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A Visible Light Communications System with

220MHz Bandwidth Based on Pre-emphasis
and Post-equalization Techn....

Conference Paper · November 2014

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2720.7360

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 ATh3A.116.pdf ACP 2014 © OSA 2014

A Visible Light Communications System with 220MHz

Bandwidth Based on Pre-emphasis and Post-equalization
Technologies
Minglun Zhang, Yangan Zhang, Xueguang Yuan
State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications), Beijing,
China
zhangml@bupt.edu.cn

Abstract: We propose a visible light communications system based on pre-emphasis and post-
equalization technologies. 220MHz E/O/E bandwidth is achieved with good frequency response
flatness. A 553Mbps OOK transmission experiment shows the system has good communication
performance.
OCIS codes: (060.2605) Free-space optical communication, (230.3670) Light-emitting diodes

1. Introduction
LED used in visible light communications has a large area p-n junction which leads to a large parasitic capacitance.
It is the parasitic capacitance and the output resistance of drivers that restricts the modulation bandwidth of LED [1].
3dB bandwidth of a single color HP (high power) LED ranges from several MHz to about 40MHz, while a phosphor
one has an even poorer about 2MHz 3dB bandwidth [2-4]. In order to get a higher data rate, either a broader E/O/E
bandwidth or a spectrum efficienct modulation format, or both is necessary. Pre-emphasis and post-equalization
technologies can effectively extend the system bandwidth [5-6].
R-C (resistor and capacitor) networks with an OP AMP can compose a simple, effective, low cost pre-emphasis
circuit and post-equalization circuit. This technology can be used with high spectrum efficiency modulation format
together, such as OFDM, to get a high data rate. However, it is difficult to determine the values of resistors and
capacitors to get a flat frequency response. As known, it is important for a high speed communication system to
have a channel with flat frequency response.
In this paper, we propose a circuit composed of an OP AMP and R-C network which can be used as a pre-
emphasis circuit or a post-equalizer. We also propose a method to exactly determine the values of resistors and
capacitors in order to get a flat frequency response. Experiment shows the proposed visible light communications
system has a 3dB E/O/E bandwidth of 220MHz with 1-dB flatness up to 180MHz. When a 231-1 OOK PRBS was
transmitted through this system, 553Mbps with BER (bit error rate) at 2×10-3 is achieved.
2. The Proposed Pre-emphasis circuit and Post-equalizer

Fig. 1: The proposed transmitter with a 2nd order pre-

emphasis circuit Fig. 2: The proposed receiver with a 2nd order post-equalizer
Our proposed transmitter and receiver are shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The current flowing across LED
approximately equals:
Vt1
iled = (1)
Rs
iled is the current flowing across LED, Vt1 is input voltage of OP AMP A2, and Rs is a current sensing resistor.
The total gain in dB of the visible light communications system can be expressed as:
 ATh3A.116.pdf ACP 2014 © OSA 2014

Vr 2 Vr1 Vt1
GTotal = 20 lg × ×
Vr1 Vt1 Vt 2 (2)
= GPE − LCH + GPA
GTotal is the total gain of the system. GPE is the gain of the pre-emphasis circuit which is dependent on
frequencies and determined by R1, R2, C1, C2, Rg1, Rf1, and A1. LCH is the loss of the E/O/E channel which is
dependent on frequencies and can be tested by experiments. GPA is the gain of the post-equalizer which is also
dependent on frequencies and determined by R3, R4, C3, C4, Rg2, Rf2, and A4.
If the normalized gain (GPE + GPA) is equal to the normalized loss LCH at every frequency, the bandwidth of the
system will be extended. Therefore, we should fit the normalized gain (GPE + GPA) to the normalized loss LCH at
frequency domain by adjusting the values of the resistors and capacitors in the transmitter and receiver. For an
optimal fitting, we introduce least squares method as shown below:
SS = ∑ [ (GPE + GPA ) N − ( LCH ) N ]
2
(3)
f
SS is the sum of squares which is dependent on the values of R1, R2, R3, R4, C1, C2, C3, C4, Rg1, Rf1, Rg2,
and Rf2. (GPE + GPA)N is the normalized gain of the pre-emphasis circuit and post-equalizer at a certain frequency.
(LCH)N is the normalized channel loss at the same frequency. f is the frequency collect at which (GPE + GPA)N is
calculated and (LCH)N is tested. The optimal values for resistors and capacitors which lead to a minimal SS are what
we will look for.
3. Experimental Setup, Results and Discussion
First, LCH is tested at frequencies every other 5MHz from DC to 300MHz. As shown in Fig. 3, a sine wave generated
by a function generator (Agilent 81160A) is fed into the LED driver at the point Vt1. A commercially available red
LED (LH CP7P by OSRAM) is driven. After propagation about 100cm, the light is focused by a Φ25.4mm lens onto
a photodiode S10784, then the photo current is amplified by a pre-amplifier which is designed by us with MAX3665.
Then, the signal (Vr1) is measured by an oscilloscope (Tektronix DPO4104B-L). (LCH)N is shown in Fig. 4.
The optimal values for resistors and capacitors are determined when curve fitting is done, and the optimal (GPE +
GPA)N is also shown in Fig. 4.
Theoretical normalized E/O/E frequency response after pre-emphasis and post-equalization will be obtained
when subtracting (LCH)N from (GPE + GPA)N at every frequency as shown in Fig. 4. It implies that 300MHz E/O/E
bandwidth is possible. The 4th curve in Fig. 4 is the measured normalized E/O/E frequency response after pre-
emphasis and post-equalization. In this measurement, a sine wave is fed into the system at Vt2, and the test point is at
Vr2. It shows that the measured curve is very close to the theoretical one. 220MHz 3dB bandwidth is achieved with
1-dB flatness up to 180MHz. It is possible that real E/O/E bandwidth increases further when the transmitter and
receiver are improved.
Communication performance of this VLC system is tested by an OOK transmission. As shown in Fig. 3, a NRZ
OOK 231-1 PRBS signal generated by a pattern generator (PG of TEK BitAlyzer BA1600) is fed into the pre-
emphasis circuit, and the received signal is provided to the error detector of TEK BitAlyzer BA1600 after post-
equalization. BER at 100, 200, 300, and 400Mbps is below 1×10-9. BER at 500Mbps is 2.46×10-5, and BER at
553Mbps is 2×10-3. The results and eye diagrams are shown in Fig. 5. These results prove the proposed pre-
emphasis and post-equalization circuits have a good performance.

Fig. 3: Experimental setup

 ATh3A.116.pdf ACP 2014 © OSA 2014

Fig. 4: Normalized E/O/E loss/gain and frequency response

2.50E‐03

2.00E‐03

1.50E‐03
BER

1.00E‐03

5.00E‐04

1.00E‐09
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Data rate（Mbps）

Fig. 5: BER of OOK transmission

4. Conclusion
In this paper, we demonstrate a proposed VLC system based on a pre-emphasis circuit and a post-equalizer, which
can extend the E/O/E bandwidth of the system to 220 MHz with 1-db flatness up to 180MHz. Experiments show the
system has a good enough performance up to 553 Mbps in an OOK transmission.
5. Acknowledgements
This work is partly supported by State 863 projects (No. 2013AA013601), National Major Scientific Instruments
and Equipments Development Project belonging to Ministry of Science and Technology of China
(NO.2012YQ170059), and ‘the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities’ (2013PTB-00-06).

6. References
[1] E. Fred Schubert. Light-Emitting Diodes. 2nd Edtion. Cambridge University Press. 2006.
[2] J. Grubor, et al., “Wireless high-speed data transmission with phosphorescent white-light LEDs,” Proc. ECOC 6. Post-deadline paper PD3.6
(2007)
[3] J.Vucic, et al., “125 Mbit/s over 5 m wireless distance by use of OOK-modulated phosphorescent white LEDs,” Proc.ECOC 2009, 9.6.4
(2009).
[4] J.Vucic, et al., “230 Mbit/s via a wireless visible-light link based on OOK modulation of phosphorescent white LEDs,” Proc.OFC/NFOEC
2010, OThH3 (2010).
[5] N. Fujimoto, et al.,“614 Mbit/s OOK-based transmission by the Duobinary technique using a single commercially available visible LED for
high-speed visible light communications,” in Proc.ECOC’2012, P4.03 (2012).
[6] N. Fujimoto, et al., “477 Mbit/s visible light transmission based on OOK-NRZ modulation using a single commercially available visible LED
and a practical LED driver with a pre-emphasis circuit,” Proc.OFC/NFOEC 2013, JTh2A.73 (2013)

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