Multi-Color Phosphor-Converted Wide Spectrum LED Light Source for Simultaneous Illumination and Visible Light Communication

Simultaneous illumination and communication using solid-state lighting devices like white light-emitting diode (LED) light sources is gaining popularity. The white light LED comprises a single-colored yellow phosphor excited by the blue LED chip. Therefore, color-quality determining parameters like color-rendering index (CRI), correlated color temperature (CCT), and CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinates of generic white LED sources are poor. This article presents the development of multi-color phosphors excited by a blue LED to improve light quality and bandwidth. A multi-layer stacking of phosphor layers excited by a blue LED led to the quenching of photoluminescence (PL) and showed limited bandwidth. To solve this problem, a lens-free, electrically powered, broadband white light source is designed by mounting multi-color phosphor LEDs in a co-planar ring-topology. The CRI, CCT, and CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinates of the designed lamp (DL) were found to be 90, 5114 K, and (0.33, 0.33), respectively, which is a good quality lamp for indoor lighting. CRI of DL was found to be 16% better than that of white LED (WL). Assessment of visible light communications (VLC) feasibility using the DL includes time interval error (TIE) of data pattern or jitter analysis, eye diagram, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), fast Fourier transform (FFT), and power spectral density (PSD). DL transmits binary data stream faster than WL due to a reduction in rise time and total jitter by 31% and 39%, respectively. The autocorrelation function displayed a narrow temporal pulse for DL. The DL is beneficial for providing high-quality illumination indoors while minimizing PL quenching. Additionally, it is suitable for indoor VLC applications.