Broadband information broadcasting using LED-based interior lighting

Emergence of white-light LEDs allows the combination of lighting and information broadcast functionality in one optical source. We investigate analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations feasible data transmission rates in a moderate-size office room, where we assume illumination conforming to standards and the use of commercially available LEDs and photodiodes. The performances of systems relying on baseband [i.e., pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)] and discrete multitone (DMT) transmission show that data rates of more than 100 Mbit/s can be expected despite the rather low bandwidth of the system.