{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:28:34Z","timestamp":1760146114139,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,2]],"date-time":"2024-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1727827200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Spanish Government","award":["MCIU-22-PID2021-127707OB-C21"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MCIU-22-PID2021-127707OB-C21"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This work proposes a high-efficiency High-Brightness LED (HB-LED) driver for Visible Light Communication (VLC) based on a Two-Input Buck (TIBuck) DC\/DC converter. This solution not only outperforms previous approaches based on Buck DC\/DC converters, but also simplifies previous proposals for VLC drivers that use the split power technique with two DC\/DC converters: one is in charge of the communication tasks and the other controls the biasing of the HB-LED (i.e., lighting tasks). The real implementation of this scheme requires either two input voltage sources, one of which is isolated, or one DC\/DC converter with galvanic isolation. The proposed implementation of splitting the power is based on a TIBuck DC\/DC converter that avoids the isolation requirement, overcoming the major drawback of this technique, keeping high-efficiency and high communication capability thanks to the lower voltage stress both across the switches and at the switching node. This fact allows for the operation at very high frequency for communication purposes, minimizing switching power losses, achieving high efficiency and providing lower filtering effort. Moreover, the duty ratio range can also be adapted to the useful voltage range of the HB-LED load to maximize the resolution on the tracking of the output volage. The power is split by means of an auxiliary Buck DC\/DC converter operating at low switching frequency, which generates the secondary voltage source needed by the TIBuck DC\/DC converter. This defines a natural split of power by only processing the power delivered for communications purposes at high frequency. A 7 W output-power experimental prototype of the proposed VLC driver was built and tested. Based on the experimental results, the prototype achieved 94% efficiency, reproducing a 64-QAM digital modulation scheme and achieving a bit rate of 1.5 Mbps with error in communication of 12%.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24196392","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,2]],"date-time":"2024-10-02T06:27:31Z","timestamp":1727850451000},"page":"6392","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Performance Evaluation of the Two-Input Buck Converter as a Visible Light Communication High-Brightness LED Driver Based on Split Power"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Daniel G.","family":"Aller","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Airbus Crisa (an Airbus Defense and Space Company), 28760 Madrid, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1208-0250","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diego G.","family":"Lamar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Power Supplies Group, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6030-2751","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan R.","family":"Garc\u00eda-Mere","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Power Supplies Group, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"Arias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Power Supplies Group, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1989-3892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan","family":"Rodriguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Power Supplies Group, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9717-866X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Javier","family":"Sebastian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Power Supplies Group, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2020, September 12). Cisco Systems WebPage. Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018\u20132023) White Paper. Available online: https:\/\/www.cisco.com\/c\/en\/us\/solutions\/collateral\/executive-perspectives\/annualinternet-report\/white-paper-c11-741490.html."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"838","article-title":"The Wi-Fi \u201ccongestion crisis\u201d: Regulatory criteria for assessing spectrum congestion claims","volume":"Volume 8","author":"Achtzehn","year":"2014","journal-title":"Telecommunications Policy"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1109\/MCOM.2013.6685754","article-title":"Visible light communication: Opportunities, challenges and the path to market","volume":"51","author":"Jovicic","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Mag."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2047","DOI":"10.1109\/COMST.2015.2476474","article-title":"Visible Light Communication, Networking, and Sensing: A Survey, Potential and Challenges","volume":"17","author":"Pathak","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1649","DOI":"10.1109\/COMST.2015.2417576","article-title":"LED Based Indoor Visible Light Communications: State of the Art","volume":"17","author":"Karunatilaka","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3204","DOI":"10.1109\/COMST.2019.2913348","article-title":"Visible Light Communication: Concepts, Applications and Challenges","volume":"21","author":"Vieira","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2785","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2018.2849966","article-title":"Electrical and Thermal Effects of Light-Emitting Diodes on Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Visible Light Communication","volume":"66","author":"Chen","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3264","DOI":"10.1109\/TIA.2019.2900209","article-title":"On the LED Illumination and Communication Design Space for Visible Light Communication","volume":"55","author":"Teixeira","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"308","DOI":"10.1109\/LED.2005.847407","article-title":"An electrical model with junction temperature for light-emitting diodes and the impact on conversion efficiency","volume":"26","author":"Park","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Electron Device Lett."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5593","DOI":"10.1109\/TCOMM.2018.2858239","article-title":"Mitigating LED Nonlinearity to Enhance Visible Light Communications","volume":"66","author":"Deng","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Commun."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"865","DOI":"10.1364\/JOCN.4.000865","article-title":"LED nonlinearity mitigation techniques in optical wireless OFDM communication systems","volume":"4","author":"Mesleh","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE\/OSA J. Opt. Commun. Netw."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"835","DOI":"10.1109\/LPT.2010.2046157","article-title":"An LED Model for Intensity-Modulated Optical Communication Systems","volume":"22","author":"Elgala","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1109\/MCOM.2012.6163585","article-title":"IEEE 802.15.7 visible light communication: Modulation schemes and dimming support","volume":"50","author":"Rajagopal","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Mag."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Grubor, J., Lee SC, J., Langer, K.D., Koonen, T., and Walewski, J.W. (2007, January 16\u201320). Walewski, Wireless high-speed data transmission with phosphorescent white-light LEDs. Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference and Exhibition of Optical Communication-Post-Deadline Papers, Berlin, Germany."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1063","DOI":"10.1109\/LPT.2009.2022413","article-title":"100-Mb\/s NRZ visible light communications using a postequalized white LED","volume":"21","author":"Faulkner","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1109\/JPHOT.2018.2883994","article-title":"Gb\/s Real-Time Visible Light Communication System Based on White LEDs Using T-Bridge Cascaded Pre-Equalization Circuit","volume":"10","author":"Zhang","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Photonics J."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"1","article-title":"Real-Time 262-Mb\/s Visible Light Communication With Digital Predistortion Waveform Shaping","volume":"10","author":"Xu","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Photonics J."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Hoyerby, M.C., and Andersen, M.A. (2006, January 19\u201323). Envelope tracking power supply with fully controlled 4th order output filter. Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, Dallas, TX, USA."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1205","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2010.2073721","article-title":"A MASH-Controlled Multilevel Power Converter for High-Efficiency RF Transmitters","volume":"26","author":"Huang","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2005.869728","article-title":"Three-level buck converter for envelope tracking applications","volume":"21","author":"Yousefzadeh","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rodr\u00edguez, J., Lamar, D.G., Aller, D.G., Miaja, P.F., and Sebasti\u00e1n, J. (2018). Efficient Visible Light Communication Transmitters Based on Switching-Mode dc-dc Converters. Sensors, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/s18041127"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1726","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2018.2830881","article-title":"Power-Efficient VLC Transmitter Based on Pulse-Width Modulated DC\u2013DC Converters and the Split of the Power","volume":"34","author":"Lamar","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"706","DOI":"10.1109\/63.704143","article-title":"High-efficiency and wide-bandwidth performance obtainable from a two-input buck converter","volume":"13","author":"Villegas","year":"1998","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7051","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2015.2432097","article-title":"Control of a Single-Switch Two-Input Buck Converter for MPPT of Two PV Strings","volume":"62","author":"Urtasun","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Kazimierczuk, M.K. (2015). Pulse-Width Modulated DC\u2013DC Power Converters, John Wiley & Sons."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"McCune, E. (2014). Practical Digital Wireless Signals, Cambridge University Press. English. OCLC: 826449237."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1877","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2021.3060651","article-title":"Efficient Hybrid Buck Converter for Visible Light Communication in LED Drivers","volume":"69","author":"Loose","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/19\/6392\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T16:09:05Z","timestamp":1760112545000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/19\/6392"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,2]]},"references-count":27,"journal-issue":{"issue":"19","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,10]]}},"alternative-id":["s24196392"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s24196392","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,2]]}}}