Electrical engineering

Physics

Aerospace engineering

Sight

Non-line-of-sight propagation

Visible light communication

Signal strength

Mathematics

Wireless

Communications system

Optics

Engineering

Component (thermodynamics)

Light-emitting diode

Line (geometry)

Programming language

Geometry

Line-of-sight

Computer science

Reflection (computer programming)

Telecommunications

Thermodynamics

We investigate the influence of Non Line Of Sight (NLOS) components on the performance of Vehicular VLC (V-VLC). Given the steep rise of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for road safety applications, the need for reliable technologies for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication rises. Among others, V-VLC turned out to be a promising candidate to enhance vehicular connectivity, which nicely complements Radio Frequency (RF)-based technologies. V-VLC is supposed to be a Line Of Sight (LOS) communication technology, nevertheless, there is also a NLOS component caused by reflection on the road surface. In this paper, we investigate this influence in a real-world measurement campaign for different ground surfaces. Our results are very interesting as they (a) confirm a huge impact, and (b) indicate such reflections being actually helpful as they improve the received signal strength.

Empirical Characterization of the NLOS Component for Vehicular Visible Light Communication