ENERGY-AUTONOMOUS OPTICAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

An optical wireless communication receiver includes one or more harvesting solar cells configured to transform light into electrical power; one or more communication solar cells configured to transform light into an electrical signal embedding information; a rechargeable battery configured to store the electrical power generated by the one or more harvesting solar cells; a communication module configured to decode the electrical signal generated by the one or more communication solar cells and extract the information; a first switch configured to connect the one or more harvesting solar cells to the rechargeable battery for a harvesting-first state, and to the communication module for a communication-second state; a second switch configured to connect the one or more communication solar cells to the communication module for a communication-first state, and to the rechargeable battery for a harvesting-second state; and a microprocessor configured to control the first and second switches.