Multi-Element VLC Transceiver With Beam Steering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data transmission methods, such as wired connections and radio-frequency transmissions, are inconvenient, costly, and prone to interference and security concerns, necessitating a more efficient and secure solution.
Innovation Solution
Visible Light Communications (VLC) using LED transceivers with multi-element angle diversity and beam steering techniques, which provide high-speed data transmission without congesting the radio spectrum and offer enhanced security due to the inability of light to penetrate most indoor spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If radio-frequency transmissions are used for data connectivity, then wireless convenience is achieved, but interference increases causing data loss and reduced performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces radio-frequency electromagnetic wave transmission with visible light transmission for data communication. This substitution moves the communication medium from the radio spectrum to the optical spectrum, eliminating radio frequency interference while maintaining wireless convenience. The LED transmitter modulates visible light to carry data signals, and the photodetector receiver detects these modulated light signals to recover the transmitted data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the transmission medium from radio frequency to visible light frequency. By operating in the visible light spectrum (approximately 400-750 THz) instead of radio frequencies, the system avoids the crowded and interfered radio spectrum while providing wireless data transmission. This parameter change enables simultaneous use of multiple wavelengths for wavelength-division multiplexing, further enhancing capacity and reducing interference.
2Ease of operation
If radio-frequency transmissions are used for data connectivity, then wireless communication is enabled, but security concerns arise due to wall penetration and data interception
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes radio-frequency electromagnetic waves with visible light waves for wireless data transmission. Visible light does not penetrate walls and opaque structures in the same manner as radio waves, creating a physically confined transmission medium that naturally limits eavesdropping. The optical communication is contained within the illuminated space, providing inherent physical layer security without requiring additional encryption or security protocols.
3Reliability
If multi-element transmitters and receivers are used in VLC, then link quality and throughput are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the transmitter into multiple LED elements and the receiver into multiple photodetector elements. Each element can independently transmit or receive signals, and multiple elements work together to provide spatial diversity. This segmentation enables the system to overcome blockages and maintain link quality by using multiple paths, while each individual element remains relatively simple in structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple LED transmitters and photodetector receivers into a unified VLC system. The multiple elements are integrated to work cooperatively, with signal processing algorithms combining the outputs from multiple photodetectors to recover the transmitted data. This merging provides diversity gain and improves link reliability while sharing common control and processing infrastructure, thereby managing overall system complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
VLC achieves improved signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) and secure data transmission by optimizing transmitter and receiver configurations, beam steering, and diversity combining, thereby enhancing link quality and throughput while preventing unauthorized data interception.
Implementation Method 1
With recent advancements in light emitting diodes, VLC transceivers can be cheap, small, lightweight, densely integrated, reliable, low power, modulated at high speeds
Implementation Method 2
Visible Light Communications (VLC) is an emerging wireless communication technology that can serve high speed data rates by using lighting structures
Implementation Method 3
Embodiments of the present invention also include multi-element angle diversity transceiver structures and novel beam steering techniques using piezo-electric based tilting of LEDs to improve SINR
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses, systems, and methods of communication using visible light communications (VLC) are provided. A system can include a VLC transmitter and a VLC receiver suitable for implementing a diversity combining technique. The diversity combining technique can include equal gain combining, selective best combining, and maximal ratio combining. The VLC transmitter can be a multi-element diversity transmitter and can provide illumination as well as data transfer.