A Cost-Effective Approach for Ubiquitous Broadband Access Based on Hybrid PLC-VLC System

Visible light communication (VLC) using the light emitting diode (LED) will become an appealing alternative to the radio frequency communication technology for indoor wireless broadband access. However, VLC needs a ubiquitous network as its backbone to avoid becoming an information isolated island. Power line communication (PLC) systems could easily solve the informative problem of VLC while powering the LED lamps at the same time, which is considered as a good partner of VLC for the cost-effective implementation. In this paper, a novel and cost-effective framework of ubiquitous indoor broadband access based on deeply integrated VLC and PLC technology with only low-cost modification to the current infrastructure is therefore proposed. The broadband access network supports duplex transmission through each LED using the decode-and-forward (DF) working mode. This paper will present our recent research progress in this area, including a prototyping of duplex voice communications network based on hybrid PLC and VLC in our lab. Our research and development plan in this area for the near future will also be covered.