Experimental Demonstration of an FPGA-based Outdoor VLC Broadcasting System

Visible light communication (VLC) uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transmit data by turning them on and off at very high speeds, too fast for the human eye to perceive. In outdoor environments, LED-based streetlights can be utilized as VLC transmitters. Given the ubiquity of street lights, they are particularly useful for outdoor broadcasting as required in public safety systems. In this paper, we develop an FPGA-based VLC system with on-off keying using a LED-based streetlight. The system is built upon the Eclypse Z7 FPGA platform integrated with opto-electronic transmitter and receiver front-ends. We present error rate performance results up to transmission distances of 8 meters.