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In this paper, we explore the use of visible light communication as a means of wireless monitoring in gas pipelines. In an effort to shed light on the communication limits in the presence of gas, we create a three-dimensional simulation platform where the pipeline size/shape, the reflection characteristics of the interior coating, gas specifications (i.e., temperature, density, refractive index, transmittance, etc.) and the specifications of the light sources and detectors (i.e., field of view, lighting pattern, etc.) are precisely defined. Based on ray tracing, we obtain channel impulse responses within the gas pipeline considering the deployment of different colored LEDs with various viewing angles. We further investigate the maximum achievable link range to ensure a given bit error rate. NPRP award under the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation) Publisher version

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription. In this paper, we present a comprehensive channel modeling and characterization study for visible light communications. Our study is based on ray tracing, which allows for an accurate description of the interaction of rays emitted from the lighting source within a specified confined space. Contrary to existing works, which are mainly limited to ideal Lambertian sources and purely diffuse reflections, our approach is capable of obtaining channel impulse responses (CIRs) for any nonideal sources, as well as specular and mixed specular-diffuse reflections. Furthermore, we can precisely reflect the presence of objects (e.g., furniture) and wavelength-dependent reflection characteristics of surface materials (e.g., ceilings, floor, walls, and furniture) in a channel study. As case studies, we consider a number of indoor environments with various dimensions and different surface materials, i.e., plaster, gloss paint, wood, aluminum metal, and glass. We further consider various scenarios with different transmitter specifications (i.e., single versus multiple transmitters and array type) and receiver specifications (i.e., location and rotation). For each environment, we obtain CIRs and present a channel characterization study where channel parameters, such as channel DC gain, root mean square (RMS) delay spread, coherence bandwidth, and mean excess delay, are obtained. We also make one-to-one comparisons between infrared and visible-light CIRs for the same environments to emphasize the differences between two optical bands. Qatar Foundation