Demonstration of a Hybrid FSO/VLC Link for the Last Mile and Last Meter Networks

摘要： In this paper, a hybrid free-space optical and visible light communication (FSO/VLC) system was experimentally demonstrated as a solution to overcome the last mile and last meter access networks bandwidth bottleneck. We evaluate the system performance of a multiband carrier-less amplitude and phase (m-CAP) modulation scheme for a range of FSO/VLC link lengths and m-CAP parameters (i.e., the roll-off factor of the ?lters and a number of subcarriers) in terms of the data rate Rb (i.e., spectral ef?ciency). We show that for the con?guration with a 1 m VLC link the 10-CAP offers more than a 40 % improvement in the measured Rb compared to 2-CAP for the same bit error rate target. The Rb penalty due to the extension of a VLC link span from 1 m to 3 m reaches to 12.6 Mb/s for the 10-CAP scheme (i.e., ～39 % degradation in Rb). To fully cover all aspects of the hybrid FSO/VLC system, we also investigate the atmospheric turbulence effect on the 500 m FSO link n of 2.4×10?15 m?2/3 where Rb is decreased by 30 % for the refractive index structure parameter C2 compared to a clear channel condition.