Review of LED drivers for Visible Light Communication

Visible Light Communication (VLC) shows up as a trend for short range wireless networks, which comes as a promising breakthrough for industry. However, this technology still faces challenges on the technical side. In particular, the selection of the appropriate circuit driver to fulfill simultaneously both lighting and communication functions is a non-trivial task. This paper reviews driver solutions intended for VLC applications, summarizing published research according to a proposed classification. Additionally, switched mode circuits stand out among the current works, supporting low data rates with higher overall efficiency at greater power levels. On the other hand, linear power amplifiers are the preferred choice for high data rate systems.