Software Defined Visible Light Communication

Software Defined Radio (SDR) has proven to be a practical and effective tool in RF communications, allowing flexible and rapid exploration of dynamic RF signal processing techniques while accelerating advancement of configurable RF antennas and front-end hardware. SDR concepts can be adapted to other physical media; we investigate a Software Defined Visible Light Communications (SDVLC) solution that adapts SDR platforms to the constraints of an Optical Wireless (OW) channel using the visible spectrum. Such a platform can be dynamically modified in order to meet both the data communications and illumination requirements of a dual-use VLC system. The platform enables concurrent development of signal processing techniques and front-end hardware that, along with the ability to quickly bring up an OW system, makes SDVLC a powerful concept for facilitation of VLC research and experimentation. We describe SDVLC characteristics and review the use of an instance to investigate tradeoffs in the delivery of room lighting and simultaneous adaptive modulation.