Optical Wireless for Intravehicle Communications: Incorporating Passenger Presence Scenarios

Through the implementation of a simple linearly scalable 1-W infrared (IR) transmitter, which is centrally located on the ceiling of a sports utility vehicle (SUV), and for 15 passenger configurations, an analysis into the received power, power deviation, minimum bandwidth, and maximum root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread is provided for the regions of the vehicle most likely to benefit from the deployment of intravehicle optical wireless (OW) communication systems. Several specific regions, including the areas around a passenger's legs, arms, necks, and shoulders, are shown to have beneficial channel characteristics for the use of personal electronics equipment such as laptops, tablet PCs, or wireless headphones. Similarly, a region around the headrest of the front seat is shown to have potential for the deployment of in-car entertainment solutions independent of the passenger configuration. This analysis, which is the first to introduce the concept of channel variation from multiple passenger configurations, aims to show that OW is a potential candidate for future intravehicular communication systems.