Adaptive Pre-Distortion Compensation for LED Nonlinear Distortion in VLC-OFDM Systems Using Frequency Symbol Spreading

This paper proposes an adaptive pre-distortion method for mitigating LED nonlinear distortion in Visible Light Communication (VLC)-OFDM systems. The inherent nonlinear characteristics of LEDs disrupt the orthogonality among OFDM subcarriers, causing signal distortion and performance degradation. To overcome this issue while minimizing computational complexity at the transmitter, we introduce a feedback-based nonlinear parameter estimation approach using the Least Squares Method (LSM) and Median Based Method (MBM). These estimated parameters are then fed back to the transmitter, enabling efficient adaptive pre-distortion based on the inverse function of the estimated nonlinear characteristics. This approach reduces computational costs at the transmitter compared to conventional methods requiring high-performance processing. Additionally, we incorporate Frequency Symbol Spreading (FSS) to further enhance robustness against channel impairments such as Rician fading by equalizing the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) across subcarriers. Simulation results under various channel conditions, including AWGN, Rician fading, and realistic multi-LED lighting scenarios, demonstrate a significant improvement in Bit Error Rate (BER) performance, validating both the effectiveness and practical advantages of the proposed approach.