An Outdoor Multipath Channel Model for Vehicular Visible Light Communication Systems

Visible light communication is increasingly getting attention as a promising candidate to provide vehicle-to-vehicle communications. In this paper, we develop an accurate channel model for an outdoor optical wireless propagation scenario from the fundamental principles. General number of transmitting elements, reflectors and receiving elements are considered which essentially reflect a multipath multiple input multiple output (MIMO) optical wireless channel. Derived impulse response function is used to evaluate the channel and its fading characteristics. The channel model is also evaluated using an on-off-keying communication link with maximum likelihood detection. An expression for the probability density function at the receiver is derived considering multipath effects as well as background radiation noise. Simulation results show the dependency of the channel gain on the transmitter receiver field of views and the number of reflections. In general, this channel model can be used to evaluate optical wireless communication systems.