A Novel Architecture for Ultra-High Signal-to-Interference-Noise-Ratio Reception in Visible Light Communication

Theoretical models estimate visible light communication (VLC) data capacity to be of the order of Tera-bits-per-second (Tbps). However, practical limitations in receiver designs have limited state-of-the-art VLC prototypes to (multiple) orders of magnitude lower data rates. This paper explores a new architecture to realize ultra-high data rates in visible light communication systems by dramatically improving the Signal-to-Interference-Noise-Ratio (SINR) at the receiver. The key idea is to leverage the fast sampling rates of photodiode receivers and integrate a shutter mechanism that filters noise and interference thus creating a high-speed imaging receiver effect. Through adaptive selection of the exact receiver area over which the transmitted light is detected, the SINR can be dramatically increased yet not compromising the high sampling rate achievable using state-of-the-art photoreceptors. In addition to introducing the new hybrid architecture for high SINR reception, in this paper, we study the feasibility of noise and interference reduction through a proof-of-concept experimentation.