Proceedings of the 15th Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC 2009)-148

Indoor Optical Wireless Communication System

Utilizing White LED Lights

Wang Rui, Duan Jing-yuan, Shi An-cun, Wang Yong-jie, Liu Yu-liang

Abstract—White LED (Light Emitting Diode) is expected to be

the next generation of lamps due to its advantageous properties
such as high brightness, reliability, low consumption and long life
span. An indoor optical wireless duplex channel communication
system, as an access to the Internet, utilizing both white LED
lights and infrared LEDs, has been proposed by our laboratory.
The characteristics such as illuminance and power distribution,
impulse response, and modulation techniques are studied.
Strategies for design of LED lights and receivers are described. A
demo system of proposed type with a peak data rate of 64 Kbps
for surfing the net is constructed. This system has integrated
functions of lighting and communication, showing a great promise
in the future indoor wireless networking.

Index Terms—impulse response, illuminance, optical wireless Fig. 1. LED-based duplex channel optical wireless communication system.
communication, white LED light.
infrared LEDs for indoor Internet access, as illustrated in Fig.1
The downlink comprises of white LED lights, which are
I. INTRODUCTION modulated by signals from the wired net, and a matched

W HITE LED lights are gradually replacing the

traditional incandescent and fluorescent lamps for its
long life expectancy, high tolerance to humidity, low power
detector. The uplink comprises of an infrared LED and a
matched detector. The reason of not using white but infrared
LED in the uplink is that people might be uncomfortable with a
consumption, low voltage and small size [1]-[2]. Another white LED shining near their computers. Both links adopt
important property that distinguishes it from traditional lights is intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD).
that LEDs can be modulated in high speed, indicating it can not This paper is organized as follows. In section II, the
only be used to illuminate, but also play an important part in illuminance distribution of a certain arrangement of white LED
communication as a signal emitter. This LED-based lights is discussed. In section III, design of receivers is
communication system is especially fit for short-range, indoor described. In IV, three factors influencing the pulse response
wireless communication [3]-[5], which is currently dominated are modeled and analyzed. In section V, possible modulation
by radio frequency (RF) techniques. However, LED-based techniques are discussed. Section VI shows the setup of the
wireless communication offers several significant advantages. demo system and the results are given. Section VII gives the
The spectrum region of white or infrared LED offers a virtually final conclusion.
unlimited bandwidth that is unregulated worldwide. White and
infrared light are absorbed by dark objects, and diffusely II. EMITTER DESIGN
reflected by light-colored objects, and directionally reflected
from shiny surfaces. Both types of light penetrate through glass, A. White LED lights
but not through walls or other opaque barriers, so that signal
transmission is confined to the room in which they originate,
which makes it easy to secure transmissions against casual
eavesdropping, and it prevents interference between links
operating in different rooms.
Our group has proposed an optical wireless duplex channel
communication system that employing white LED lights and

Manuscript received April 30, 2009. Fig. 2. Model situation for illuminance distribution analysis.
The authors are with the Optoelectronic System Laboratory, Institute of
Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (e-mail:
wangrui@ semi.ac.cn).


‹,(((
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 Indoor Optical Wireless Communication System Utilizing White LED Lights
In this subsection, possible application of the proposed
system will be analyzed. A room with a size of 6h6h2.5 m is
modeled. The distribution of illuminance at a desk surface,
which is 0.75 m high, will be discussed. There are two channels
in this indoor optical wireless communication system, line of
sight (LOS) and diffuse, as illustrated in Fig.2.
It is assumed that an LED chip has a Lambertian radiation
pattern [6], hence the luminous intensity in angle φ is given by
m +1 (1)
I (φ ) =
i I cosm (φ )
2π
where I is the total luminous flux of an LED at work, i is the
index of white LEDs, m is the order of Lambertian radiation,
and is given by the semi-angle at half illuminance of an LED
ĭ1/2 as m = ˉln2/ln(cos ĭ1/2 ). A horizontal illuminance Li at a
point of desk surface P (x, y, z), contributed by DQ LED at
Fig. 3. The distribution of illuminance in LOS channel.
Pi(xi,yi,zi) in LOS channel, is given by
I (φ ) cos(ψ ) (2)
L ( x, y , z ) = i
i
d i 2 ( x, y , z )
where di is the distance between the LED and the illuminated
point. The total horizontal illuminance on the desk surface L in
LOS channel is obtained by summing over all LED sources.
In diffuse channel, plaster walls are assumed to be
Lambertian reflectors [7] with a reflectivity ȡ of 0.8, thus the
horizontal illuminance Di at the Point P, caused by first
reflection of wall surface element dA around a point Pr, can be
expressed as
m + 1 I cos(θ ) cos( β ) cos m (α ) cos(γ ) (3)
dDi = ρ dA
2π 2 r12 r2 2
The total illuminance D in diffuse channel of first reflection
is obtained by integrating over the entire reflecting wall areas
and by summing over all LED sources.
D= ¦³
i
dDi (4) Fig. 4. The distribution of illuminance in diffuse channel of first reflection.
wall
It is assumed that there are 9 white LED lamps evenly
installed in the ceiling of the model room, one lamp per 4 mm2.
Each lamp contains 40 high power LEDs, which are very close
to each other. Semi-angle at half power, total luminous flux and
transmitted optical power of the LED is 68 q , 80lm and
200mW. Using these parameters, the horizontal illuminance
distribution in LOS channel is illustrated in Fig.3, and
distribution in diffuse channel of first reflection in Fig.4.
Comparing Fig.3 and Fig.4, it can be seen that in the region
of near to the wall, the illuminance is greatly enhanced by the
reflection. Therefore, the diffuse channel will influence not
only the light function, but also the performance of
communication system. It can be estimated that the influence of
reflection of more than one time could be considerable in the
corners but trivial in other places.
According to the lighting standards set up by International
Fig. 5. The combined distribution of illuminance. Min. 322 lx, Max. 669 lx,
Organization for Standardization (ISO), illuminance of 300 to Ave. 563 lx.
1500 lx is required for office work. Combining the illuminance
in LOS channel and diffuse channel of first reflection, the
distribution is shown in Fig.5. It can be seen that illuminance B. Infrared emitters
above 300lx is obtained in all the places of the room, indicating The wavelength band between 780 and 950 nm is chosen for
that function of lighting is achieved in this model. the upward infrared link due to the commercially availability of

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 Proceedings of the 15th Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC 2009)-148
low-cost LEDs in this wavelength band. Another reason is that
this band coincides with the peak responsivity of inexpensive,
low-capacitance silicon photodiodes. Since the SNR
(signal-to-noise ratio) of an IM/DD link depends upon the
square of the received optical average power [6], implying that
high power should be transmitted. The problem is the radiation
in this band relates to eye safety, so the power can not be too
high and needs to be used effectively.

III. RECEIVER DESIGN

Optical receivers mainly comprise two parts, a detector and a Fig. 6. Concentrator of hemispherical lens.
concentrator. An optical power detected is proportional to
receiver’s effective light-collection area, which is given [6] by
­ ATs (ψ ) g (ψ ) cos(ψ ), 0 ≤ θ ≤ψ c
Aeff (ψ ) = ® (5)
¯0, θ >ψ c
where A is the physical area of the detector, ψ is the angle of
incidence, Ts(ψ) is the signal transmission of the filter, g(ψ) is
the concentrator gain and ψc is the field of view (FOV) of the
concentrator.
Nonimaging concentrators can be more compact and have
more high collection efficiency than the imaging concentrators.
The hemispherical lens, illustrated in Fig.6, is an important
nonimaging concentrator, which achieves a wide FOV and
omnidirectional gain simultaneously. This is especially suitable
for diffuse channel and mobile access. By optimizing the
optical filter and index match, a hemispherical lens can achieve
Fig. 7. The distribution of received power. Min. -22.7 dBm, Max. -19.4 dBm,
ψc Ĭʌ/2 and g(ψĬ Q over its entire FOV. Therefore, the
effective light-collection area for an optimized hemispherical
lens based receiver can be given [8] by
Aeff (ψ ) = An2 cosψ (6)
The distribution of received optical power on the surface of
desks in the model room is a key concern for a communication
system. It can be obtained by following the same steps with the
calculation of illuminance. Assuming the physical detection
area is 3mm2 and the refractive index of the lens is 1.5, then the
power distribution contributed by combining LOS channel and
diffuse channel of first reflection is shown in Fig.7. It can be
seen that the dynamic range of about 3dB is required for the
receiver.
As to the detector, silicon photodiodes with sensitivity peak in
the near infrared are used in both links, because photodiodes
with peak sensitivity in the visible region are available in the
market. As to the filter, it should match the link property. In the
downlink, the filter should enhance the transmission of visible
light and block the infrared, for background light like sunlight
contains much infrared component. In the uplink, the filter
performs the opposite, usually constructed by multiple thin
dielectric films. Index match layer is used to enhance the
transmission of the desirable light from lens to silicon.
IV. IMPULSE RESPONSE
In the indoor optical wireless communication system
proposed, there are three key factors influencing the downlink’s

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Ave. -20.2 dBm.
impulse response h(t): various positions of white LED lamps,
different propagation delay caused by reflection and the
emitting properties of white LEDs. Alternately, the channel can
be described in terms of the frequency response H(f), which is
the Fourier transform of h(t).
∞
(7)
³ h (t )e
− j 2π ft
H( f ) = dt
−∞
Most of the white LEDs used in lamps are fabricated by
panting a yellow-emitting phosphor YAG:Ce3+ on the blue
LED chip. The fluorescence of this phosphor is less than 100 ns.
In the following analysis, the difference of the white LED’s
emitting properties with different wavelengths is ignored, and
the whole light is roughly simulated by an exponential decay
mode with a fluorescence lifetime IJ.
It is assumed that all white LED lamps give an impulse with
an optical power of 1W simultaneously in the initial moment,
and the parameters of the receiver are the same with that of
section III. Since light from the lamps can reach the receiver
after any number of reflections, the received power, namely,
pulse response, can be given [6] by
∞
h(t ; R ) = ¦¦ h ( k ) (t ; Si , R ) (8)
i k =0
 Indoor Optical Wireless Communication System Utilizing White LED Lights
where R means the position of the receiver, h(k)(t; Si, R) is the
response of the light from the ith lamp Si undergoing exactly k
reflections. The impulse response varies with the position of the
receiver, however, it exhibit qualitatively similarity. A position
(1, 1, 0.75) is chosen for the following analysis. The impulse
response in LOS channel (k=0) and diffuse channel of first
reflection (k=1) are shown in Fig.8 and Fig.9. It can be seen that
when IJ = 50ns, the impulse response is dominated by the
fluorescence effect of white LEDs in LOS channel, and lasts for
nearly 300 ns, leading to significant decrease in the channel
frequency response at high frequencies.
One way of solving this problem is to use Red, Green and
Blue LEDs (RGB LED) based white lights. Without phosphors,
the tuning speed is limited by nonequilibrium carriers’ lifetime
of the LED materials, which can be less than 1 ns. This emitting
characteristic can also be simulated by the above exponential
decay mode. Fig. 8. Impulse response when IJ = 50ns.
When IJ = 0.5ns, the duration of the impulse response is
shortened to about 20 ns, which is mostly determined by the
propagation delay due to multiple positions of lights in LOS
channel. The diffuse channel’s effect on broadening the
duration of impulse response also can not be ignored.
The impulse response of the uplink is simpler for there is no
problem of various positions of infrared emitters like in the
downlink. The duration of the impulse response is determined
by the emitting properties of an infrared LED and the multiple
path propagation in diffuse channel [6].

V. MODULATION
In a communication system based on IM/DD, several
modulation techniques can be used, such as on-off keying
(OOK), pulse-position modulation (PPM) and subcarrier
modulation. Because the wireless communication system Fig. 9. Impulse response when IJ = 0.5ns.
proposed should also perform lighting function, therefore the
criterion for evaluating modulation methods is different for
downlink and uplink. For the downlink, enough emitting power Since there is no negative light power in optical link, this
for illumination must be satisfied. It is assumed that the signal bipolar code needs to be transformed to a unipolar code by
of “1” and “0” show up in the same probability. OOK with changing the negative lever to zero level. This coding method
None-Return-To-Zero pulse (NRZ) loses half power compared assures that the emitting power of the white LED lamp keeps
with no modulation. L-PPM utilizes symbols consisting of L the same, no matter whether there is data transferring between
time slots and loses 75% of power when L=4. For the uplink, the Internet server and the user or not.
the requirement is that the power consumption should be as low The signal from a gateway has bit rate of 64 Kbps, after CMI
as possible while the desired Bit Error Ratio can be achieved. coding, the bit rate increases to 128Kbps. OOK(full on and full
For both links, the bandwidth required by a certain modulation off) with NRZ pulses at 128 KHz is utilized to modulate a white
method must be within the bandwidth allowed by the whole LED lamp and an infrared LED of 850nm. This indoor optical
system. wireless communication system as an access to Internet has
achieved a peak data rate of 64Kbps for surfing the net in our
VI. EXPERIMENT laboratory. The photo of the demo system is shown in Fig.11.
The diagram of demo system is shown in Fig.10. It consists The future work will focus on increasing the communication
of two parts, control module and user adaptor. A line code of data rate and a proper protocol for multiple users’ access.
Coded Mark Inversion (CMI) is used in the optical link.
According to CMI coding rule, each bit of data having a
logical value “0” is coded by changing the coded signal level
from a negative level to a positive level in the center phase of
one cycle, and each bit of the data having a logical value “1” is
alternatively coded to the positive level and the negative level.



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 Proceedings of the 15th Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC 2009)-148
networking. A model room was established to simulate a
normal indoor environment. The illuminance and optical power
distribution were analyzed. Three factors influencing the pulse
response were discussed, including the LED emitting property,
multiple positions of light sources and path differences in the
diffuse channel. A demo system based on IM/DD as an access
to Internet was constructed. It uses a code line of CMI and
OOK modulation, and achieved a peak data rate of 64 Kbps for
surfing the net.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to deeply thank Mr. Cen Gao for
valuable help in the experiment.

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Fig. 11. The photo of the demo system.

VII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an indoor optical wireless duplex
communication system is introduced with the opportunity
provided by the replacement of existing illumination systems
with white LED lighting. This system, utilizing white LED
lamps as emitters in the downlink and infrared LEDs in the
uplink, offers a lot of advantages compared with RF based



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