SPAD-Based Optical Wireless Communication with Signal Pre-Distortion and Noise Normalization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel SPAD-based optical wireless communication system that employs signal pre-distortion and noise normalization to mitigate non-linear distortion and signal-dependent noise, enhancing data rate and BER performance.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new SPAD-based OWC system with pre-distortion and noise normalization, effectively eliminating dead-time distortion and converting signal-dependent noise into signal-independent noise.

Findings

Significant BER improvement over existing systems

Enhanced data rate capabilities

Effective noise normalization enabling conventional detection

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring the application of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) in optical wireless communication (OWC). As a photon counting detector, SPAD can provide much higher sensitivity compared to the other commonly used photodetectors. However, SPAD-based receivers suffer from significant dead-time-induced non-linear distortion and signal dependent noise. In this work, we propose a novel SPAD-based OWC system in which the non-linear distortion caused by dead time can be successfully eliminated by the pre-distortion of the signal at the transmitter. In addition, another system with joint pre-distortion and noise normalization functionality is proposed. Thanks to the additional noise normalization process, for the transformed signal at the receiver, the originally signal dependent noise becomes signal independent so that the conventional signal detection techniques designed for AWGN channels can be employed to decode the signal. Our numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed SPAD-based systems compared to the existing systems in terms of BER performance and achievable data rate.