Rapid Prototyping of Standard-Compliant Visible Light Communications System

This article describes the implementation of a prototype visible light communications system based on the IEEE 802.15.7 standard using low-cost commercial off-the-shelf analog devices. The aim of this article is to show that this standard provides a framework that could promote the introduction of applications into the market. Thus, these specifications could be further developed, reducing the gap between the industry and research communities. The implemented prototype makes use of software defined radio platforms to interface between the analog devices and the computer where the signal processing is performed. The use of this concept provides the system with enough flexibility and modularity to include new features in the prototype without requiring long development time.