Hybrid RF/VLC Network Architecture for the Internet of Things

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a remarkable advance in monitoring technologies in many environments, be they urban or rural. These technologies, included in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain, allow remote control and acquisition of data from sensors for their subsequence analysis. All these systems are based on the interaction between sensors and actuators. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to provide a very high level of connectivity between the devices, especially as far as wireless systems are concerned. In this sense, there is a great variety of standards in the market of communication networks oriented to this end. One of the biggest challenges today is to allow inter-operability between these different technologies in order to homogenize this field. In addition to this, it is intended to introduce new communication techniques that can provide certain additional advantages to those already existing. The main idea is the creation of a cellular network where radiofrequency and optical technologies coexist, and whose link with the rest of the world is through long-range and low-consumption wireless technologies. The center of each cell, that is the lighting system, can be powered using solar panels, as can the existing systems in the market. The objective is that these panels are capable of providing the necessary energy to the rest of the necessary systems.

Evaluation of Misalignment Effect in Vehicle-to-Vehicle Visible Light Communications: Experimental Demonstration of a 75 Meters Link

“…Therefore, due to the unique properties of visible light, the VLC technology has been found to be suitable for underwater communications [ 2 ], whereas due to its lack of electromagnetic interferences, it is envisioned as a solution in potentially dangerous locations such as chemical plants, nuclear plants or in underground mines [ 3 ], where the usage of Radio-Frequency (RF)-based communications could be unsafe. The ubiquitous character of LED light sources also enables the VLC technology to be suitable in Internet of Things (IoT) applications [ 4 , 5 ]. Due to its ability to provide low latency, energy-efficient and cost-effective connections, the VLC technology has been found to be appropriate for industrial use, including in the Industry 4.0 domain [ 6 ].…”

Lights and Shadows: A Comprehensive Survey on Cooperative and Precoding Schemes to Overcome LOS Blockage and Interference in Indoor VLC

“…It has been proposed for many different scenarios, both indoors and outdoors [ 4 ]. For indoor applications, there exists a wide variety of applications, such as extending the capacity and complementing the radio frequency (RF) systems [ 5 ], positioning and resource monitoring [ 6 , 7 ], intruder detection [ 8 ] or providing coverage where RF transmission is not allowed [ 9 ], among others. Outdoor VLC applications comprise vehicle-to-vehicle communications [ 10 , 11 , 12 ] or some trials and analysis for long distance transmission [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Furthermore, the optical frequency range is unregulated, which eases the research, development and deployment of VLC systems. VLC are complementary to the RF counterparts and thus, both of them can be used simultaneously and even as cooperative technologies [ 5 ]. Transmitters for VLC are based on off-the-shelf light emitting diodes (LED) that are present in the new lighting infrastructures and are being the replacement of previous lighting infrastructures due to their efficiency, which makes this technology low-cost and accessible everywhere.…”

FPGA-based Visible Light Communication System for Real-Time File Transmission

“…The data packet transmission is for internet broadcasting purposes or the delivery of human vital health data (e.g., EEG, ECG, EMG, etc.) [3].…”