Abstract
Pulse-amplitude-modulated discrete multitone modulation (PAM-DMT) offers an energy-efficient modulation solution for optical wireless communication systems. However, similar to other multicarrier modulation (MCM) techniques, PAM-DMT suffers from a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). This paper experimentally demonstrates the efficacy of pilot-assisted (PA) PAPR reduction system in PAM-DMT based visible light communication (VLC) systems. PA PAM-DMT is compared in this manuscript to PAM-DMT based on Bit Error Rate (BER), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and PAPR. A gain of 2.75 dB is achieved using 10 pilot iterations for 8-PAM. The BER performance of the PA PAM-DMT is better than that of the conventional PAM-DMT with a reduced PAPR. The proposed system allows for higher input signal swing levels while minimising the non-linearity effects that result from operating beyond Light Emitting Diode's (LED's) dynamic range.