Novel Visible Light Communication Approach Based on Hybrid OOK and ACO-OFDM

In this letter, we present a novel hybrid intensity modulation and direct detection communication system, which integrates asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO-OFDM) and on-off keying (OOK) modulation schemes. First, the negative ACO-OFDM is proposed based on the conventional ACO-OFDM system to accommodate the on case with direct current in the OOK modulation, while the ACO-OFDM can match the off case in the OOK modulation. Therefore, the novel hybrid system combines the ACO-OFDM and OOK modulation schemes, while the signals can be recovered at the receiver to support the different qualities of service with high spectral efficiency and can be adapted to various receivers with different complexities. Simulation results are reported for the visible light channel and show that both the ACO-OFDM and OOK signals can be well recovered.