Optimum Design of a Composite Optical Receiver by Taguchi and Fuzzy Logic Methods

This paper investigates a composite optical receiver for an indoor visible light communication (VLC) system. The optical gain, received power, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are considered to be optimized. However, it is difficult to find a balance between them in general design and optimization. We propose the Taguchi and fuzzy logic combination method to improve multiple performance characteristics effectively in the optical receiver. The simulated results indicate that the designed receiver has the characteristics of an optical gain of 10.57, a half field of view (HFOV) of 45°, a received power of 6.4635 dBm, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 89.8874 dB, and a spot size of 2 mm. The appropriate weights of the three performance characteristics for the inputs of the fuzzy controllers increase the optical gain by 13.601 dB, and the received power and SNR by 11.097 dB and 0.373 dB, respectively. Therefore, the optical receiver optimally designed by the Taguchi and fuzzy logic methods can significantly meet the requirements of an indoor VLC system.

Application features of micro-pixel avalanche photodetectors in the laser Doppler anemometers

The optical receiver is an essential part of any laser Doppler anemometer. Traditionally, vacuum photomultiplier tubes are used for reliable reception of weak optical radiation. However, this type of photodetector has its own drawbacks, which lead to a design complication and an increase in the cost of LDA. In this work, the characteristics of silicon micropixel avalanche photodiodes are investigated and the operation of a silicon photomultiplier as a photodetector in an LDA is tested when measuring the velocity on test benches. The possibility of using Si-PMT to receive optical signals of the laser Doppler anemometer is shown.

Testbed for Experimental Characterization of Indoor Visible Light Communication Channels

In this paper, we describe an experimental testbed designed to evaluate indoor visible light communications (VLC) in realistic scenarios. The system is based on a mockup where the location and orientation of the optical receiver can be modified with precision for a static configuration of walls and ceiling lamp arrangements. The system utilizes a timing synchronization method, which is based on evaluating the training sequence periods used for channel response estimation, which enables robust frame synchronization. In addition, an adaptive rate orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme is used to assess the VLC performance throughout the receiver plane emulating a real communication. The preliminary results obtained with this prototype, considering a multiple-input single-output (MISO) scenario, demonstrate that reflection on walls yields a significant increase in data rates, which can be additionally improved if appropriate orientation of the receiver is implemented. However, vertical orientation upward of the optical receiver still constitutes a simple solution but efficient enough. Moreover, a good agreement between simulation and experimental results is observed, which confirms the suitability of the mockup as an experimental testbed for practical evaluation of indoor VLC systems, where system performance for different lamp arrangements and receiver designs, including multi-user communications, can be studied.