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DESIGN OF VISIBLE LIGHT
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING
ASK MODULATION
C Subha priyadharshini
Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engg.
Coimbatore Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore, India
subhapriyadharshini@cit.edu.in
2021 International Conference on Computing, Communication, and Intelligent Systems (ICCCIS) | 978-1-7281-8529-3/20/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI:
P Sharmila, M Gayathri, K Randhisha, M C Yazhini
Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engg.
Coimbatore Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore, India
Abstract A Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a fast
growing technology became ubiquitous in the Optical wireless
communication domain. It has the benefits of high security, high
bandwidth, less power consumption, free from Electro Magnetic
radiation hazards. VLC can help to address the looming spectrum
crunch problem with secure communication in an unlimited
spectrum. VLC provides extensive wireless connectivity with larger
data densities than Wi-Fi along with added security features that
annihilate unwanted external network invasion. The problem such as
energy consumption and infrastructure complexity has been reduced
by integrating the illumination and data services. The objective is to
provide fast data communication with uninterrupted network
connectivity and high accuracy to the user. In this paper, a proposed
visible light communication system for transmitting text information
using amplitude shift keying modulation (ASK) has been presented.
Testing of transmitter and receiver block based on frequency, power
and distance has been analyzed. The results show that the receiver is
capable of receiving input data with minimum length under direct
communication with the transmitter.
Keywords Visible Light Communication (VLC), Amplitude
shift keying modulation (ASK), Wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)
I. INTRODUCTION
Optical wireless communication operates under the visible
band (390 750 nm) are frequently categorized as visible light
communication. It uses white LEDs for transmitting data up to
500Mbps.Specially designed photo diodes with high receiver
sensitivity is used to receive signals from light sources [1].
VLC has the advantage of high bandwidth, high density
coverage, more security, larger spectrum, less energy
consumption, visibility, more compatible with electromagnetic
environment and protect from radiation hazards. The potential
application of VLC includes vehicular communication, and
health monitoring robots in hospitals, smart classroom, blind
indoor navigation system, intelligent tracking system for
library, underwater wireless communication and Road safety
application [2]. Visible light communication transmit signal at
ISBN:
ISBN:978-1-7281-8529-3/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE
XX-X-XX-XX-X/19/$31.00 ©2021
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IntelligentSystems
Systems(ICCCIS)
(ICCCIS)
A Rajeswari
Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engg.
Coimbatore Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore, India
rajeswari@cit.edu.in
the rate of 10Gbps using frequency band between 400 and 800
THz. The challenge that exist in the implementation of VLC
include interference with background light sources, while
interfacing VLC with other devices and an alliance of VLC
with existing technologies such as IoT, 5G etc.
To survive with the above challenges, a standardized VLC
system for data communication is necessary, so the advanced
LED communication systems are recognized as creating
possible solution for future generation technology, which has
the potential to utilize white LED light for the purpose of light
data communication at ultra-high speed to outperform existing
radio frequency system [5]. Visible light Communication
make use of LED properties thereby it effectively converts the
information into coded form using intensity modulation and
direct detection (IM/DD) method and at the receiver side the
signal is decoded , then retrieved with the help of photo
detector (PD).The information waveform which modulates the
light intensity must be real valued and non-negative in the
case of IM/DD. To satisfy these conditions, simple modulation
techniques such as on off keying (OOK), Color shift keying,
digitally controlled PAM, pulse position modulation (PPM)
and pulse width modulations (PWM) have been studied in
earlier works [5][15].
Out of all modulation schemes, an efficient illuminating
system with low-speed data transfer for transmitting text using
PWM scheme [3]. The input bit stream is modulated with
ASK modulation scheme and then it is transmitted via an
optical channel with the help of NI myDAQ. Several
modulation schemes were used in order to avoid flickering in
LEDs [10]. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) is reported to provide data communication at the rate
of 100 Mbps using multi-carrier technique with free of
interchannel interference. The vantage of Pulse width
modulation scheme over OOK is that, in PWM, information
is encoded using multi-level bit modulation along with
effective synchronization it offers low speed data transfer
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with minimal dependent on-off ratio [9]. One of the challenges

faced by VLC system is the dimming effect. To control consumes less power and easy implementation when
dimming effect in the case of digital color shift keying compared to other modulation schemes.
(DCSK) , implementation of pulse width modulation and
digitally controlled pulse amplitude modulation
(PWM/DPAM) scheme has been proposed in the earlier work
[1][9].
To mitigate the effect of optical noise, Manchester line
coding scheme for the LED is used. The Manchester coding
has an inherent property of improving the signal quality even
in the presence of interference at a specific frequency band.
The Optical noise frequency below 500 kHz, Manchester
coding will be the best choice compared with the conventional Fig. 1. Block Diagram of Proposed VLC model
non-return-to-zero (NRZ) [6]. Realistic propagation channel
models play a vital role in developing more accurate VLC This change in carrier amplitude is utilized for the
channel models under LOS and Non LOS condition. For better transmission of information. LEDs are turned ON and OFF
optimization of the receiver, a primary LOS channel model to based on the bit streams e there
delineate the path loss and received optical power is needed to is a reduction in the level of intensity. The Transmitter and the
eliminate variant noise sources. An array of white LED is Receiver block is implemented using Labview. At the front
designed for simultaneous illumination and more secured data panel of the transmitter section, text message (10 characters or
transmission under line-of-sight (LOS) condition [7]. less) is entered and once the user presses Send button, the text
message transferred into encoding unit. Inside the encoder, the
IEEE 802.15.7 standard support data rate up to 96 Mbps text is converted into an ASCII binary code and converts it
for both audio and multimedia data services and provide user back into bits. These codes are ASK modulated using
mobility, compatible with variant light infrastructures, Software Defined Radio (SDR), which is designed using
impairments due to interference and internal optical noise, and Labview. For each b
the interaction of MAC sub layer with higher layer [9]. IEEE
802.15.7 also provides secured flicker-free data transmitted.
communication. The Pulse width modulation (PWM)-based
pulse position modulation (PPM) utilizes dimming control The output modulated signal is passed to NI myDAQ to
mechanism for signal formatting to enhance the transmission perform digital to analog conversion and then the analog
capacity of visible light system [10]. BER of 1×10 -5 is signal is transmitted with the help of LED. The white LED
achieved using this modulation scheme. (blue LED with yellow phosphor) and is preferred because of
its wide radiation angle. At the receiving end the OPT101
Because of narrow bandwidth visible frequency band is photo detector is used to detect the light variation and converts
utilized for multiuser communication. Optical MIMO it back to analog electrical signal. The OPT101 is a monolithic
technique is one such method used for transmitting high speed photodiode added with transimpedance amplifier used to get
multiple data input through common channel [13].This eco- rid of leakage current, optical noise due to internal
friendly VLC transmission system play a vital role by components and variation in gain characteristics because of
replacing white LED with incandescent and fluorescent light stray capacitance. The Output voltage verses light intensity
shows that there is a linear increase in voltage with respect to
This Paper has been organized as follows: section II
intensity. This Received analog electrical signal is converted
discussed about the proposed VLC system design and
back to the digital form by another NI myDAQ and gets
implementation and in section III, simulation results are
demodulated in SDR to receive the same transmitted message
analyzed and finally, conclusion
in the front panel of receiver section.
II. VLC SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Block Diagram
A. Transmitter Schematics
The block diagram of proposed VLC model is shown in
At first the user enters a desired message (10 characters or
the Fig.1 which comprises of Transmitter block, LOS channel
less) in the front panel display of the transmitter section and
and Receiver block. Encoding, modulation, decoding and
wait for the response. The transmission starts by pressing Send
demodulation blocks are implemented using Labview. The
button. The text is digitized to an ASCII binary code, ASK
information to be transmitted is encoded in the intensity of
modulated, and finally the converted analog output is
light and modulated using ASK modulation to enable the
transmitted via LED. Implementation of transmitter block
switching state in LED. In this proposed VLC model, NI
using NI myDAQ in LabVIEW is schematically represented in
myDAQ is used which act has an interface to transmit text
Fig.2.
message using Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) Modulation
and receive the detected signal with the help of photo detector
In ASK modulation the amplitude of the carrier changes

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Fig. 4. Receiver block implementation in Labview

Pseudocode for the Receiver block implementation in

LabVIEW shown in Fig. 4 is as follows. After acquiring an
Fig. 2. Transmitter Block implementation in Labview
input optical signal through photo detector
Pseudocode for the transmitter block Start the program
implementation in LabVIEW shown in Fig.2 is as Detection of ASK signal
follows Filtering with low pass filter
Start the program Decode the signal
Enter the message & press 'Send' bit to integer conversion
ASCII conversion integer to ASCII conversion
Normalization &encoding end
Integer conversion
Check
if integer = 1, generate square
wave else generate DC value of
zero
Send it to Digital to Analog
converter End

Fig. 5. Front Panel of Receiver

The Photo detector configuration and the transmitted

output signal in shown in figure 6.

Fig. 3. Front Panel of Transmitter Fig. 6. Photodetector setup & Transmitted signal via LED

B. Receiver Schematics The Text message is simulated in LabVIEW and it is

Detection of ASK signal is asynchronous or non checked via LED to detect whether the message is transmitted
or not.
arding the length of
the message for further processing. The optical signal
is received by a photo detector, filtered using low pass
filter, demodulated then decoded into bits, and
interpreted back into text.

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C. Hardware setup
D. Simulation Output
The Overall system model is represented in Fig.7. NI
myDAQ acts as an interfacing component between PC and
LED. NI myDAQ converts the digital signal to analog
signal and sends it to LED. The LED then transmits the
signal.
The Simulation results for various character lengths
are transmitted through NI myDAQ and its output has been
detected with its equivalent bit streams in LabVIEW are
discussed below.
One input character
The Character which has length of unity is
transmitted via NI myDAQ is shown in Fig.9 and its
output has been detected with its equivalent bit streams in
LabVIEW.

Fig. 7. Overall System Model

At the receiving end the photo detector senses light

intensity variation and converts it back into analog
electrical signal. The output signal is rectified to absolute
value and filtered using decoding technique. The decoded
bits are converted to integers and further it is converted to
ASCII text. Initially for the testing LED driver circuit and
photo detector, we have tested the receiver by varying
input frequency and distance shown in Fig. 8. Table.1
shows the observed received output voltage for different
frequencies and distances.
Fig. 9. Transmission of Data with Single character

Four input characters

The Character which has length of four is transmitted
through NI myDAQ is shown in Fig.10 and its output has
been detected with its equivalent bit streams in LabVIEW

Fig. 8. Received output Voltage

TABLE I. VARIATION OF DISTANCE WITH RESPECT TO VOLTAGE

Variation of distance with respect to Voltage
S.no Output Voltage
Distance(Cm) (millivolt)
1 1 55
2 3.5 13
3 6.5 11
4 10 8
5 15 3
6 20 2
Fig. 10. Transmission of Data with Four character

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Five input characters

The Character which has length of five is transmitted
via NI myDAQ is shown in Fig.11 and its output has been
detected with its equivalent bit streams in Lab VIEW.
Fig. 11. Transmission of Data with Five character
Multiple characters
The Output for multiple character input is obtained
with additional noise along with original data in receiver
circuit which is shown in Fig.12.
When the input data is given with minimum length then
the intensity is absolute and it is detected using OPT101 photo
detector and displayed in the LabVIEW. Due to internal noise
in the receiver minimum character is received by the photo
detector. By adding suitable filter at the output of the detector
minimizes the noise and enhance the receiver performance.
IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
The Usage of Visible Light Communication in day to
day applications is increasing rapidly. In near future, optical
channel is the main source of communication channel for
various applications. VLC allows many users to utilize the
optical channel bandwidth more frequently. Therefore
efficient Optical channel modelling is needed to attain high
data rate with high spectral efficiency. The Receiver blocks
need synchronization to perfectly demodulate the transmitted
data over optical channel. In future, Spatial mapping and
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing methods along
with adaptive filtering modules can be employed to
completely reduce the inter symbol interference and
background noises. Synchronization relevant algorithms can
be used to receive data at high bandwidth efficiency and low
bit error rate. This allows many users to use same bandwidth
at high data rate with high spectral efficiency.
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