Hybrid PD/SPAD receiver for vehicular dynamic VLC

Area of Science:

• Optical Communications
• Wireless Networks
• Sensing and Sensor Networks

Background:

• Vehicle-to-everything visible light communication (V2V-VLC) systems face challenges with link stability due to dynamic environmental factors on roads.
• Existing systems often have reduced effective communication ranges in complex road conditions, limiting their practical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel hybrid receiver architecture for V2V-VLC systems to enhance link stability and extend communication range.
• To address outdoor vehicular challenges such as weather attenuation, turbulence, pointing errors, and dynamic illumination in V2V-VLC.

Main Methods:

• Developed a hybrid receiver architecture combining a linear photodiode (PD) and a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array.
• Implemented a dynamic optical scheduling core (hybrid controller) using a micro-electro-optical selective switch for adaptive signal path switching.
• Simulated performance under various challenging outdoor conditions including low-light fog, sunny, and cloudy weather.

Main Results:

• The hybrid receiver significantly extends the reliable communication range compared to single-path systems under various conditions.
• Under low-light fog, the range increased by 162% (from 60m to 157m).
• Under sunny conditions, the range increased by 81% (from 16m to 29m), and outage probability was reduced by 85% in cloudy conditions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed hybrid PD/SPAD receiver architecture enhances link reliability and extends operating range for V2V-VLC in complex road environments.
• Adaptive path selection ensures stability and minimizes Bit Error Rate (BER) across diverse operating conditions.
• The architecture improves communication availability, making V2V-VLC more robust for real-world applications.