NeTS: Small: RUI: Hybrid Visible-Light and Radio-Frequency Communications with Integrated Medium-Access Control

NeTS：小型：RUI：具有集成介质访问控制的混合可见光和射频通信

• 批准号: 1618646
• 负责人: Siddhartan Govindasamy
• 金额: $ 9.83万
• 依托单位: Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1618646&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NeTS; Small; RUI; Hybrid; Visible

The explosion in demand for wireless communications has resulted in the crowding of the electromagnetic spectrum. To service the exponentially increasing demand forecast for the near future, new technologies and frequency bands need to be considered. One such technology is Visible-Light-Communications (VLC), where light-emitting diode (LED) based lighting systems can be used to transmit data while also providing illumination. The visible-light spectrum provides a very large bandwidth of electromagnetic spectrum that has the potential to help alleviate the spectral crunch. This proposed effort addresses the challenge of tightly integrating VLC communications with Radio-Frequency (RF) communications, where the RF channel is used only when a VLC link cannot be established, and for upstream data transmissions between users and access points since the upstream link poses a number of challenges for VLC including significant glare that would result from high-powered lights on mobile devices, and high power consumption. The PI proposes to develop practical, efficient protocols and algorithms for hybrid VLC-RF communications systems. The PI works in an undergraduate-only institution and will work with undergraduate students in this project. Additionally, the PI plans to work with a youth teacher program to educate middle- and high-school aged children on the fundamentals of digital communications, using VLC as an example technology. Successful completion of this project will be a major step towards making VLC-RF systems practical which will help service the increased demand for wireless data communications in the future, and help train the next generation of engineers. The PI proposes to design, develop, and implement in hardware, hybrid RF-VLC systems with integrated Medium-Access Control (MAC), which also provide illumination. The proposed program will involve 1) designing, simulating and implementing a VLC-RF MAC protocol; 2) developing and integrating into the system, physical layer algorithms that exploit channel information that can realistically be obtained through MAC protocol interactions; and 3) optimizing the MAC protocol for Room-Division Multiplexing (RDM). The fact that the proposed systems will have integrated MACs, enables practical VLC-RF systems for which physical layer implementation is decoupled from higher layers, which is an important principle of modular communications system designs. Optimizing the system for RDM can potentially increase data rates significantly due to the higher spectral re-use on the VLC enabled downlink of the hybrid system. Successful completion of this project will help make VLC a practical and modular communications system, which can lead to improved internet access, particularly in dense urban environments.

无线通信需求的爆炸性增长导致了电磁频谱的拥挤。为了满足不久的将来呈指数级增长的需求预测，需要考虑新技术和频段。其中一项技术是可见光通信 (VLC)，其中基于发光二极管 (LED) 的照明系统可用于传输数据，同时提供照明。可见光光谱提供了非常大的电磁光谱带宽，有可能有助于缓解光谱紧缩。这项提议的工作解决了将 VLC 通信与射频 (RF) 通信紧密集成的挑战，其中仅当无法建立 VLC 链路时才使用 RF 信道，并且用于用户和接入点之间的上行数据传输，因为上行链路构成VLC 面临许多挑战，包括移动设备上的高功率灯会产生明显的眩光以及高功耗。 PI 建议为混合 VLC-RF 通信系统开发实用、高效的协议和算法。 PI 在仅限本科生的机构工作，并将在该项目中与本科生一起工作。此外，PI 计划与青年教师计划合作，以 VLC 作为示例技术，对初中和高中年龄的儿童进行数字通信基础知识教育。该项目的成功完成将是VLC-RF系统实用化的重要一步，这将有助于满足未来对无线数据通信不断增长的需求，并有助于培训下一代工程师。该 PI 建议在硬件中设计、开发和实施具有集成媒体访问控制 (MAC) 的混合 RF-VLC 系统，该系统还提供照明。拟议的计划将涉及 1) 设计、模拟和实现 VLC-RF MAC 协议； 2) 开发物理层算法并将其集成到系统中，这些算法利用可以通过 MAC 协议交互实际获得的信道信息； 3) 优化室分复用 (RDM) 的 MAC 协议。事实上，所提出的系统将具有集成的 MAC，从而实现了实际的 VLC-RF 系统，其中物理层实现与更高层解耦，这是模块化通信系统设计的重要原则。 由于混合系统启用 VLC 的下行链路上的频谱复用率更高，针对 RDM 优化系统可能会显着提高数据速率。该项目的成功完成将有助于使 VLC 成为实用的模块化通信系统，从而改善互联网接入，特别是在人口稠密的城市环境中。