Enabling data communication over solar PV cells

Abstract

As the telecom services evolve towards 5G, service providers are exploring innovative technologies which are easier to deploy, provide high data rate communication and enable dense network connectivity at a low cost. Visual Light Communication (VLC) can achieve the above objectives as it uses of the shelf Light Emitting Diode (LEDs) which are widely deployed and provide high bandwidth. In our proposed VLC system, while using an off-the-shelf LED as a light source, we demonstrate data communication using a Photo Voltaic (PV) organic solar cell. In this paper the solar cell is used as a photodetector which is complimented by an analog receiver to achieve the maximum possible data rate using On-O_ Keying (OOK) modulation scheme. This project is likely to have a strong impact in enabling Rural Communication and Internet of Things (IOT) area.