VLC Transceiver SoC Design for Real-Time Indoor-Tracking in Smart Hospitals

Visible light communication (VLC) technique is well developed and proved to be a practical solution for real-time indoor tracking application, especially in hospitals where radiofrequency (RF) wireless technologies are forbidden due to potential interference hazards. As a continuous work for the LED-based VLP/PLC hybrid indoor tracking system, a fully integrated system-on-chip (SoC) design for the optical transceiver is proposed and discussed in this paper. The SoC integrated with transmitter, receiver and power supply circuits was designed on a commercial 45nm CMOS integrated circuit technology enabling the modulation and demodulation process for multiple frequencies. This work validated the feasibility of developing an efficient and low-cost tracking system using LED VLC technology for future smart hospitals.