Supervisors info:
Αριστείδης Τσίπουρας, Εργαστηριακό Διδακτικό Προσωπικό (ΕΔΙΠ), Τμήμα Πληροφορικής και Τηλεπικοινωνιών, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
Wireless communications are implemented by transmitting data to unguided propagation media through the use of wireless carriers such as radio frequency waves and visible light. The growing demand for high data rates, increased capacity, data security, especially in indoor scenarios, attaches more importance to conventional radio frequency technologies. For this reason, technologies such as mmWave and cognitive radio communications have been adopted as possible solutions to the problem of lack of spectrum and other limitations of conventional radio frequency systems. At the same time, visible light communication (VLC) has been proposed as an alternative, where the light source is used for both lighting and data transmission. Compared to RF links, VLC links have a very high bandwidth that allows much higher data rates. VLC is not affected by interference from electromagnetic sources, has unlicensed communication channels, is a very low power system and doesn’t affect human’s health. VLC is an attraction for study, as it has a wide range of applications, including reliable communications with low latency, such as vehicle safety communication. Despite the significant advantages of VLC technology and the variety of its applications, its use has drawbacks due to its disadvantages, such as its dependence on line of sight of the connection. Recently, hybrid RF / VLC technology systems have been proposed to take advantage of high VLC link capacity and better RF link connectivity. Thus, hybrid RF / VLC technology systems are a key tool for improving the rate and mobility of users on the one hand and for optimizing the capacity, interference and power consumption of the overall network on the other. This work seeks to provide a detailed overview of hybrid RF / VLC technology systems. Key features and topologies, applications and performance of such networks are studied, as well as the limitations they face, based on the international literature.
Keywords:
visible light communications, hybrid network, power consumption, bandwidth, capacity, optical link
