Basic Study on Receiving Light Signal by LED for Bidirectional Visible Light Communications

Abstract

SUMMARY Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are now used for lighting and illumination because of features such as low power consumption and long life. Lighting equipment has only LEDs, therefore it is necessary to install a photodetector to allow bidirectional communication. In this paper, we propose reception of a light signal by means of an LED for bidirectional visible light communications. We evaluate the characteristics of the LED used as a photodetector for bidirectional visible light communications through experiments. Further, we describe the newly developed experimental system that uses LEDs as a photodetector. Experiments show that an LED can be used not only as a light source but also as a photodetector for bidirectional visible light communications.