VLCIoT: design and implementation of a visible light communication system for indoor Internet of Things applications

In this paper, a visible light communication (VLC) system for indoor Internet of Things (IoT) applications, called VLCIoT, is proposed. The proposed system is based on type I of the IEEE 802.15.7 standard physical (PHY) layer. The PHY I is provided for low data rate applications from 10 to 100 kb/s, which looks suitable for the typical IoT applications. The on-off keying suggested modulation scheme by the PHY I that is simple and requires low-cost hardware for implementation is considered. The implemented VLCIoT system is robust against indoor ambient light interference. Using the frequency division multiple access, several VLC networks can operate at different frequencies in the vicinity of each other without interference. The data rate of VLCIoT is up to 115.2 kb/s, and the bit error ratio of the system is very low. This system is designed for indoor, which for this purpose operates well up to 7 m distances. In this paper, a figure of merit (FoM) is proposed, in which the most important parameters for IoT applications are considered. A comprehensive comparison of VLCIoT to other suitable VLC systems for IoT applications is performed. The results show that the VLCIoT achieves the best FoM and is suitable for indoor IoT applications.