A Novel VLC Channel Model Based on Beam Steering Considering the Impact of Obstacle

In this letter, a novel channel model of a visible light communication (VLC) system was proposed with the impact of position, size, and shape of the obstacle taken into account. The illumination area of the light-emitting diode (LED) was divided into independent solid angles and the ray was transmitted in every solid angle by beam steering; then, the point cloud of the obstacle was determined by the received rays in photodetector (PD). Furthermore, the convex hull model was used to represent the point cloud for simplification, the complex VLC channel model was set up, and the expression of the channel impulse response (CIR) was derived. Five scenarios with different obstacles were simulated for analysis, and the results revealed that the position, shape, and size of the obstacle have deep impact on the channel characteristics of the VLC system. Besides, beam steering increased the uniformity of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distribution and the available bandwidth. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation was also provided to confirm the correctness of the proposed channel model.