DroneVLC: Exploiting Drones and VLC to Gather Data from Batteryless Sensors

We explore a new alternative for drones to gather information from sensors. Instead of using the traditional radio-frequency spectrum, whose broadcast nature makes it more difficult to poll specific objects, we utilize the light spectrum. In our system, the drone carries a light, and flies to an area that it is interested in polling. Only the...

Firefly: Localizing Drones with Visible Light Communication and Sensor Fusion

In this paper, we propose a new approach where drones attain accurate localization by fusing information from artificial lighting and their embedded inertial and barometer sensors. Our system is able to provide accurate drone localization without the use of radios, GPS or cameras. We evaluate our framework, dubbed Firefly, with a testbed...

Inti: Indoor Tracking with Solar Cells

Solar cells are mainly used as power sources, but can be used for sensing as well. We propose a novel indoor system that exploits solar cells to track people by monitoring the changes in light intensity caused by their shadows and reflections as they walk by. Our framework has three main components. First, we develop a simulator based on a...

SunBox: Screen-To-camera communication with ambient light

A recent development in wireless communication is the use of optical shutters and smartphone cameras to create optical links solely from ambient light. At the transmitter, a liquid crystal display (LCD) modulates ambient light by changing its level of transparency. At the receiver, a smartphone camera decodes the optical pattern. This LCD-To...

Exploiting Digital Micro-Mirror Devices for Ambient Light Communication

There is a growing interest in exploiting ambient light for wireless communication. This new research area has two key advantages: it utilizes a free portion of the spectrum and does not require modifications of the lighting infrastructure. Most existing designs, however, rely on a single type of optical surface at the transmitter: liquid...

Communication with Ambient Light using Digital Micromirror Devices

Passive visible light communication (VLC) takes advantage of the pervasive nature of ambient light in our environment for wireless transmissions. The design of transmitters in passive VLC predominately uses liquid crystal displays (LCDs). While LCDs are an economical choice with low power consumption, they lack some key properties that are...