How to use ray tracing tool for visible light

Hello all,

I am working on MATLAB ray tracing tool for visible light communication. But the "txsite" command takes maximum "Transmitter Frequency" of 2e11 and starting frequency of visible light is 4.62e14. Please provide a solution to this problem.

[Amish]

The issue you're encountering with the txsite command in MATLAB stems from attempting to use it in a context it wasn't designed for. The txsite command, part of MATLAB's Antenna Toolbox and Wireless Network Toolbox, is intended for radio frequency (RF) communication systems, which typically operate in the kHz to GHz range. Visible light communication (VLC), on the other hand, operates in the optical spectrum, which is several orders of magnitude higher in frequency (THz range, corresponding to wavelengths in the hundreds of nanometers).

Given that the tool you are using does not support the optical frequency range required for VLC, you'll need to look for alternative approaches or tools that are specifically designed for optical communications or can accommodate the high frequencies of visible light.

Answer 1

[Prasanna]

Hi Anandi,

the ‘txsite’ command in MATLAB is designed for RF communication and doesn’t support the optical frequencies required for visible light communication (VLC). Here are a few alternative approaches you can consider:

• There are MATLAB-based tools specifically designed for VLC applications. These tools use ray launching methods to simulate the propagation of visible light. 
• For custom ray tracing algorithm in MATLAB for VLC you can calculate the paths of light rays from the transmitter (LED) to the receiver (photodiode) and accounting for reflections and refractions. This approach gives you full control over the simulation parameters and can be adapted to the specific requirements of VLC.
• You can also consider using specialized optical communication simulation software like ‘OptiSystem’ or ‘Zemax’, which are designed to handle the high frequencies of visible light. These tools offer advanced features for simulating optical systems and can be integrated with MATLAB for data processing and analysis.

For more resources on the above, you can refer the following documentation links:

• MATLAB Based ray launching simulation tool for VLC applications: https://www.iteam.upv.es/waves/2019/01-waves2019.pdf
• Ray tracing propagation model: https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2021b/comm/ref/rfprop.raytracing.html

Hope this helps!