Reducing peak to average power ratio (PAPR) for visible light communications (VLC) system using Walsh–Hadamard precoded discrete Hartley transforms

Abstract

In visible light communication (VLC), intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD) based on DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) is used to transfer data at a high rate. Because OFDM signals are modulated using IM/DD, the peak of the transmitted signals is scaled up, resulting in a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). In this article, the Walsh–Hadamard transform (WHT) is used as a precoder for discrete Hartley transform (DHT) to decrease the PAPR and the DC bias and achieve a good bit error rate (BER) performance in such a system. PAPR reduction results from the decrease of superposition of the transmitted signals owing to the use of WHT as a precoder. The proposed scheme and conventional DCO-OFDM indoor VLC system based on discrete Hartley transform (DHT) are compared to assure the new system’s benefits and efficiency.