ICE-T: RI: Multi-Element Mobile Visible Light Communication for Smart Cities

下一代无线网络的预期需求是雄心勃勃的，并且预计需要支持1000倍更高的数据速率和10倍更低的往返延迟的蜂窝网络。可见光通信（VLC）是一种很有前途的技术，可以解决传统无线电频段的频谱短缺问题。VLC技术可以提供高速数据速率，其可以满足由于发光二极管（LED）的大调制带宽而导致的无线通信设备的指数增长。此外，它可以使用现有的照明基础设施，其中可能包含大量的LED照明，因此，它是比建立新的RF基站便宜。该项目旨在设计一个多元素的移动的VLC架构，能够同时传输多个数据流到多个移动的用户，同时保持整个房间的照明均匀性。该项目通过将多元素架构设计为由多个LED组成的半球形灯泡来探索一种新颖的框架。 这个项目的智力价值是研究和开发一个多元素VLC架构，促进联合和自适应优化两个相互冲突的目标：照明质量和移动的无线通信。所提出的方法的重要性来自于其目的，即探索软件定义的多元件模块的设计，该模块具有（a）用于高空间重用和高聚合吞吐量的窄角发射器LED和（B）执行光束的电子转向以支持移动性的软件协议。该活动的新颖方面是（i）使用具有窄发散角的LED的多元件VLC架构中的移动的聚合吞吐量和照明均匀性的联合优化;（ii）用于优化LED的发射功率和LED-用户关联的近似和启发式算法，以便在考虑一定照明质量的同时经由更高的空间重用来最大化聚合移动的用户频谱效率;以及（iii）在欧洲的智慧城市试验平台中进行多元素VLC概念的试验。该项目启动了中央佛罗里达大学和英国诺森比亚大学的研究人员之间的合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Prospective demands of next-generation wireless networks are ambitious and are projected to require cellular networks that support 1000 times higher data rates and 10 times lower round-trip latency. Visible light communication (VLC) is a promising technology to address the spectrum deficit problem in the legacy radio frequency bands. VLC technology can offer high speed data rates that can meet the exponential increase of wireless communications devices due to large modulation bandwidth of the Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Further, it can use the existing lighting infrastructure which may contain large number of LEDs for illumination, and therefore, it is cheaper than setting up new RF base stations.This project seeks to design a multi-element mobile VLC architecture that is able to simultaneously transmit multiple data streams to multiple mobile users while keeping the uniformity of illumination across a room. The project explores a novel framework by designing the multi-element architecture as a hemispherical bulb consisting of multiple LEDs. The intellectual merit of this project is to investigate and develop a multi-element VLC architecture that facilitates joint and adaptive optimization of two conflicting goals: illumination quality and mobile wireless communication. The proposed approach's significance comes from its aim to explore designs of software-defined multi-element modules with (a) narrow-angle transmitters LEDs for high spatial reuse and high aggregate throughput and (b) software protocols performing electronic steering of light beams to support mobility. Novel aspects of this activity are (i) joint optimization of mobile aggregate throughput and illumination uniformity in a multi-element VLC architecture using LEDs with narrow divergence angles; (ii) approximation and heuristic algorithms for optimizing transmit power of LEDs and LED-user associations in order to maximize the aggregate mobile user spectral efficiency via higher spatial reuse while taking into account a certain illumination quality; and (iii) experimentation of multi-element VLC concepts in a smart city testbed in Europe. The project initiates a collaboration between Investigators at the University of Central Florida and Northumbria University in the United Kingdom.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.