LAB REPORT # OW1

WHITE LIGHT LED

[Date] CHARACTERISATION: LIGHT AND
COMMUNICATIONS SOURCES

LAB NAME:

STUDENT NAME:

GROUP NO:

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

INSTRUCTORS NAME:
 OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS DESIGN (EN0630)
Laboratory Assignment

1. ABSTRACT
In this Lab, we learned about the basic use of white LEDs in the Illumination system as
well as its importance in wireless communication system by optics. Furthermore, we
would learn components of VLC (Visible light Communication) system including
transmitter & system receiver functioning with other subsystems. We would deeply
screen characteristic of LED devices & plot their Ohm law response to check whether
they act as linear or non-linear devices. In further sectioning measure LED brightness
characteristic on-axis & off axis for further clarification of our ideas. After getting all
basic ideas about LED lastly we would implement basic optical wireless communication
system & measure performance & characteristics of a newly implemented system. And
for Visible light communications we would investigate modulation depth, Modulation
frequencies (bandwidth) & Non-zero modulation techniques & proposed the best
modulation system.

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES
Throughout this laboratory assignment, the following learning outcomes (UKSPEC US1,
US2, E1, P1m, P2 ) will be achieved:
Understanding the basic concept of visible light communications using white LED
Understanding the VLC system, transmitter, receiver and subsystems
Being able to characterise the LED device and its properties
Being able to practically setup a basic optical wireless communications system
Being able to measure and evaluate the performance of the system

3. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

 A signal generator (sine wave)

 Laser driver (constant DC current)
 Oscilloscope
 Voltage meter
 LED transmitters (with and without lens)
 Optical receiver (PIN)
 Bias‐Tee
 BNC and SMA cables
4. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND THEORY
The lighting industry increasingly employs white‐LED devices for illumination and
signalling applications. It is thought that such solid‐state lighting will eventually replace
existing conventional lighting sources (such as incandescent or fluorescent lamps) in the
coming decades. There is also a growing interest in using these devices for both
illumination and communications for indoor environment like office or home.
In this laboratory experiment you can characterise the
LED devices, setup the visible light communications link and measure its performance.

5. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
System Diagram
Connect the equipment’s and devices as in the Figure 1.

Figure 1. Block diagram of a basic visible light communications

5.1 LIGHTING CHARACTERISATION

The LED works by passing electricity through the thin P‐N junction of semiconductor
material to generate light. Here we investigate the relation between the current and the
luminance level.
A) Determine and plot the current – voltage (I‐V) relation of the white light LED source.
TABLE 1. MEASUREMENT VALUE OF I‐V
Current (mA) Voltage (V)
50 2.707
100 2.740
150 2.767
200 2.784
250 2.806
300 2.823
350 2.839
400 2.852
450 2.865
500 2.880
 FIGURE 1. LED I‐V CURVE

From the measured I‐V curve, determine the dynamic resistance of the LED device.
Note that the dynamic resistance is calculated as
𝑉
𝑅=
𝐼
Where V and I are the voltage and current values measured in the linear region.
B) MEASUREMENT OF THE LED BRIGHTNESS (ON‐AXIS)
An important parameter of lighting is the illuminance provided by the light source. Under
European standard the range of brightness required is between 400 lux and 1000 lux (lux:
the unit of illuminance). The measurement in this section is to determine the lux level at
different range and driving condition.
In the experiment, align the LED and the Lux meter on the on‐axis
direction. LED used are with and without lens.

TABLE 2. LUX MEASUREMENT VALUE FOR LED WITHOUT LENS

Current / 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Distance (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA)
10 cm 750 990 1390 1650 2170 2640 3150 3450 3720 3950

30 cm 220 294 306 379 508 514 576 640 624 664

50 cm 167 152 171 190 245 264 282 288 302 330
 TABLE 3. LUX MEASUREMENT VALUE FOR LED WITH LENS

Current / 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Distance (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA) (mA)
10 cm 1060 2150 2500 3360 3870 4550 5030 5770 6420 6960

30 cm 306 425 530 675 799 851 931 1091 1146 1225

50 cm 210 252 305 351 395 435 486 543 558 598

FIGURE 2: THE CURRENT‐BRIGHTNESS CURVE

C) MEASUREMENT OF THE LED BRIGHTNESS (OFF‐AXIS)
The LED emitting beam profile can be estimated by measuring the power footprint of
the beam on the receiving plane.
Procedure:
 Place the bare LED (without lens) and receiver at the distance L = 50 cm as in Figure
3
 Set the driving DC current to 300mA
 Move the receiver along the Y‐direction with the resolution of Y = 5cm and measure
the lux level. Determine the corresponding off‐axis angles. (Note that you can
equivalently measure the lux level in the x direction)
 Use the obtained data to plot the 2‐D contour of the lux in Fig. 4(a)

TABLE 4. LUX MEASUREMENT VALUE FOR LED WITHOUT LENS (OFFAXIS)

Y(cm) Y 2Y 3Y 4Y 5Y 6Y 7Y 8Y

 (o) 5.7 11.30 16.69 21.80 26.56 30.96 34.99 38.65
Lux 313 347 386 382 368 349 327 320
 FIGURE 3. MEASUREMENT SETUP,  IS THE OFF‐AXIS ANGLE
Repeat the measurement for LED with lens. Plot the 2‐D contour of the lux in Fig. 4(b)
Q1: What is the difference between diode and light emitting diode (LED)?
Answer: Every device with two pins is a diode. LED is a special type of a semiconductor
diode which emits light when current flows through it. A conventional silicon diode can
emit radiation too but it is in the infrared range.
Q2: What is the importance of the dynamic resistance?
Answer: The DC polarization determines the dynamic resistance, a high diode DC
current is a minimum dynamic resistance because the variation in the curve of diode is
higher than less resistance. A forward bias diode can be characterized by a DC
resistance or an AC resistance.
Q3: What is the benefit of using the optic lens?
Answer: Other advantages of optical lenses include its wide usage in ophthalmic
equipment’s, dental equipment’s, ENT equipment’s and so forth. Optical lenses are also
widely used in the field of photography. Today most of the modern cameras are equipped
with some of the latest lenses which give perfect and clear pictures.
Q4: How many times the lighting footprint of LED without lens is larger than that
of LED with lens (i.e. the lighting footprint gain)? Note: considering at the same lux
level.
Answer: 4 time or 360 degree
Q5: Try to determine the trade‐off between the lighting footprint gain and the
distance loss when using LED without lens and with lens.
Answer:
5.2 VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATIONS
A. MODULATION DEPTH
Data signal is applied to LED via the bias Tee, which is used to isolate the DC and AC
signal sources (see Figure 1). The modulation depth is defined by:
𝐼𝐴𝐶
𝑀=
𝐼𝐷𝐶
Where IAC is peak‐to‐peak signal current and IDC is the constant current. To measure the
LED modulation depth, one needs to determine these both values.
Setup and measurement procedures:
1. The setup is in Figure 1 where the detector is the bare Silicon photo detector (without
preamplifier and AC coupling circuit)
2. Apply the DC current 100mA and measure the voltage level on the scope (1 MΩ input
channel). Note: on the scope, select the DC coupling.
3. Apply the AC signal (sine wave, 1-KHz) and measure the peak‐to‐peak voltage level
of the signal recorded on the scope. Note: on the scope, select the AC coupling.
4. The modulation depth is determined by the ratio of the voltage measured in step 3
over the voltage in step 2.
In the step 3, apply different signal voltages as in Table 5 to determine the modulation
depth
TABLE 5. MODULATION DEPTH
Applied Signal
Voltage Vin 1V 2V 3V 4V 5V 6V 7V 8V
(V)
Measured DC
5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V
Voltage (V)
Measured AC
11.3V 18.5V 24.9V 31.2V 38.2V 44.7V 51.4V 58.2V
Voltage (V)
Modulation
2.17 3.55 4.78 6 7.35 8.59 9.88 11.2
Depth M
Increase the DC current in step 2 to 300mA and repeat the measurements in Table 6 and
plot the modulation depth curve again in Figure 6. Check again if the relation between
modulation depth and applied signal is linear or not?
TABLE 6. MODULATION DEPTH
Applied Signal
Voltage Vin 1V 2V 3V 4V 5V 6V 7V 8V
(V)
Measured DC
5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V 5.2V
Voltage (V)
Measured AC
10.9V 16.9V 22.9V 28.9V 35V 42.6V 48.9V 55V
Voltage (V)
Modulation
2.09 3.25 4.40 5.56 6.73 8.19 9.40 10.57
Depth M

FIGURE 6
Q6: Why the measured voltages can be used to determine the modulation depth M?
Answer: Because according to modulation depth formula is
M = Carrier Amplitude/ Modulated Signal Amplitude
That why voltage measured can be used to calculate modulation Index etc.
Q7: Why the bare Silicon photo detector is used to measure modulation depth?
Answer: Because It can be operated at both 2 µm and room temperature. Silicon
photodiode of optimum design would be capable of detecting low voltages .Also they are
made without lenses, filters, or diffusers, relying on just the bare detector to measure
incident light etc.
Q8: Is the modulation depth approximately correct for all different frequencies?
Answer: Yes because according to its formula it is independent on any frequency etc.
Q9: Why the received signal is saturated if DC current is 100mA while it is good
when we increase the DC current?
Answer: When we Increase Dc current distortion in received Ac signal becomes low and
modulation Index become better that’s why we get better results after Increasing current
etc.
Q10: What will happen if there is too much DC current?
Answer: Quality of Modulation Index become better etc.
Q11. What is optimum modulation depth value?
Answer: 1 is optimum modulation depth value.

B. LED FREQUENCY RESPONSE (I.E. MODULATION BANDWIDTH)

In communications one of the key parameters of the data transmission system is the
modulation bandwidth. Here we will determine the available bandwidth of the system
PROCEDURE:
 Setup the link as in Figure 1. Use LED with lens
 Drive LED with DC level of 300mA
 Apply sine wave signal to the LED and vary the signal frequency in the range given
in Table 7
 Obtain the corresponding received signal amplitude from the scope

TABLE 7. RECEIVED SIGNAL RESPONSE TO THE FREQUENCY CHANGE

Frequen
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
cy
(MHz)
Rx
signal 78 74 66 62 54 50 46 42 38
(mV)
 FIGURE 7: FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF WHITE LED

C. ON‐OFF‐KEYING NON‐RETURN‐TO‐ZERO (OOK‐NRZ) MODULATION

In this experiment we will modulate the light beam using OOK‐NRZ signal. The pseudo
random bit sequence OOK‐NRZ is generated from the arbitrary waveform generator
(AWG).
PROCEDURE:
 Setup the link as in Figure 1. Use LED with lens
 Load the waveform called NRZ_PRBS from USB stick to the AWG. This stream
contains 1000 random 0/1 bits
 Set the DC level to 300 mA, the AC input voltage is 5V (peak‐to‐peak)
 Set the frequency of the sequence to 1-KHz (i.e. the real signal data rate is 1MHz.
This is due the frequency of the sequence repeating is 1-KHz while each sequence
has 1000 bits).
Question 12: Why LED has small modulation bandwidth (~2‐3MHz).
Answer: If a small, constant forward bias is applied, the influence of the parasitic
capacitance of the LED can be neglected. The LED 3-dB modulation optical
bandwidth is defined as the modulation frequency at the LED power transfer
function is reduced by 3-dB.
Question 13: Why is the PRBS typically used for testing telecommunications
system (optical fibre, optical wireless and radio system)?
Answer: A PRBS generator is a standard piece of equipment that generates these
desired PRBS test signals. Pseudo random binary sequences (PRBS) signalling is
commonly used in telecommunications test laboratories. The binary sequence, while
generated with a deterministic algorithm, is difficult to predict and exhibits statistical
behaviour similar to a truly random sequence.
Question 14: How long the PRBS should be used for testing ultrahigh speed
optical communications system (> 10 Gbps)?
Answer: Pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generators play a significant role
in wide range of applications in a communication system which includes testing, bit
scrambling, bit de-scrambling. In encryption and decryption scheme, the key-stream
is important in the security of the whole process. PRBS can be used as the key-stream
for encryption and decryption. And PRBS used for testing equipment since Feb 1994.
Question 15: Why the received signal is much jittered and attenuated? How do
you improve the signal?
Answer: Reducing the Loop frequency bandwidth increases the amount of jitter
attenuation on the reference clock, transferring less jitter from the input to the output.
If the reference clock has a significant amount of jitter, the typical remedy is to use a
low Phase lock loop bandwidth to filter this noise. Also by using Voltage Controlled
Oscillator & Shannon theorem we can minimize noise & jitter etc.
Question 16: Is the delay of the received signal (compared to the transmitted
signal) dependent on the distance between the LED and photo detector?
Answer: Yes this depend on the distance between the LED and photo detector and
main delay depend on no of packets present in queue from transmission to receiver
side.
Q17: If we increase the DC level to 500mA, will the amplitude of the received
signal be increased? If yes (or no), explain why?
Answer: No as we Increasing DC level to 500mA than modulation depth only
effected by this we obtained better modulation depth value nearly equal to 1 without
an profit & loss etc.
18. What is maximum data rate the VLC system can achieve with this LED?
Answer: The maximum bit-rate achieved by the VLC system is 37 Mbit/s.
6. CONCLUSION
By performing this experiment I learned about basic applications of white LED
light in various fields. I observed Visible light communication system like how
it produced & transfer through medium to reach its final destination. Also I
learned how to overcome jitter & attenuation in modulated signal.
Furthermore, I deeply see LED device & its characteristics its voltage current
relationship & dynamic resistance importance while designing of LED.
Normally I developed small communication system & check its performance
which was perfect as per requirement. I successfully answered all question &
get good results etc.

7. REFERENCES

1- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258444633_Real-time_white-
light_phosphorLED_visible_light_communication_VLC_with_compact_size
2- https://cs.stackexchange.com/questions/54433/what-is-the-difference-between-
transmission-delay-queuing-delay-and-processing
3- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/packet-delay