Angular diversity for indoor MIMO optical wireless communications

In this paper, we present a new type of receiver for MIMO optical wireless communications. The new receiver consists of multiple receiving elements (REs), each made up of a photodetector (PD) placed under an aperture. The directionality of each RE is shown to depend on the relative position of the PD and the aperture. Receiving patterns are calculated for various MIMO receiver designs, demonstrating that significant angular diversity can be achieved within a compact receiver structure. Simulation results are presented for a number of typical indoor scenarios when the transmitted signals are modulated using asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM). For the scenarios considered, the bit error rate is lowest in the middle of the room and highest in the corners. The results indicate that for typical parameter values, reliable communication can be achieved throughout the room.