In today’s society, the need for alternate high-speed data transmission solutions has increased due to the radio frequency (RF) spectrum’s growing congestion. Visible Light Communication (VLC)-based LiFi has emerged as a possible alternative to current wireless technologies like WiFi. The difficulty, though, is that the photodiode performance as a receiver for VLC under outdoor conditions rapidly degrades. To solve this problem, the photodiode receiver was replaced by a PV cell receiver with the primary advantage of being optimized for outdoor conditions.
While earlier research has concentrated on light and modulation optimization to
improve the performance of VLC systems, our research adopts a novel strategy by
analyzing the effect of different light wavelengths on seven different PV cell technologies in hopes to design an optical filter and realize noise-free VLC for PV cells. We specifically are interested in identifying the LED wavelength that has the greatest bandwidth in order to increase the possible data transmission speeds in PV-VLC systems. In order to do this, a thorough characterization of several colored LEDs with different wavelengths was carried out across seven PV technologies, including PERC, AL-BSF (5INCH), AL-BSF (6INCH), SHJ, IBC, Busbar-free Al BSF, and TOPCon. Each LED wavelength was tested under three different intensities of light (100, 300, and 500 W/m2).
In terms of PV technology, TOPCon demonstrated superior performance at low bias voltages, while Busbar-Free Al BSF(EEPV) outperformed the other PV technologies at higher bias voltages, especially at the maximum power point. Furthermore, the analysis of light intensity revealed that the bandwidth does not only depend on capacitance but also on the internal resistance of the PV laminate. For the c-Si solar laminates tested the considerably larger resistance at lower light intensities in the bias voltage interval from 150mV to 450mV resulted in lower bandwidths at lower light intensities. The measurement results under different LED colors, concluded that when operating near maximum power point, the variation in bandwidth between different colored LEDs could significantly affect data rates, particularly when considering the higher SNR results at lower bias voltages that contribute to achieving faster data rates in the PV-VLC system.

The expansion of urban PV systems brings up the concern that the reflection from PV modules will cause glare to neighbors. In a densely constructed city, glare can occur when you have PV systems installed on the rooftops of low rises where the solar reflections travel to the surrounding high rises. This issue is more detrimental at airports, because glares from PV can blind the pilots or people working in the control tower which can lead to tragic accidents. The issue of PV glare can also affect trains and ships when they are sailing. A model based on Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function has been developed in this project to assess the occurrences of definite glare and potential glare areas (reflections) in the horizon of the given location throughout the year. The model has also been validated at the specific location in TU Delft by considering one of the PV system already installed in The Green Village.