Increasing the Performance of Passive Communication with Ambient Light

Master thesis (2019)

Authors

H. Haris Suwignyo Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

Marco Zuniga Embedded Systems - EEMCS (mentor)
K.G. Langendoen Embedded Systems - EEMCS (graduation committee member)
Z. Al-Ars Computer Engineering - EEMCS (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2019 Haris Haris Suwignyo
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Published Date

29-08-2019

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

Most wireless communication technologies have been using the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum for decades. Due to the popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT), the RF spectrum has started to become densely populated. Researchers have begun to explore other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be utilized as a communication media. One of the promising choices is the visible light spectrum.

Visible Light Communication (VLC) refers to the wireless communication technology that utilizes the visible light spectrum. This spectrum is thousands of times wider than the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum and is license-free. In VLC, data is transmitted by turning a light source on and off. However, not every light source can be controlled. Passive light sources such as the sun provide an immense amount of light that can be used for wireless communication if we can develop ways to modulate them.

One of the researches that use ambient light to create a wireless link is LuxLink. LuxLink uses liquid crystal shutters to control passive light sources and provides low energy, reliable, and flicker-free (safe) communication. This thesis addresses several problems that the current LuxLink system has.

We present LuxLink+, an extension of LuxLink that provides two main improvements. Firstly, the data rate of the system is relatively low (80~bps). To increase the data rate, we provide a thorough analysis of the system’s bandwidth. Afterward, we modify the modulation technique, which increases the data rate to 1000~bps at a range of 1.5~m.

Secondly, the system has a static data rate, which means that the system cannot adapt its data rate to changes in the environment. We implement a rate adaptation algorithm that can change its data rate accordingly. LuxLink+ improves the average throughput of the system by up to 85 percent compared to LuxLink.

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