Abstract
The design of a wireless communication system that can support multiple users
at high data rates inside an aircraft is a key requirement of aircraft
manufacturers. This paper examines the design of an on-board visible light
communication (VLC) system for transmitting data on board Boeing 747-400
aircraft. The reading light unit of each seat is utilised as an optical
transmitter. A red, yellow, green, and blue (RYGB) laser diode (LD) is used in
each reading light unit for transmitting data. An angle diversity receiver
(ADR), which is an optical receiver that is composed of four branches (in this
work), is evaluated. The signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and
data rate are determined. Three scenarios have been examined where, in the
first scenario, one device is used, in the second scenario two devices are used
and in the third scenario three devices are used by each passenger. The
proposed system can offer high SINRs that support high data rates for each
passenger by using simple on-off-keying (OOK).