Statistical Inference-Based Channel Estimation for LD-Driven Visible Light O-OFDM Systems in the Presence of Relative Intensity and Input-Signal-Dependent Shot Noise

Abstract

Laser diode (LD)-based luminaires are gaining increasing attention in automotive applications and are expected to extend to residential and commercial environments, creating opportunities for high-bandwidth visible light communication (VLC) systems. However, practical LD-based VLC links are impaired by input-signal-dependent shot noise (ISDSN), relative intensity noise (RIN), and thermal noise, which affect reliable channel estimation (CE). This work investigates their joint impact on receiver-side CE in a single-input single-output (SISO) optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM) VLC system under a statistically random channel model. A statistical inference framework is developed in which the receiver exploits observed signal variations to estimate the channel under optical impairments. Closed-form expressions are derived for least squares (LS), maximum likelihood (ML), maximum a posteriori probability (MAP), minimum mean square error (MMSE), and linear MMSE (LMMSE) estimators. In addition, the Bayesian Cramer-Rao lower bound (BCRLB) is derived to benchmark mean square error (MSE) performance. Monte Carlo simulations for direct current-biased O-OFDM (DCO-OFDM) and asymmetrically clipped O-OFDM (ACO-OFDM) validate the analysis. Results show substantial CE degradation under the joint presence of ISDSN and RIN, while the MMSE estimator consistently achieves the lowest MSE, demonstrating strong potential for robust and adaptive receiver operation in practical VLC systems.