Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Optical interference produced by artificial light

  • Published:
Wireless Networks Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wireless infrared transmission systems for indoor use are affected by noise and interference induced by natural and artificial ambient light. This paper presents a characterisation (through extensive measurements) of the interference produced by artificial light and proposes a simple model to describe it. These measurements show that artificial light can introduce significant in‐band components for systems operating at bit rates up to several Mbit/s. Therefore it is essential to include it as part of the optical wireless indoor channel. The measurements show that fluorescent lamps driven by solid state ballasts produce the wider band interfering signals, and are then expected to be the more important source of degradation in optical wireless systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. M.D. Audeh and J.M. Kahn, Performance evaluation of baseband OOK for wireless indoor infrared LAN's operating ant 100 Mb/s, IEEE Trans. Comm. 43(6) (1995) 2085–2094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J.R. Barry, Wireless Infrared Communications (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994).

  3. K.-C. Chen and T.-Y. Cheng, Signalling methods of IR PHY, submission to the IEEE 802.11 Standardisation Project (September 1993).

  4. Draft Standard IEEE 802.11, Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specification, P802.11D3 (January 25, 1996).

  5. C.J. Georgopoulos, Suppressing background-light interference in an in-house infrared communication system by optical filtering, Internat. J. Optoelectronics 3(3) (1988).

  6. F.R. Gfeller and U. Bapst, Wireless in-house data communication via diffuse infrared radiation, Proc. IEEE 67(11) (November 1979).

  7. F.R. Gfeller, P. Bernasconi, W. Hirt, C. Elisii and B. Weiss, Dynamic cell planning for wireless infrared in-house data transmission, in: 1994 International Zurich Seminar on Digital Communications, Zurich, Switzerland (March 1994).

  8. [8] Internet, http://www.irda.org. A good reference for the IrDA activities.

  9. J.M. Kahn et al., Non-directed infrared links for high-capacity wireless LANs, IEEE Personal Comm. (1994).

  10. G. Keiser, Optical Fiber Communications (McGraw-Hill, 1983).

  11. G.W. Marsh and J.M. Kahn, 50-Mb/s diffuse infrared free-space link using on-off keying with decision-feedback equalization, in: Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications ('94), The Hague, The Netherlands (September 1994) pp. 1086–1089.

  12. M.J. McCullagh, D.R. Wisely, P.L. Eardley and P.P. Smyth, A 50 Mbit/s optical wireless LAN link using novel optical and electronic enabling technologies, in: 1994 International Zurich Seminar on Digital Communications, Zurich, Switzerland (March 1994).

  13. A.J.C. Moreira, R.T. Valadas and A.M. de Oliveira Duarte, Modulation/ encoding techniques for wireless infrared transmission, submission to the IEEE 802.11 Standardisation Project (May 1993).

  14. A.J.C. Moreira, R.T. Valadas and A.M. de Oliveira Duarte, Characterisation and modelling of artificial light interference in optical wireless communication systems, in: '95), Toronto, Canada (September 27–29, 1995).

  15. K. Pahlavan, Wireless communications for office information networks, IEEE Comm. Magazine 23(6) (June 1985).

  16. S.D. Personick, Receiver design for digital optic communication systems, I, The Bell System Technical Journal 52 (July–August 1973) 843–874.

    Google Scholar 

  17. M.S. Rea, ed., Lighting Handbook – Reference & Applications (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, 8th ed., 1993).

  18. A.M.R. Tavares, A.J.C. Moreira, C. Lomba, L. Moreira, R.T. Valadas and A.M. de Oliveira Duarte, Experimental results of a 1 Mbps IR transceiver for indoor wireless local area networks, in: COMCON V – Intern. Conf. on Advances in Communications & Control, Crete, Greece (June 26–30, 1995).

  19. A.M.R. Tavares, R.T. Valadas and A.M. de Oliveira Duarte, Performance of an optical sectored receiver for indoor wireless communication system in the presence of artificial and natural noise sources, in: '95 International Symposium, Philadelphia, PE, USA (October 23–26, 1995).

  20. R.T. Valadas, A.J.C. Moreira, C. Oliveira, L. Moreira, C. Lomba, A.M.R. Tavares and A.M. de Oliveira Duarte, Experimental results of a pulse position modulation infrared transceiver, in: Proceedings of the Seventh IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications ('96), Taipei, Taiwan (October 15–18, 1996).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. de Electrónica e Telecomunicações, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810, Aveiro, Portugal

    Adriano J.C. Moreira, Rui T. Valadas & A.M. de Oliveira Duarte

Authors
  1. Adriano J.C. Moreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rui T. Valadas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A.M. de Oliveira Duarte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moreira, A.J., Valadas, R.T. & de Oliveira Duarte, A. Optical interference produced by artificial light. Wireless Networks 3, 131–140 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019140814049

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019140814049

Keywords

Search

Navigation