Developing hybrid car-to-car communication system based on MIMO visible light and radio frequency

Abstract

This paper combines the advantages of both VLC communication and RF communication for car-to-car applications to achieve a higher data rate, more range coverage, smaller delay, and smaller BER. In the proposed scheme, the VLC maximum communication distance is chosen as 100 m per-hop approximately, which can be extended through multi-hop up to the timeout window of 5 hops. In contrast, the RF maximum communication distance is chosen as 200 m per-hop approximately, which is reasonable at the frequency band of 70 GHz to 90 GHz due to the high attenuation at this frequency band. A MATLAB simulation for a car-to-car framework is built to demonstrate and compare the BER, throughput, and delay outcomes at a hybrid VLC and RF communication. Our results show that VLC can achieve up to four times of the RF throughput while maintaining low BER of 10−6 and small delay of 10−4 with respect to RF communication only.

Increasing Vehicular Visible Light Communications Range Based on LED Current Overdriving and Variable Pulse Position Modulation: Concept and Experimental Validation

“…One of the techniques that has gained increasing momentum in recent years is a subfield of Optical Wireless Communications (OWC), namely, Visible Light Communications (VLC) technology [ 5 , 6 ]. This effect comes as a result of the multiple advantages VLC has, such as the transmission of information in a range of unlicensed frequencies, the use of a spectrum about 1000 times greater than the current Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum, the possibility to use the already existing lighting and signaling Light-Emitting Diode (LED) systems with minimal modifications, and last but not least, the compatibility with other technologies that would ensure complementary advantages within hybrid platforms [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Although the performances obtained in recent years are encouraging, with results that a decade ago would have seemed improbable, some challenges still need to be addressed in the context of ensuring specific conditions in the field of road traffic, such as increasing the robustness to noise, the communication range, or further enhancing the mobility [ 2 , 5 ].…”