Increasing Transfer Rate of Sunlight Communication System Using 2×2 Switchable CCR Array

Abstract

The transfer rate of a sunlight communication system is improved in this study. The transmitter end includes a 2×2 array of switchable corner cube retroreflectors (CCRs) to increase the transfer rate by at least four times. The fabrication of each CCR involves 3D printing and the making of a PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal) switchable module. The images captured by a high-speed camera at the receiving end are analyzed to recover the data. The transmission distance is currently 72 m, a significant improvement compared to our earlier work (45 m). The transfer rate increases from 7 bits/s to 32 bits/s.