VLC-UWB Hybrid (VUH) Network for Indoor Industrial Robots at Military Warehouses / Distribution Centers

Abstract

Achieving high data transmission rate, energy efficiency and secure connectivity is the demand of many network applications including Military warehouses and distribution centers. To overcome these we propose VLC-UWB hybrid (VUH) network technology which utilizes Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) as primary transmission link (up-link and down-link) and visible Light Communication (VLC) for verification of received downlink packet. VLC facilitates the great advantage of being able to jointly perform illumination and communication at little extra energy. On the other hand UWB is a low power network technology that operates between 3.1 - 10.6 GHz, utilizing about 1mW for signal transmission. The simulation in this paper expresses the potential in combining these two network technologies to achieve secure connection and high data rate with minimal energy consumption, within an indoor industrial environment.