Lighting Efficiency: Using Visible Light Communications Technology for Enhanced Energy Management in Built Environment and Beyond

In the context in which human society is struggling to achieve carbon neutrality and to reduce energy waste, this work proposes a novel Visible Light Communications (VLC) prototype designed for emergency message transmission enhanced with energy management consumption capability. Thus, in order to be able to accommodate different lighting requirements, the VLC transmitter is able to work with variable duty cycles, while maintaining the data link active. Moreover, different from existing works, the VLC receiver integrates a light monitoring function and an infrared data transmission function, which can be further expanded into a Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) system. This way, based on the workspace's illumination level, the VLC transmitter can maximize energy efficiency through duty cycle adjustments. The proposed prototype has been implemented in a real working space and experimentally evaluated. The preliminary experimental results have confirmed the advantages of this concept, as the prototype demonstrated its ability to constantly adjust its illumination level while maintaining the active communication link. Additionally, the prototype is able of achieving a BER lower than 10 -7 for duty cycles between 10% and 90%.