Performance Evaluation of a LoS Visible Light Communication Link using an Optical Concentrator and a Plano-Convex Lens

Visible light communication (VLC) has gained a lot of notoriety due to its ability to transmit data using light sources. However, some limitations arise when it is applied to practical environments, one of these is the relatively small active area of photodetectors (PD), which impacts the signal-to-noise ratio in the reception. Yet, the performance can be improved when an optical concentrator is placed on the transmitter side and a plano-convex lens on the receiver side. Experimental results obtained with an arrangement described in this work show a gain 9.23 times higher in the receiver when these elements are considered. And a gain of 3.07 times higher when only the optical concentrator is employed. The inclusion of such components led to a performance improvement in the link with transmission rates of up to 40 Mbps being measured using OOK NRZ modulation at a distance of 2 m.