A European view on the next generation optical wireless communication standard

TLDR

Optical wireless communication uses light, notably high‑power LEDs, to provide simultaneous illumination and high‑speed data links, a technology that has matured and is projected to support a large mobile‑device market. The paper calls for industry awareness of the need to standardize next‑generation optical wireless systems. The authors outline the European COST 1101 OPTICWISE vision for a standard delivering 1 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s, detailing technical insights, use cases, features adopted by IEEE 802.15.7r1, and a channel model for evaluating proposals.

Abstract

Optical wireless technology uses light for mobile communications. The idea is to simultaneously combine the illumination provided by modern high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with high-speed wireless communications. There have been numerous practical demonstrations of this concept, and the technology is now well matured to be deployed in practice. Independent market analysts forecast a high-volume market for mobile communication devices connected to the ubiquitous lighting infrastructure. This paper aims to make optical and wireless industries aware of the requirement for standardization in this area. The authors present the view of the European COST 1101 research network OPTICWISE towards a next-generation optical wireless standard aiming at data rates from 1 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s. Besides key technical insights, relevant use cases and main features are described that were recently adopted by the IEEE 802.15.7r1 working group. Moreover, a channel model is introduced to enable assessment of technical proposals.