Analysis of diffuse optical wireless channels employing spot-diffusing techniques, diversity receivers, and combining schemes

In this letter, the performance of an indoor optical wireless spot-diffusing system using various multibeam transmitter configurations, in association with direction diversity and combining techniques, is assessed and compared under the impact of multipath dispersion and ambient light noise through theoretical analysis and computer simulation. Computer simulation for three different multibeam transmitter configurations and a conventional diffuse transmitter is carried out. Diversity receiver and wide, field-of-view (FOV) receiver configurations are evaluated in conjunction with the proposed configurations. For the diversity-detection case, a receiver comprising an array of narrow FOV detectors (three and seven segments) oriented in different directions is used to maximize the collected signals and minimize noise. A novel line-strip multibeam system (LSMS) is investigated with single and diversity receiver configurations, and is compared with other spot-diffusing methods. Combining schemes, including selection combining, maximum ratio combining, and equal gain combining are employed for the presented configurations. Our results indicate that the performance improvement obtained through the use of LSMS with a three-direction diversity receiver is about 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio enhancement over the conventional diffuse system, and 26 dB when combining techniques are used. Root mean square delay-spread performance for the proposed configurations, at different positions on the communication floor, are also evaluated and compared.