Optical Wireless Communication Channel Measurement in an Industrial Environment

Optical wireless communication (OWC) as a hopeful technology can provide high-speed communication and high-precision positioning services to support wireless communication-enabled industrial manufacturing. The channel plays a crucial role in the achievable performance. However, the channel becomes more complex in the industrial environment. In this context, an OWC channel measurement is performed by considering nine scenarios with different environment and two transceiver configurations in a practical industrial production line. The experimental results demonstrate that the non-line-of-sight links have an unignorable influence on the channel, especially the industrial scenario with complex environments. The multiple-input single-output configuration can enhance the channel quality and uniformity of the channel distribution. Moreover, the difference of multipath increases as the reflector gets closer to the transmitter. Furthermore, the locations of multiple access points and upperlayer controllers need to be as evenly distributed as possible to ensure collaborative performance among the access points. These analysis results provide meaningful insights for the channel and significant guidance for the access point deployment.