Characterization of LiFi-over-Powerline Channels for Industrial Internet-of-Things Applications

An increasing number of industrial Internet-ofthings applications requires wireless transmission of control and data packets. A combination of optical wireless communication (also denoted as LiFi), for deterministic wireless access, and powerline communication, as a cost-effective backbone, is considered promising to enable easy installation of small wireless cells. This paper reports on work in progress from an initial measurement campaign to characterize the cascaded LiFi-over-powerline link in physical layer. The combined channel and noise have been studied in a practical setup for the first time. The frequency response was measured up to 100 MHz under various channel conditions to capture multi-path and attenuation effects across different cable lengths and free-space distances. Also, interference and noise were evaluated up to 300 MHz, revealing contributions from both the PLC and LiFi segments.