Screen antenna: Integrated data transfer and display using RGB LEDs

Abstract

This thesis presents Screen Antenna - A Visible Light Communication (VLC) system that integrates data transmission and reception, with the conventional pixel display capability of RGB LEDs. The system is constructed with off-the-shelf components and runs on the Arduino Due microcontroller. The hardware and software have been designed with the objectives of scalability and flexibility. This research aims to optimize the system's performance in terms of throughput, error rate, and display quality.

To evaluate the system's performance, extensive experiments were conducted under different lighting conditions, PWM frequency and Rx-Tx distances. The experiments focused on achieving the maximum achievable throughput while maintaining a low Bit Error Rate (BER). Through careful optimization of the system parameters, a maximum throughput of 4.4kbps was achieved. Furthermore, the system consistently maintained a Bit Error Rate of less than 0.005\%, ensuring reliable and error-free data transmission.
In addition to data transmission, the impact of data transmission on the display's visual quality was investigated. The Delta E value, which quantifies the observed colour difference between two pixel values, was used as a metric for display quality. The data rates were calibrated such that the display operated with a Delta-E value of less than 1 in more than 90\% of the colour spectrum, indicating minimal colour distortion during data transmission.

This study contributes to the field of VLC by showcasing a practical implementation that combines scalability, visual quality, and performance. Future research directions could focus on expanding the display size and enhancing the data rate by means of more sophisticated hardware.