Augmented communications: spectral efficiency and security enhanced visible light communications by design

A plethora of physical-layer techniques aim to enhance the performance of communication systems in several ways. Spectral efficiency and security are on the top of the list of enhancements; however, both are isolated and antagonistic islands of research. Augmented communication (ACom) is introduced in this Letter as the first technique that aims to combine these two enhancements in visible light communications (VLCs). The dividends of the proposed concept are demonstrated via simulations and the performance is experimentally validated. Results show that ACom can simultaneously provide the high spectral efficiency and the resistance to eavesdropping, while introducing minimal signal-to-noise ratio penalties.