This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.
Performance Enhancement of Indoor VLC System
by Employing SAC OCDMA Technique
Oppicharla Anilkumar1 and R.K. Jeyachitra2
Department of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Trichy, India
Email: 1 akoppicharla@gmail.com 2 jeyachitra@nitt.edu
Abstract—In this paper, the indoor Visible Light
Communication (VLC) system employing Spectral Amplitude
Coding Optical Code Division Multiple Access (SAC OCDMA)
technique is proposed and the performance of the proposed
system is analyzed. SAC OCDMA is a multiplexing scheme
that has become a research area of interest in Optical Wireless
Communication. It has improved flexibility in channel allocation,
ability to access asynchronously, enhanced privacy and increased
network capacity. The performance of the indoor VLC System
employing FBG based SAC OCDMA technique is compared with
the existing VLC system employing intensity modulation/direct
detection (IM/DD) technique. The results of this study show
that the performance of the proposed system is better than the
existing system in terms of quality factor, Bit error rate (BER),
number of users, Transmission distance. By using this technique
the maximum data rate of 600 Mbps and the maximum possible
transmission distance of 600 m are achieved. The transmission
of data with Quality factor 33 and Bit Error Rate 8e−150 is
achieved.
Index Terms—Optical Code Division Multiple Access, Fiber
Bragg Grating, Spectral Amplitude Coding, Visible Light
Communication.
I. I NTRODUCTION
The VLC is a fast growing Optical Wireless Communication
(OWC) technology and achieved much attention in the last few
years, in particular indoor optical wireless communications. In
VLC technology light intensity is modulated at high rates such
that brightness changes are undetectable by human eyes [1].
The Light Emitting Diodes (LED) are used to convert electrical
data signals into visible light signals while photo detectors are
used at receivers to convert it back into electrical signals. As
a result, direct intensity modulation and detection can be used
for data transmission [2].
In multiuser transmission using OCDMA, many users can
send the data simultaneously over the channel. Because of
several active users, it will cause interference among users.
This process is called as Multiple Access Interference (MAI)
or Multiple User Interference (MUI) [3]. In addition to that,
many coding schemes were designed with different length that
affects the data rate when several users are communicating
at a time. The performance of the system would be varied
according to the number of users. It is observed that the
different OCDMA codes proposed by different author offer the
different performance level. These codes have been developed
using different platforms such as OptiSystem, which is used
to observe and analyze the performance of the different codes
used in the encoding and decoding scheme [4].
978-1-5090-4442-9/17/$31.00 2017
c IEEE 1784
The main objectives of the works are (i) Study of indoor
VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique (ii) Perfor-
mance analysis of the proposed system (iii) Comparison with
the existing VLC system employing IM/DD technique.
In Section II the description of the proposed system model
is explained. In Section III the simulaton setup of the proposed
model for 1 user and for 7 users is given. In Section IV
the results and discussions are explained. In Section V the
conclusion of my work is explained.
II. P ROPOSED S YSTEM M ODEL
The Indoor VLC System employing SAC OCDMA tech-
nique is illustrated in Fig. 1. Here multiple users can simul-
taneously transmit the data over the same channel. At the
transmitter side light intensity is used to modulate the user
data using Machzehnder modulator (MZM). Then the Fiber
Bragg Grating (FBG) encoder will generate the unique code
sequence for each user. All the encoded data will be passed
through Free Space Optical channel (FSO). At the receiver
side the reverse process will be performed by FBG decoder to
filter out the data of the intended user. Now the data will be
passed through photo detector (PD) and Low pass filter (LPF)
to eliminate the undesired frequency range. Finally the data
can be received correctly by intended user.
The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is also called
as radio CDMA. This is a multiple channel access method
in this several many users can send information at a time
over one communication channel [5]. This is employed in
several communication radio technologies like CDMA2000
and WCDMA. In this multiple users would share the band
of frequency through technology called spread spectrum tech-
nology and one special coding scheme. The spread spectrum
signal is generated by utilizing a code called fast pseudo
random code [6].
Every user is assigned a code which is orthogonal, different
and unique from the other. The receiver would use the same
code to separate the intended signal in detection process [7].
By OCDMA high data rate can be achieved when compared to
TDMA. By allowing multiple users to transmit with one carrier
frequency this technique provides good device management
than FDMA. In addition to that, the transmitters of CDMA are
cheaper compared to transmitters of FDMA and TDMA [8].
WDMA and TDMA are two conventional optical com-
munication schemes which are used in allocating bandwidth
among many users [9]. But, there will be many drawbacks as
 This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.
Fig. 1. Proposed model of VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique.
the number of users increasing [5]. If we consider TDMA,
only single user can communicate at a time, so the system
throughput will get. If we consider WDMA system, every
transmitter transmits with a light wavelength by the peak
speed of the hardware network. The WDMA can provide high
throughput, but constructing a WDMA system is very difficult.
So OCDMA is the best alternate to WDMA and TDMA since
it will not require frequency or time management system. In
addition to that OCDMA provides high throughput because
frequency and time slots do not have to be assigned to each
user [10].
According to the SAC OCDMA proposed by Jen Fa Huang,
it encodes the data by passing through a series of multiple
FBGs wavelength with a specified code sequence in order to
accomplish the coding pattern [10]. For decoding the coded
broadband signal that is sent to the receiving part of the
decoder; the optical signal is divided into two branches equally
with the 1 × n power splitter. The series of FBGs at the
transmitter side is corresponding to the encoder code vector,
while the series of FBGs at the receiver side perform the
reverse process of the encoder. While at the detection part, the
subtraction between both upper and lower part of the decoder
is brought out and passing it through the photo-detector, as it
is known as match filtering detection [11].
The OCDMA technique is most suitable for employing local
area networks (LAN) and access networks since it provides
dynamic bandwidth allocation, asynchronous access [11]. The
MAI is one of the dominating sources of noise. It requires the
design of the code sequence that can control the MAI [12].
The SAC OCDMA provides best solution which will reduce
1785
the MAI effect arising from other users by having codes which
have fixed in phase cross correlation.
In this technique FBGs are used in the encoding and
decoding processes. The FBGs are made by laterally exposing
the core of a single-mode fiber to a periodic pattern of intense
ultraviolet light [10]. The exposure produces a permanent
increase in the refractive index of the fiber’s core, creating
a fixed index modulation according to the exposure pattern.
This fixed index modulation is called a grating [12].
III. S IMULATION S ETUP
The simulation for the indoor VLC System employing SAC
OCDMA technique is done in OptiSystem 12 software and the
results are obtained. Fig. 2 represents the simulation setup of
the indoor VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique
for single user and Fig. 3 represents the simulation setup of
indoor VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique for
7 users.
IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS
The simulation has been done to evaluate and compare
the performance of the proposed indoor VLC system with
the existing indoor VLC system. For the simulation study, the
specifications are taken according to the properties of visible
light communication which are listed in the Table I [5]. The
results obtained in existing indoor VLC system are depicted in
Figs. 5 and 7. The Results obtained in proposed indoor VLC
system are depicted in Figs. 6 and 8. The results obtained from
the eye diagram are tabulated in Table II. The comparison
between the existing and the proposed model is made and
given in Table V.
 This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.

Fig. 2. Setup of indoor VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique for single user.

Fig. 3. Setup of indoor VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique for 7 users.

TABLE I On comparing the results obtained in two cases, from Figs. 5

S IMULATION PARAMETERS . and 6 we can observe that the transmitted signal is received
with the negligible interference in proposed model. From
Parameter Value
Figs. 7 and 8, we can observe the perfect eye in proposed
Input power 1 mW model with quality factor 33. From Figs. 9 and 10 we can
Channel Free space
Transmission distance 100 m compare the plots of Transmission distance versus quality
Attenuation 25 dB/km factor and Data rate versus quality factor for existing model
Data rate 100 Mbps and proposed model. In proposed model transmission distance
Modulation NRZ OOK
Wavelength 450 nm can be improved to 600 m, but in existing model it is 300 m.
From Table II we can observe that the quality factor is very
high and the BER is very less in the proposed model compared
with the existing VLC system.

1786
 This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.

Fig. 4. Transmitted signal in existing and proposed model. Fig. 6. Received signal in proposed model.

Fig. 7. Eye diagram for existing model.

Fig. 5. Received signal in existing model.

TABLE II From Table III, if the transmission distance is above 600 m,

A NALYSIS FROM E YE D IAGRAM . the quality factor is 0. So for data rate of 100 Mbps the
maximum distance possible is 600 m. And from Table IV,
Parameter Existing model Proposed model for data rate of 400 Mbps the maximum possible distance is
Max. Q factor 23.321 33.0022 450 m. The results obtained for existing method and proposed
Min. BER 6.89871e−121 2.06641e−239 method are compared in the following Table V. From this table
Eye height 1.59904e+008 0.0020542
Threshold 647185 4.30335e−005 we can observe the better performance in terms of data rate,
Decision Inst. 0.751368 0.565382 transmission distance, Quality factor and BER.

The proposed method supports simultaneous transmission
of several users, we have checked for 7 users in which the
signals were received properly with better quality factor and
less BER.
V. C ONCLUSIONS
In this paper we discussed about the implementation of
indoor VLC system employing SAC OCDMA technique.
The performance of the proposed system is analyzed. The

1787
 This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.

Fig. 10. Data rate versus quality factor.

TABLE IV
Fig. 8. Eye diagram for proposed model. Q UALITY FACTOR VALUES FOR D IFFERENT T RANSMISSION
D ISTANCES AT 400 M BPS .

Transmission distance 0 50 200 400 410 450

(Meters)
User 1 2.71 2.71 2.69 1.72 0 0
User 2 2.88 2.88 2.87 2.33 2.24 0
User 3 3.22 3.22 3.22 2.39 2.27 0
User 4 3.15 3.15 3.14 2.57 2.47 0
User 5 3.04 3.04 3.04 2.51 2.40 0
User 6 3.07 3.07 3.04 0 0 0
User 7 2.91 2.91 2.87 0 0 0

TABLE V
C OMPARISON TABLE .

Parameter Existing model Proposed model

No of users 1 7
Data rate 200 Mbps 600 Mbps
Transmission distance 150 m 600 m
Quality factor 11 33
BER 7e−48 8e−150
Fig. 9. Transmission distance versus quality factor.
performance compared to the existing indoor VLC system in
TABLE III
Q UALITY FACTOR VALUES FOR D IFFERENT T RANSMISSION
terms of quality factor, BER, number of users and transmission
D ISTANCES AT 100 M BPS . distance. The simultaneous and asynchronous transmission of
several users is possible with this technique, we have verified
Transmission distance 50 100 250 400 500 600 this by transmitting seven users simultaneously and achieved
(Meters) the appealing performance. By using this technique the max-
User 1 6.03 6.03 6.03 4.13 2.08 0 imum data rate of 600 Mbps is achieved. And the maximum
User 2 6.13 6.11 5.9 4.03 1.96 0
User 3 8.26 8.26 8.24 5.69 2.82 0
possible transmission distance is 600 m. The transmission of
User 4 6.48 6.48 6.23 4.8 2.84 0 data with Quality factor 33 and BER 8e−150 is achieved.
User 5 9.48 9.41 8.8 6.4 2.87 0
User 6 9.15 9.10 8.58 4.6 1.73 0 R EFERENCES
User 7 7.15 7.15 7.13 4.21 1.73 0
[1] C. W. Chow, C. H. Yeh, Y. F. Liu, and P. Y. Huang, “Mitigation of
optical background noise in light-emitting diode (LED) optical wireless
communication systems,” IEEE J. Photon. vol. 5, no. 1, 2013.
performance comparison between the indoor VLC systems [2] Aleksandar Jovicic, Junyi Li, and Tom Richardson, “Visible light
employing SAC OCDMA with the indoor VLC system using communication: opportunities, challenges and the path to market,” IEEE
Commun. Mag. vol. 51, no. 12, 2013.
the IM/DD technique has been performed. The proposed in- [3] M. Z. Norazimah, S. A. Aljunid, Hamza M. R. Al-Khafaji,
door VLC system described in this work presents an appealing Hilal A. Fadhil, and M. S. Anuar, “Performance of different SAC-

1788
 This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE WiSPNET 2017 conference.

OCDMA detection schemes with NRZ and RZ Data Formats,” in IEEE
Symp. on Industrial Electron. & Applications 2013.
[4] H. M. Al-Khafaji, S. Aljunid, and H. A. Fadhil, “Single photodiode
detection for interference elimination in SAC-OCDMA systems,” in
IEEE Intl. Conf. on Photon., 2013.
[5] K. Sindhubala and B. Vijayalakshmi, “Design and performance analysis
of Visible Light Communication system through simulation,” in Intl.
Conf. on Computing and Commun. Tech., IEEE Publications 2015.
[6] M. Noshad and K. Jamshidi, “Code family for modified spectral-
amplitude-coding OCDMA systems and performance analysis,” J.
IEEE/OSA Opt. Commun. and Netw. vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 344–354, 2010.
[7] David J. Richardson Hongxi, Optical code division multiple access
communication networks, Beijing Springer, 2008.
[8] P. R. Prucnal, “Optical code division multiple access: fundamentals and
application,” in Taylor & Francis Group, IEEE 4th Intl. Conf., 2006.
[9] Chen Mu Tsai and Ming Wei Kang Jen Fa Huang, “Optical spectral-
amplitude coder/decoders structured with circulator-free fiber-gratings
array,” in Proc. Intl. Symp. on Intelligent Signal Process. and Commun.
Systems pp. 550–554, 2004.
[10] P. C. Teh, “Applications of superstructure fiber Bragg gratings for optical
code division multiple access and packet switched networks,” Doctoral
Thesis, University of Southampton, Optoelectronic Research Centre,
pp. 230, 2003.
[11] Lawrence R. Chen, “Flexible fiber bragg grating encoder/decoder for
hybrid wavelength time optical CDMA,” IEEE Photon. Tech. Lett.,
vol. 13, pp. 1233–1235, 2001.
[12] H. M. H. Shalaby and H. Ghafouri Shiraz Zou Wei, “Modified quadratic
congruence codes for fiber bragg-grating-based spectral-amplitude-
coding optical CDMA system,” IEEE/OSA J. Lightwave Tech., vol. 19,
pp. 1274–1281, 2001.

1789