Liang-Yu Wei

Light Encryption Scheme Using Light-Emitting Diode and Camera Image Sensor

Visible light communication (VLC) is regarded as relatively secure communication when compared with other wireless communications using radio frequency (RF). However, due to the visual nature, the VLC signals are still subject to eavesdropping when they are emitted by the light source. Here, we propose a light encryption scheme using devices having light-emitting diode (LED) and a camera image sensor, such as a mobile phone. The original visible signal sending from the lamp can be first received by the proposed light encrypter. The information can be encrypted and then emitted. The light encrypter acts as an encryption gateway for signals in optical domain. The rolling shutter effect of the complementary metal--oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera in the mobile phone can be used. By demodulating the rolling shutter pattern, the data information can be obtained. We also propose and demonstrate using the Otsu thresholding scheme to define the data logic in the rolling shutter pattern. We show that the Otsu scheme is effective for estimating the bit error rate (BER). The optimum number of intervals (segmentations) and the process time of the Otsu method are also studied.

Adaptive filtering for white-light LED visible light communication

Abstract. White-light phosphor-based light-emitting diode (LED) can be used to provide lighting and visible light communication (VLC) simultaneously. However, the long relaxation time of phosphor can reduce the modulation bandwidth and limit the VLC data rate. Recent VLC works focus on improving the LED modulation bandwidths. Here, we propose and demonstrate the use of adaptive Volterra filtering (AVF) to increase the data rate of a white-light LED VLC system. The detailed algorithm and implementation of the AVF for the VLC system have been discussed. Using our proposed electrical frontend circuit and the proposed AVF, a significant data rate enhancement to 700.68  Mbit/s is achieved after 1-m free-space transmission using a single white-light phosphor-based LED.

Long distance non-line-of-sight (NLOS) visible light signal detection based on rolling-shutter-patterning of mobile-phone camera

We propose and demonstrate a long distance non-line-of-sight (NLOS) visible light signal detection based on the rolling shutter patterning using commercial mobile phone camera. By using our improved rolling shutter pattern demodulation algorithm, such as the background compensation (BC) blooming mitigation, extinction-ratio (ER) enhancement and Bradley adaptive thresholding, a 1.5 m NLOS visible signal (at low illumination of 145 lux) can be retrieved.

Visible light communications for the implementation of internet-of-things

It is predicted that the number of internet-of-things (IoT) devices will be >28 billion in 2020. Due to the shortage of the conventional radio-frequency spectrum, using visible light communication (VLC) for IoT can be promising. IoT networks may only require very low-data rate communication for transmitting sensing or identity information. The implementation of a VLC link on existing computer communication standards and interfaces is important. Among the standards, universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) is very popular. We propose and demonstrate a VLC-over-UART system. Bit error rate analysis is performed. Different components and modules used in the proposed VLC-over-UART system are discussed. Then, we also demonstrate a real-time simultaneous temperature, humidity, and illuminance monitoring using the proposed VLC link.

Using a Single VCSEL Source Employing OFDM Downstream Signal and Remodulated OOK Upstream Signal for Bi-directional Visible Light Communications

In this work, we propose and demonstrate for the first time up to our knowledge, using a 682 nm visible vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) applied in a bi-directional wavelength remodulated VLC system with a free space transmission distance of 3 m. To achieve a high VLC downstream traffic, spectral efficient orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing quadrature-amplitude-modulation (OFDM-QAM) with bit and power loading algorithms are applied on the VCSEL in the central office (CO). The OFDM downstream wavelength is remodulated by an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) with OOK modulation to produce the upstream traffic in the client side. Hence, only a single VCSEL laser is needed for the proposed bi-directional VLC system, achieving 10.6 Gbit/s OFDM downstream and 2 Mbit/s remodulated OOK upstream simultaneously. For the proposed system, as a single laser source with wavelength remodulation is used, the laser wavelength and temperature managements at the client side are not needed; and the whole system could be cost effective and energy efficient.