receiver through a first light source and a second light source, respectively, and the OWC receiver calculates channel state information (CSI) based on the received test signal. The CSI provides both phase and amplitude information about the incoming signal. Therefore, the phase shift introduced at the transmitter side by two different light sources for the same test signal is also reflected in the CSI calculated by the remote OWC receiver. The remote OWC receiver sends a response signal including the CSI back to the OWC transmitter. The transmitter can then obtain the difference in response time, which is used to intentionally apply a delay to the signal path from the common data source to the second light source. In this way, the optical signals emitted through the first light source and the second light source are phase aligned for data communication.

[0033] The response signal from the remote OWC receiver may be transmitted over another wireless link rather than the OWC link. The other wireless link may follow a short-range wireless communication protocol such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or BLE. The response signal may be transmitted over the OWC link. In this case, a bidirectional OWC link is enabled by the OWC transmitter and the remote OWC receiver, both of which are OWC transceivers.

[0034] Such a procedure may be repeated each time a new OWC link is established with a new remote receiver, and is preferably performed purely as an initialization phase before data communication actually begins.

[0035] In a preferred setup, the first light source comprises at least one light emitting diode (LED) and the second light source comprises at least one of the following: a laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

[0036] To maximize the benefits of employing two such disparate light sources in the same OWC transmitter, it is advantageous for the two light sources to exhibit significantly different characteristics. For example, one light source may be good at its large coverage, while the other light source may be suitable for higher data rates. A combination of LED and VCSEL may be a good candidate for deployment in an OWC transmitter.

[0037] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an OWC system, comprising an OWC transmitter according to the present invention and a remote OWC receiver including at least one optical sensor, the at least one optical sensor configured to receive at least one of a first optical data signal and a second optical data signal transmitted by the OWC transmitter.

[0038] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an OWC transmitter method, comprising the steps of emitting a first optical data signal via a first light source in a first field of view (FoV), emitting a second optical data signal via a second light source in a second FoV, and simultaneously emitting the first optical data signal via the first light source and the second optical data signal via the second light source, where the first light source and the second light source are of different types and the first FoV is wider than the second FoV.

[0039] The method further includes compensating for a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source.

[0040] As an example for deriving the response time difference, the method further includes measuring a response time of the first light source and compensating for the response time difference by adding an additional delay in the signal path to the second light source in response to the measured response time of the first light source.

[0041] As another example for deriving the response time difference, the method further includes the steps of transmitting a test signal via a first light source and a second light source, respectively; receiving a response signal including feedback on channel state information (CSI) derived from the test signal; determining a response time difference between the first light source and the second light source based on the response signal; and compensating for the response time difference by adding an additional delay to the signal path to the second light source in response to the determined response time difference.

[0042] The present invention may further be embodied in a computing program comprising code means which, when executed by an optical front-end subsystem including a processing means, causes the processing means to perform the optical front-end subsystem methods disclosed in the present invention. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0043] In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views and the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. [Figure 1] 1 shows a basic block diagram of an OWC transmitter of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 shows one possible system setup for a typical OWC transmitter. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an example of an optical front end of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates one possible system setup for the OWC transmitter of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 3 illustrates another possible system setup for the OWC transmitter of the present invention. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates an OWC system of the present invention. [Figure 7] 1 shows a flow chart of an OWC transmitter method. [Figure 8] 1 shows a flow chart of an OWC transmitter method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0044] In the following, various embodiments of the present invention are described based on an optical wireless communication (OWC) transmitter 100 as shown in Fig. 1. As a basic setup, the OWC transmitter 100 includes a first light source 150 and a second light source 160. The first light source 150 is configured to emit a first optical data signal 151 in a first field of view (FoV) 155, and the second light source 160 is configured to emit a second optical data signal 161 in a second FoV 165. The first FoV 155 is wider than the second FoV 165. As exemplarily shown in Fig. 1, it may be beneficial for the second FoV 165 to be completely covered by the first FoV 155. It may be even more beneficial for the first FoV 155 and the second FoV 165 to be centered on the same point. Alternatively, the first FoV 155 and the second FoV 165 are directed to different areas, with or without partial overlap. The OWC transmitter 100 is further configured to emit the first optical data signal 151 and the second optical data signal 161 simultaneously.

[0045] Here, FoV is understood to be the solid angle arising from a light source in three-dimensional space, where the light from the light source can be perceived. The shape of the solid angle may be shaped using additional optical means, such as, but not limited to, lenses, diffraction gratings, diaphragms and / or collimators. Another term used in conjunction with a light source is coverage area, which is understood to be the area in three-dimensional space into which the light from the light source enters.

[0046] In a preferred setup, the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 are of different types and differ from each other in other characteristics besides FoV, such as power consumption, response time, bandwidth, etc. For example, the second light source 160 may emit optical signals at a narrower beam and higher data rate compared to the first light source 150. Meanwhile, the first light source 150 may be capable of delivering optical signals at a moderate data rate but with a wider coverage and longer communication distance. For example, the first light source 150 may be an LED-based optical transmitter facilitating a medium to low speed wide beam optical transmitter, and the second light source 160 may be a VCSEL-based optical transmitter facilitating a high speed narrow beam optical transmitter. Therefore, the disclosed OWC transmitter 100 deploys both the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 in a complementary manner to achieve both high throughput and large coverage enhancement.

[0047] FIG. 2 shows one possible system setup of a typical OWC transmitter in a high-level block diagram. On one side, the OWC transmitter has an interface 114 to the backbone network, which can be a wired connection (Ethernet, fiber optic, etc.) or a wireless connection (RF, mmWave, or other types of high-speed optical wireless that are different from the optical wireless communication that the OWC transmitter has with the remote device). On the other side, the OWC transmitter has an optical front-end 111 to enable an optical link with a remote OWC receiver. In addition, the OWC transmitter also performs a translation or conversion between data on the backbone network and data on the optical wireless link in terms of conversion between different modulation schemes and conditioning of analog signals. Therefore, a typical OWC transmitter also includes a digital modulator and demodulator component 113 and an analog front-end 112. In the transmit path, the analog front-end (AFE) 112 may include programmable amplifiers, filters, and drivers for conditioning and amplifying baseband signals to drive the optical front-end. The optical front-end 111, which includes at least a light source, performs the conversion between electrical and optical signals. To emit an optical signal, the optical front-end 111 is used to convert an electrical transmission signal into an optical signal that is output via the light source.

[0048] An example of an optical front-end 111 according to the present invention is shown in Fig. 3. The optical front-end 111 includes a first light source 150 and a second light source 160. Optionally, the optical front-end 111 further includes a first driver 1111 and a second driver 1112 for driving the first light source 150 and the second light source 160, respectively. The drivers 1111, 1112 are mainly used to adjust the power required by the light sources.

[0049] As mentioned above, it may be beneficial to configure the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 to emit optical signals provided from the common data stream 50. In this case, the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 are employed to deliver different parts of the signal from the common data stream 50 or to deliver the same signal from the common data stream 50. Considering the different bandwidths supported by the two light sources, the same signal may be delivered with different resolutions or details by the two light sources, such that the first light source 150 is configured to deliver compressed low-resolution data and the second light source 160 is configured to deliver the complete data set, depending on the actual throughput of the common data stream 50. In this case, when the remote device is within the coverage of the second FoV 165, the remote device may enjoy a high data rate link, and when the remote device moves out of the second FoV 165 but into the first FoV 155, the remote device may still be able to receive information from the OWC transmitter 100 with reduced resolution.

[0050] In order to enable the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 to utilize the same frequency band to emit the same data, it is necessary to compensate the response time difference between the two light sources. This is because, although the timing can be precisely controlled in the electrical part of the OWC transmitter 100 to provide the input data to the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 substantially simultaneously, different delays may be introduced in the optical part by the first light source 150 and the second light source 160, respectively. Due to the different types of light sources, the response time difference may be relatively large, resulting in a phase shift between the first optical data signal 151 and the second optical data signal 161. If the first optical data signal 151 and the second optical data signal 161 arrive at the remote OWC receiver side with phase mis-aligned, they will cause destructive interference with each other. Therefore, it is important to compensate the response time difference between the two light sources to enable the two emitted optical signals to be phase aligned as well.

[0051] There are two ways to derive the response time difference, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively. In Fig. 4, the measurement is done locally in the OWC transmitter 100. As shown in the system setup, the OWC transmitter 100 further includes a sniffer circuit 170, which is used to directly measure the response time of the first light source 150. The optical signal emitted by the first light source 150 is sniffed at the output, converted to the electrical domain, and fed back to the input to the second light source 160 by introducing an additional delay in the signal. Preferably, a delay is applied to the electrical signal before feeding it to the driver 1112, which modulates the second light source 160. The assumption here is that the response time of the second light source 160 is sufficiently small compared to the response time of the first light source 150. Thus, the response time difference is dominated by the response time of the first light source 150.

[0052] FIG. 5 shows another possible method for deriving the response time difference between the first light source 150 and the second light source 160, which is implemented via feedback from the remote OWC receiver 200. The method is triggered by the OWC transmitter 100 by transmitting a test signal to the remote OWC receiver 200 via the first light source 150 and the second light source 160, respectively. Preferably, the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 are configured to transmit the same test signal sequentially without time overlap. Thus, the remote OWC receiver 200 can receive the two copies independently without worrying about destructive interference. Upon receiving the test signal, the remote OWC receiver 200 calculates channel state information (CSI) and sends the CSI back to the OWC transmitter 100 in a response signal. The OWC transmitter 100 can then derive the response time difference of the two light sources based on the received response signal. An alternative option may be for the remote OWC receiver 200 to locally derive the response time difference and provide that information directly to the OWC transmitter 100 in the response signal.

[0053] The response signal may be transmitted via another wireless communication technology rather than an optical wireless link. The other wireless communication technology may be based on a short-range wireless communication protocol, such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, BLE, etc. The CSI or response time difference information contained in the response signal may be provided to a controller or processor of the OWC transmitter to calculate a delay to be applied to the signal path towards the second light source 160. The delay may then be applied in a digital modulator and demodulator component, such as component 113 shown in FIG. 2, or may be applied just before the signal is provided to the second light source as shown in FIG. 4, or may be applied before the signal is provided to the driver 1112 of the second light source 160.

[0054] Alternatively, if the optical link between the OWC transmitter 100 and the remote OWC receiver 200 is a bidirectional optical wireless link, the response signal from the remote OWC receiver 200 to the OWC transmitter 100 may be transmitted over the same optical channel.

[0055] 6 shows an OWC system 300 including an OWC transmitter 100 and a remote OWC receiver 200 according to the present invention. The remote OWC receiver 200 includes at least one optical sensor 250 suitable and configured to receive at least one of the first and second optical data signals transmitted by the OWC transmitter 100. In a preferred example, when the remote OWC receiver 200 is located within the second FoV 165, the optical sensor 250 is configured to receive the second optical data signal 161. When the remote OWC receiver 200 is located outside the second FoV 165 but within the first FoV 155, the optical sensor 250 is configured to receive the first optical data signal 151.

[0056] The optical sensor 250 may be a photodiode, a dedicated photocell (point detector), an array of photocells possibly with a lens, reflector, diffuser or phosphor converter (for low speed), or an array of photocells (pixels) and a lens to form an image on the array. Also, two different optical sensors may be deployed on the remote OWC receiver 200 to simultaneously receive the first optical data signal 151 and the second optical data signal 161 when the remote OWC receiver 200 is located in an overlapping area of ​​the first FoV 155 and the second FoV 165.

[0057] 7 shows a flowchart of a method 500 of the OWC transmitter 100. The method 500 includes the following steps performed by the OWC transmitter: in step S501, the OWC transmitter 100 emits a first optical data signal 151 via a first light source 150 in a first FoV 155, in step S502, the OWC transmitter 100 emits a second optical data signal 161 via a second light source 160 in a second FoV 165, and in step S504, the OWC transmitter 100 simultaneously emits the first optical data signal 151 via the first light source 150 and the second optical data signal 161 via the second light source 160, where the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 are of different types and the first FoV 151 is wider than the second FoV 161. Optionally, the OWC transmitter 100 compensates for the difference in response time between the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 before emitting simultaneously via the two light sources in step S503.

[0058] 8 shows a flow chart of another implementation of the method 500 of the OWC transmitter 100. Two different options are shown to obtain the response time difference between the first light source 150 and the second light source 160. In the first option, the OWC transmitter 100 measures the response time of the first light source 150 in step S510, and then compensates for the response time difference by adding an additional delay in the signal path to the second light source 160 in step S520 depending on the measured response time of the first light source 150. In a second option, the OWC transmitter 100 transmits a test signal via the first light source 150 and the second light source 160, respectively, in step S530, the OWC transmitter 100 receives a response signal including feedback on channel state information (CSI) derived from the test signal, and then the OWC transmitter 100 determines a response time difference between the first light source 150 and the second light source 160 based on the response signal in step S550, and compensates for the response time difference by adding an additional delay to the signal path to the second light source 160 according to the determined response time difference in step S560. Thus, the step of S503 in FIG. 7 is executed as either S520 or S560 in FIG. 8.

[0059] The method according to the invention may be implemented in a computer as a computer implemented method, or in dedicated hardware, or in a combination of both.

[0060] The executable code for the method according to the invention may be stored on a computer / machine readable storage means. Examples of computer / machine readable storage means include non-volatile memory devices, optical storage media / devices, solid state media, integrated circuits, servers etc. Preferably, the computer program product comprises non-transitory program code means stored on a computer readable medium for performing the method according to the invention when said program product is run on a computer.

[0061] Methods, systems and computer readable media (transitory and non-transitory) may be provided for implementing selected aspects of the above-described embodiments.

[0062] The term "controller" is used herein generally to describe various devices that are involved in the operation of one or more network devices or coordinators, among other functions. A controller can be implemented in numerous ways (e.g., with dedicated hardware) to perform various functions discussed herein. A "processor" is an example of a controller that employs one or more microprocessors that may be programmed using software (e.g., microcode) to perform various functions discussed herein. A controller may be implemented with or without a processor, or as a combination of dedicated hardware to perform some functions and a processor (e.g., one or more programmed microprocessors and associated circuitry) to perform other functions. Examples of controller components that may be employed in various embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, conventional microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0063] In various implementations, a processor or controller may be associated with one or more storage media (collectively referred to herein as "memory" and including, for example, volatile and non-volatile computer memory such as RAM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM, compact disks, optical disks, and the like). In some implementations, these storage media may be encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more processors and / or controllers, perform at least a portion of the functions discussed herein. The various storage media may be fixed within a processor or controller, or may be portable such that one or more programs stored on those storage media can be loaded into a processor or controller to implement various aspects of the invention discussed herein. The terms "program" or "computer program" are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code (e.g., software or microcode) that can be employed to program one or more processors or controllers.

Claims

1. a first light source configured to emit a first optical data signal in a first field of view; a second light source configured to emit a second optical data signal in a second field of view; 1. An optical wireless communications transmitter comprising: the first light source and the second light source are of different types, and the first field of view is wider than the second field of view; the optical wireless communications transmitter is configured to simultaneously emit the first optical data signal via the first light source and emit the second optical data signal via the second light source; The optical wireless communications transmitter is configured to compensate for a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source.

2. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the second light source supports a greater bandwidth than the first light source.

3. 3. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal are from a common data stream provided to the optical wireless communications transmitter.

4. 4. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 3, wherein the first optical data signal comprises a low frequency portion of the common data stream and the second optical data signal comprises a high frequency portion of the common data stream.

5. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 3 , wherein information contained in the first optical data signal is contained entirely in the second optical data signal.

6. 6. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 1, wherein the optical wireless communications transmitter includes a sniffer circuit for measuring a response time of the first light source, and the optical wireless communications transmitter is configured to compensate for differences in response times by adding an additional delay to a signal path from a common data stream to the second light source in response to the measured response time of the first light source.

7. 6. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 1 , configured to perform the following steps before transmitting the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal: transmitting test signals to a remote optical wireless communications receiver via the first light source and via the second light source, respectively; receiving a response signal from the remote optical wireless communications receiver, the response signal including feedback regarding channel state information derived from the test signals transmitted by the first light source and the second light source, respectively; determining a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source based on the response signal; and Responsive to the determined response time difference, compensating for the response time difference by adding an additional delay to a signal path from the common data stream to the second light source.

8. 8. The optical wireless communications transmitter of claim 1, wherein the first light source comprises at least one light emitting diode and the second light source comprises at least one of a laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser.

9. An optical wireless communication transmitter according to any one of claims 1 to 8; a remote optical wireless communications receiver including at least one optical sensor configured to receive at least one of the first optical data signal and the second optical data signal transmitted by the optical wireless communications transmitter; and An optical wireless communication system comprising:

10. 1. A method for an optical wireless communication transmitter, the method comprising: emitting a first optical data signal via a first light source in a first field of view; emitting a second optical data signal via a second light source in a second field of view; simultaneously emitting the first optical data signal via the first light source and emitting the second optical data signal via the second light source; Including, the first light source and the second light source are of different types, and the first field of view is wider than the second field of view; The method comprises: Compensating for a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source; A method comprising:

11. The method comprises: Measuring a response time of the first light source; adding an additional delay to a signal path to the second light source in response to the measured response time of the first light source to compensate for differences in response times; The method of claim 10, comprising:

12. The method comprises: transmitting a test signal via the first light source and via the second light source, respectively; receiving a response signal including feedback regarding channel state information derived from the test signal; determining a difference in response time between the first light source and the second light source based on the response signal; compensating for the difference in response time by adding an additional delay to a signal path to the second light source in response to the determined difference in response time; The method of claim 10, comprising:

13. 13. A computing program comprising code means which, when said program is executed by an optical wireless communications transmitter comprising processing means, causes said processing means to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 12.

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