Beyond 100 m Range Mini-LED-Based Visible Light Communication System

In visible light communication (VLC) systems, lenses are typically used to collimate light at the transmitter. However, due to the wide light emission angle of mini-LEDs, capturing light at large angles using a lens at the transmitter can be challenging. This paper presents a design of a reflective cup at the mini-LED-based VLC transmitter. The redesigned reflective cup can collect most of the light and collimate it, achieving an efficiency of approximately 86% at a distance of 10 m in the simulation. In the experiment, error-free communication was achieved at a distance of 100 m with a data rate of 190 Mbps. To the best of our knowledge, a long-distance VLC system based on mini-LEDs is investigated for the first time. The reflective cup offers advantages, including high efficiency, low cost, and a simple structure. It holds reference value for addressing the issue of limited communication distance in underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC).