Towards Energy Neutral Wireless Communications: Photovoltaic Cells to Connect Remote Areas

Das, Sovan; Poves, E.; Fakidis, John; Sparks, Adrian; Videv, Stefan; Haas, Harald

doi:10.3390/en12193772

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A recent yet novel proposal is to use photo-voltaic panels to provide connectivity to remote areas while simultaneously harvesting energy [6]. Off-the-shelf solar cells fixed on top of buildings for off-grid energy generation can simultaneously be used to receive modulated signals -although the bandwidth would be somewhat limited due to the high capacitance of the cells.…”

Section: A Bridging the Digital Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

Roadmap to free space optics

et al. 2020

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With the ever-increasing demand for data and radio frequency spectrum becoming congested, Free Space Optics (FSO) may find a niche for situations where fiber is too expensive or too difficult to install. FSO is a cross-disciplinary field that draws from radio and fiber communication, astronomy, and even quantum optics, and it has seen major advances over the last three decades. In this tutorial-style review, we provide a broad overview of many of the important topics required to design, develop, and research the next generation of FSO technology.

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Section: A Bridging the Digital Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

Roadmap to free space optics

et al. 2020

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“…These firstgeneration solar panels were never developed or designed to be used as OWC receivers. Therefore, the electrical characteristics of the panel relevant to communication such as linearity, speed of response, sensitivity to the incident optical signal, and temperature stability have been investigated in [12]. In [15] a data rate of 74 Mb/s has been demonstrated over a distance of 2 meters using a polycrystalline solar panel, and in [12] a communication distance of 30 meters has been achieved with a maximum data rate of 8 Mb/s with full networking capabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the electrical characteristics of the panel relevant to communication such as linearity, speed of response, sensitivity to the incident optical signal, and temperature stability have been investigated in [12]. In [15] a data rate of 74 Mb/s has been demonstrated over a distance of 2 meters using a polycrystalline solar panel, and in [12] a communication distance of 30 meters has been achieved with a maximum data rate of 8 Mb/s with full networking capabilities. These publications have not modelled the effects of simultaneous energy harvesting and communication, and only consider the communications performance of the solar panel OWC receiver.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Sunlight on Photovoltaics as Optical Wireless Communication Receivers

Das

Sparks

Poves

et al. 2021

J. Lightwave Technol.

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This paper explores the effects of sunlight on using a low-cost off-the-shelf silicon solar panel as an optical wireless communication (OWC) receiver. A receiver circuit structure has been proposed to maximize simultaneous energy harvesting and data communication performance. An equivalent circuit model of the solar panel for simultaneous energy harvesting and wireless optical communication is discussed. By using the solar panel model, the effects of varying sunlight conditions on the performance of the model as an OWC receiver are estimated. Furthermore, an experimental setup is developed to study the effects and verify the simulated estimations. The experimental setup consists of a 3.5 m wireless optical link with a full Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network stack. The system uses DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) to use the available communication bandwidth efficiently. A 940 nm low-cost off-theshelf laser device along with an off-the-shelf off-axis-parabolic mirror is used as the transmitter. The maximum user throughput achieved over the air is 28.3 Mb/s while simultaneously harvesting energy using the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique. The peak power harvested with simultaneous communication is 4.5 W. The harvested energy is stored in a 38 Wh lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery. Index Terms-Optical Wireless Communication (OWC), photovoltaics, LiFi, solar cell, energy harvesting, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) types of PD used in LiFi technology are positive-intrinsicnegative (PIN) PDs and avalanche photodiodes (APDs).However, PDs can require additional power to generate the sometimes high bias voltage. Therefore, solar cells can be a good energy-neutral alternative to photodiodes (PDs) as they can convert variations in the intensity of the light to electrical signals without the application of reverse bias voltage. Furthermore, solar panels are by default manufactured with multiple solar cells connected in series and parallel configuration. This results in a large active area as a communication receiver and increases the energy harvesting capability. The optical energy harvested by a solar panel can be used to offset the energy consumed by the rest of the components of the communication system. Also, the large active area of the solar panel relaxes the process of alignment between transmitter and receiver (at long distances). Conventional PDs have a small area and can be very difficult to align when used for long-distance communication. This paper discusses the effects and trade-offs when a solar panel is used simultaneously for energy harvesting and communication. The simultaneous energy harvesting and communication performance of a solar panel has been maximized using the proposed solar panel receiver circuit structure. The effect of sunlight on the communication performance of a solar panel as an OWC receiver is studied and estimated using an equivalent circuit model of a solar panel. The variation in frequency re...

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“…Solar cells can also be used as a VLC receiver with appropriate circuitry that detects the alternating current (AC) data input separately from the direct current (DC) lighting background. This allows for simultaneous data communication and energy harvesting and it has been explored with inorganic and organic photovoltaics [8][9][10][11]. Within this application, perovskite solar cells could be flexible and offer much simpler fabrication than GaAs, with the potential for higher power conversion efficiency than organic solar cells [8,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triple-cation perovskite solar cells for visible light communications

et al. 2020

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Hybrid perovskite materials are widely researched due to their high absorptivity, inexpensive synthesis, and promise in photovoltaic devices. These materials are also of interest as highly sensitive photodetectors. In this study, their potential for use in visible light communication is explored in a configuration that allows for simultaneous energy and data harvesting. Using a triple-cation material and appropriate device design, a new record data rate for perovskite photodetectors of 56 Mbps and power conversion efficiencies above 20% under white LED illumination are achieved. With this device design, the −3 dB bandwidth is increased by minimizing the dominating time constant of the system. This correlation between the bandwidth and time constant is proved using measurements of time-resolved photoluminescence, transient photovoltage, and device resistance.

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Towards Energy Neutral Wireless Communications: Photovoltaic Cells to Connect Remote Areas

Cited by 27 publications

References 14 publications

Roadmap to free space optics

Roadmap to free space optics

Effect of Sunlight on Photovoltaics as Optical Wireless Communication Receivers

Triple-cation perovskite solar cells for visible light communications

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