TY - JOUR AU - Gancarz, John E. AU - Elgala, Hany AU - Little, Thomas D.C. PY - 2015 DA - 2015/05/27 TI - Overlapping PPM for band-limited visible light communication and dimming JO - Journal of Solid State Lighting SP - 3 VL - 2 IS - 1 AB - The synthesis of visible light communication (VLC) and lighting state control necessitates data-light modulation that can accommodate intensity control. A number of techniques that enable both optical wireless data transmission and intensity control of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been proposed as a response to this need. Relevant schemes leverage amplitude modulation (AM)/continuous current reduction (CCR) and/or pulse-width modulation (PWM) for dimming capability. Two-level schemes related to PWM, such as on-off keying with compensation time (OOK + CT), variable pulse position modulation (VPPM), and multiple pulse position modulation (MPPM), are most commonly investigated. In this paper, we survey and compare OOK + CT, VPPM and MPPM. Moreover, we propose a novel approach towards dimming and data transmission through the variation of codeword weights in overlapping pulse-position modulation (OPPM). The proposed approach has comparatively high spectral efficiency. Using realistic constraints of a practical VLC system, analysis reveals that OPPM can increase data rates by more than 20Mbps over expected performance of related, two-level schemes, when using LEDs suitable for lighting that have relatively low modulation bandwidths. SN - 2196-1107 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40539-015-0022-0 DO - 10.1186/s40539-015-0022-0 ID - Gancarz2015 ER -