Demonstration of High Data-rate Multimedia Streaming in a Laser-based Indoor Visible Light Communication System

We report the demonstration of real-time high-quality multimedia data streaming over a laser-based indoor visible light communication (VLC) link consisting of blue laser diode excited remote phosphor as transmitter, an amplified accoupled silicon photodetector as the receiver and USRP platforms for data modulation/ demodulation. The VLC link has been separately characterized and supports bandwidth > 800 MHz. Streaming of 1280 × 720 HD video is successfully demonstrated over this VLC link with an ethernet link data rate of 200Mbps and RF carrier frequency at the radio front-end at 245 MHz. When compared to previous multimedia streaming demonstrations in LED based VLC links, the high link data rates, and RF carrier frequency as reported here are achievable due to the large inherent bandwidth supported by laser sources. The potential applications of this demonstration are in next-generation heterogeneous wireless networks in which Wi-Fi and VLC links co-exist. The high-bandwidth optical wireless link as demonstrated here is suitable for low-latency, data-intensive, dedicated communication, for example in robotic telepresence, tactile tasks, etc.