VISIBLE LIGHT

Definition
Visible light is just one part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes waves of
various lengths and frequencies. The visible light spectrum is the segment of the
electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can view. More simply, this range of wavelengths
is called visible light. We can see a thing only when light waves from it reach our eyes.
Typically, the human eye can detect wavelengths from 380 to 700 nanometers. All
electromagnetic radiation is light, but we can only see a small portion of this radiation, the
portion we call visible light.

Cone-shaped cells in our eyes act as receivers tuned to the wavelengths in this narrow
band of the spectrum. Other portions of the spectrum have wavelengths too large or too small
and energetic for the biological limitations of our perception. As the full spectrum of visible light
travels through a prism, the wavelengths separate into the colors of the rainbow because each
color is a different wavelength. The wavelength of light waves is about halfway between the
longest and the shortest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Light waves make up only a tiny part of the spectrum, but there is a big variety of
wavelengths among them. Light radiation such as that from the sun is composed of every color.
When all the colors appear together, we see them as white color. Violet has the shortest
wavelength, at around 380 nanometers and has about 26,000 waves per half inch, and red has
the longest wavelength, at around 700 nanometers and about 13,000 of them cover a half inch
of space. The second longest wavelength of light is the color orange, followed by yellow, green,
and blue. When sunlight travels through drops of rainwater, the different wavelengths move at
different speeds. As a result, the various wavelengths, or colors, travel in slightly different paths.
You see these colors dispersed, or spread out, into a rainbow like band. Scientists call this
many-colored band the visible light spectrum.

https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight

Nagaraja,2019

https://www.livescience.com/amp/50678-visible-light.html

Lucas,2015
Application and uses of visible light
Aside from sight, there are other important uses for visible light. We
concentrate visible light to make lasers to use in everything from surgery, to CD players to
laser pointers. Visible light waves also make our TV, computer and cell phone screens
work. Visible light is typically pretty harmless.

3. Applications of VLC

Inherent features of VLC include high bandwidth, no health hazard, low power consumption and
non-licensed channels that made it attractive for practical use. Different application scenarios
using VLC are as follows:

3.1. Li-Fi

In 2011, Harald Haas was the first to coin the term Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) . Li-Fi is a high speed bi-
directional fully connected, visible light wireless communication system and is analogous to Wi-
Fi, which uses radio frequency for communication . The Wi-Fi signals have the problem of
interference with other RF signals such as its interference with pilot navigational equipment
signals in aircraft . Therefore, in the areas that are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (such
as aircrafts) Li-Fi can be a better solution. A Li-Fi also lends support to the Internet of Things
(IoT) . A speed up to 10Gbits/s is obtained using Li-Fi, which is 250 times more than the speed
of super-fast broadband .

3.2. Vehicle to vehicle communication

VLC can be used for vehicular communication due to the presence of the vehicle lights and the
existing traffic light infrastructure. The high priority applications indicated by the Vehicle Safety
Communications Project include cooperative forward collision warning, pre-crash sensing,
emergency electronic brake lights, lane change warning, stop sign movement assistant, left turn
assistant, traffic signal violation warning and curve speed
warning. All of the high priority applications require reliable
reachability with extremely low latency. Due to the
extremely low allowable latency in the vehicle safety
communication, a high speed visible light communication
system like Li-Fi can be used as shown in Fig. 4. In, an
outdoor VLC system using Controller Area Network (CAN)
was proposed and the back lights and headlights were
used in the proposed system for communication.

Fig. 4. VLC for vehicular

networks.
3.3. Underwater communication

RF waves do not travel well in sea water because of its good conductivity. Therefore, VLC
communication should be used in underwater communication networks . The Un Tethered
Remotely Operated Vehicle (UTROV) is another application of the VLC in underwater
communication. The different jobs that can be performed using UTROV include observatory
maintenance of the oceans and deployment opportunity from the ships. Fig. 5 outlines the
operation of the UTROV. The right pane shows the communication of the UTROV using the
optical channel to a fixed infrastructure on the sea floor. In the center, the communication is
achieved by UTROV using an optical channel with a ship based relay infrastructure. The left
most pane shows the communication of the UTROV using low bandwidth underwater
communications.

Fig. 5. Operation of UTROV [16].

3.4. Hospitals

In hospitals, electromagnetic wave sensitive areas (such as MRI scanners) are likely to switch
to VLC because it will not interfere with radio waves of the other machines . In , a robot called
HOSPI (shown in Fig. 6) was proposed that was used for transportation in hospitals. The control
system enhancements in HOSPI were made using VLC installed in a building and navigational
sensors of the robot.
 Fig. 6. HOSPI Robot [18].

3.5. Information displaying signboards

Signboards are often made from an array of LEDs which in turn are modulated to convey
information in airports, bus stops and other places where the broadcasting of data is necessary.
In [19], the sign board used for transmitting data was described. This type of sign board can be
used for indications in various locations such as airports, museums and hospitals.

3.6. Visible light ID system

Visible light can be used as an ID system in different places

such as buildings and subways. For example, if we are standing
in room 12 in a certain building. A visible light ID system can be
employed for identifying the room number and its building.
Similarly a visible light ID system can be employed in subways,
hospitals and airports (Fig. 7).

FFig. 7. Prototype
presented by NEC and
Matsushita Electric Works
[71].

3.7. A Sound communication system

Red, green and blue LEDs are used for the transmission of music signals as shown in Fig. 8.
 Fig. 8

3.8. Wireless local area networks (WLANs)

LED based visible light communication can be used in setting up LANs. In , an ultra-high
speed full duplex, LAN based on star topology architecture using LED visible light
communication is proposed to provide a speed of more than 10-Gb/s and tested for massive
users. The schematic diagram of the high speed LAN is shown in Fig. 9 ]. The reason for the
design of the network using a star topology is to provide support for massive users. Fiber is
used in connection with each lamp directly as shown in Fig. 9. The hybrid access protocol is
used in the proposed LAN such as time division multiplexing (TDM) for bidirectional VLC
transmission and frequency division multiplexing (FDM) for uplink and downlink fiber
transmission. The results of the proposed LAN revealed its potential power of offering high
speed access for massive users. In , a 10 Mbps VLC wireless LAN system was proposed using
white LEDs. The lighting system was used for downlink and infrared light was used for up-link.
The VLC wireless LAN has the potential to be used in office buildings and hospitals, which
require a high level of safety.

Fig. 9. The VLC network schematic diagram .

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcan.2016.07.004Get rights and content

Under a Creative Commons license

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Effects of visible light
Polypodium Leucotomos (PL), a tropical fern that is grown in Central America, has
been found to contain active compounds that provide antioxidative, photoprotective,
chemoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties.The antioxidative
effects of PL include inhibition and scavenging of free radicals, lipid peroxidation and
reactive oxygen species (ROS) such hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical
and singlet oxygen.Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and visible light (400-700 nm) can induce
DNA damage in the human skin through ROS production.
The visible spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human
eye. While many of the photodermatology studies have focused mainly on the UV portion of
the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, as of lately, there have been more studies on
visible light. The visible light radiation can exert various biologic effects such as erythema,
pigmentation, thermal damage and free radical production. Addtionally, visible light
exposure can cause or exacerbate photodermatoses such as solar urticaria, chronic actinic
dermatosis (CAD) and cutaneous porphyrias. Sunscreens are the mainstay treatment for
these photodermatoses, but often sunscreens offer none to weak protection against visible
light.
In the past, studies have studied the erythema development and pigmentary changes
induced by visible light. A recent study by Mahmoud et al. reported that visible light induces
dark and relatively sustained pigmentation, which has clinical relevance in the treatment of
photodermatoses as well as the need for development of filters that protect against visible
light.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02904798

Verified September 2016 by Iltefat Hamzavi, Henry Ford Health System.

Recruitment status was: Recruiting

First Posted : September 19, 2016

Last Update Posted : September 19, 2016

ADV/DIS

Disadvantages of visible light

Eye health problems

- the human eye can suffer from retinal injury due to overexposure to visible light.
Although
some damage can heal but more serious overexposure to visible light may lead to
permanent eye damage or even blindness, some eye problem are caused by looking
directly at something too bright like the sun.

Film exposure problems

- visible lights affects films including those used in x-rays, film photography and movies.
This films are protected from light through their containers. Accidentally removing them
from this containers would result in exposure of the films, which would render them
useless or cause permanent damage on the supposed image that should appear on
them.

Deterioration of materials
-Visible light can cause chemical changes to different materials, which typically result in
deterioration of their quality. Prolonged exposure to the light can result in a more weary
look to these materials -- due to how light affects a material's molecular and chemical
properties. This condition is especially evident in very old documents and photos like
those historical ones archived in museums that tend to fade over time.
 https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-disadvantages-of-visible-light

Soriano,2019

Advantages of visible light

Visible light is extremely important to humans, we use it TO SEE! Without light,
our eyes would not be able to see images of anything. Aside from sight, there are other
important uses for visible light. We concentrate visible light to make lasers to use in
everything from surgery, to CD players to laser pointers. Visible light waves also make
our TV, computer and cell phone screens work.
https://sites.google.com/site/mrjhelectromagneticspectrum/home/visible-light