- The paper presents a polar code-based FEC scheme for VLC that inherently supports 50% dimming balance and features a short run length property to mitigate flicker.
- The proposed scheme achieves approximately double the coding efficiency and offers higher coding gains (3 dB over RS, 1 dB over LDPC) compared to existing methods.
- This approach simplifies system design by eliminating auxiliary coding processes, making it highly suitable for practical, real-time IoT and industrial VLC applications.
Overview of Capacity-Achieving and Flicker-Free FEC Coding Scheme for Dimmable Visible Light Communication Based on Polar Codes
The paper presents a forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for visible light communication (VLC) that utilizes polar codes. The primary motivation is to enhance coding efficiency while addressing inherent VLC challenges such as dimming support and flicker mitigation using light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. The traditional FEC codes do not inherently support these functionalities, leading to additional coding complexities and reduced efficiency when supplementary techniques are employed.
Key Contributions and Results
The polar codes-based FEC scheme proposed in the paper demonstrates significant advantages over existing coding techniques:
- 50% Dimming Balance: The coding scheme ensures equal probability of ones and zeros in each codeword, naturally supporting a 50% dimming balance. This balance is essential for maintaining consistent light intensity during data transmission.
- Short Run Length Property: Approximately 90% of the bits in the proposed scheme feature runs shorter than 5 bits. This characteristic inherently prevents flickers, negating the need for additional run-length limited line coding.
- Higher Coding Efficiency: The paper reports an approximate twofold increase in coding efficiency compared to alternative methods. The scheme attains capacity-achieving error correction with low complexity encoding and decoding processes.
- Superior Error Correction Performance: The proposal claims about a 3 dB higher coding gain than Reed-Solomon (RS) codes at a 50% dimming ratio and a 1 dB improvement over Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes at dimming ratios of 25% and 75%.
Implications and Future Directions
The work outlines a significant step towards more efficient VLC systems by leveraging polar codes. The implications include:
- Practical Applications: The inherent flicker-free and dimming-supportive nature of the proposed scheme reduces system complexity and increases spectral efficiency, making the protocol highly suitable for real-time IoT and industrial applications using VLC.
- Simplified System Design: By eliminating auxiliary coding processes, the overall system design is streamlined, potentially reducing hardware and processing demands.
- Theoretical Advancements: The findings suggest a move towards achieving the theoretical capacity limits of BSC and BIAWGNC channels for VLC technologies. This could catalyze further research on optimizations in the channel modulation and coding strategies within different lighting environments.
- Adaptability across Environments: As VLC is considered a viable augmentation for 5G communication systems, the proposed scheme's potential adaptability to various channel conditions could be a significant asset in diverse settings.
Conclusion
The paper effectively introduces a novel FEC coding scheme using polar codes that enhances VLC performance by integrating seamless dimming and flicker mitigations while maintaining high coding efficiency. The insights and results provide a promising direction for future research and development in optical wireless communication technologies, specifically targeting the interplay between illumination and data transmission. These contributions position polar codes as a potent tool in advancing the robustness and practicality of VLC systems.
