Performance estimation of image transmission in indoor visible light communication system based on variable pulse position modulation

The dimming control feature of light-emitting diode (LED) makes it a viable candidate for indoor lighting applications. In this study, the performance of variable pulse position modulation (VPPM) based visible light communication (VLC) system is investigated in detail for an office room of 5 x 5 x 3-m(3) dimensions. A total of four LED lamps having Lambertian radiation patterns are mounted over the ceiling of the room. Several receiver locations are chosen over the three different trajectories to evaluate the error performance of the proposed system. The height of the receiver plane is also varied to find the optimum height where error-free data reception is achieved. Moreover, an effort is made to optimize the dimming percentage of the transmitted signal using VPPM in terms of bit error rate (BER), where the illumination requirements over the receiver plane are also as per the International Standards of Organization (ISO). The results show that the duty cycle of 50% is optimum for efficient system performance. Furthermore, a colored image is transmitted through the proposed system and the computed results reveal that satisfactory BER performance and good quality of the image is received at receiver heights ranging from 0.85 to 1.7 m, that is, approximately 2.75 to 5.6 ft above the ground plane.