RCS-OFDM enabling full brightness control with power-efficient visible-light communication

Abstract

In this Letter, we report a novel optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (O-OFDM) scheme that provides power-efficient communication and effective brightness control. The proposed scheme exploits the anti-symmetry property of asymmetrically clipped O-OFDM (ACO-OFDM) and signal reversal, doubling the linear dynamic range and enabling full brightness control. It also generates less nonlinear distortion compared with the conventional ACO-OFDM and does not need additional pulse modulations required in previous work. Following detailed descriptions of the proposed scheme with simulation results, a proof-of-concept demonstration showing the full brightness control maintaining the benefits of the power-efficient ACO-OFDM communication scheme is presented. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration showing the feasibility of O-OFDM-based dimming control.