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

下一代无线网络的未来需求雄心勃勃，预计将需要支持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)是解决传统射频频段频谱赤字问题的一种很有前途的技术。由于发光二极管(LED)的大调制带宽，VLC技术可以提供高速数据速率，以满足无线通信设备的指数级增长。此外，它可以利用现有的照明基础设施，其中可能包含大量的LED用于照明，因此，它比建立新的射频基站更便宜。本项目旨在设计一种能够同时向多个移动用户传输多个数据流的多元素移动VLC架构，同时保持房间内照明的一致性。该项目探索了一种新的框架，通过将多元素架构设计为由多个LED组成的半球灯泡。该项目的智能优势是研究和开发一个多元素的VLC架构，该架构促进了两个相互冲突的目标的联合和自适应优化：照明质量和移动无线通信。所提议的方法的意义在于它的目标是探索软件定义的多元素模块的设计，其具有(A)用于高空间重复使用和高聚合吞吐量的窄角发射器LED，以及(B)执行光束电子转向以支持移动性的软件协议。这项活动的新颖方面包括：(I)使用窄发散角度的LED对多元素VLC架构中的移动聚合吞吐量和照明一致性进行联合优化；(Ii)用于优化LED和LED用户关联的发射功率的近似和启发式算法，以便通过更高的空间重用来最大化聚合移动用户的频谱效率，同时考虑到特定的照明质量；以及(Iii)在欧洲的智能城市试验台中实验多元素VLC概念。该项目发起了中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。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.