Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications

Visible light communications (VLC) technology is emerging as a candidate to meet the demand for interconnected devices’ communications. However, the costs of incorporating specific hardware into end-user devices slow down its market entry. Optical camera communication (OCC) technology paves the way...

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Main Authors: Antonio Mederos-Barrera, Cristo Jurado-Verdu, Victor Guerra, Jose Rabadan, Rafael Perez-Jimenez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2925
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author Antonio Mederos-Barrera
Cristo Jurado-Verdu
Victor Guerra
Jose Rabadan
Rafael Perez-Jimenez
author_facet Antonio Mederos-Barrera
Cristo Jurado-Verdu
Victor Guerra
Jose Rabadan
Rafael Perez-Jimenez
author_sort Antonio Mederos-Barrera
collection DOAJ
description Visible light communications (VLC) technology is emerging as a candidate to meet the demand for interconnected devices’ communications. However, the costs of incorporating specific hardware into end-user devices slow down its market entry. Optical camera communication (OCC) technology paves the way by reusing cameras as receivers. These systems have generally been evaluated under static conditions, in which transmitting sources are recognized using computationally expensive discovery algorithms. In vehicle-to-vehicle networks and wearable devices, tracking algorithms, as proposed in this work, allow one to reduce the time required to locate a moving source and hence the latency of these systems, increasing the data rate by up to 2100%. The proposed receiver architecture combines discovery and tracking algorithms that analyze spatial features of a custom RGB LED transmitter matrix, highlighted in the scene by varying the cameras’ exposure time. By using an anchor LED and changing the intensity of the green LED, the receiver can track the light source with a slow temporal deterioration. Moreover, data bits sent over the red and blue channels do not significantly affect detection, hence transmission occurs uninterrupted. Finally, a novel experimental methodology to evaluate the evolution of the detection’s performance is proposed. With the analysis of the mean and standard deviation of novel K parameters, it is possible to evaluate the detected region-of-interest scale and centrality against the transmitter source’s ideal location.
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spelling doaj.art-670284820f51497fb0f7d556a2a3b20e2023-11-21T16:36:55ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-04-01219292510.3390/s21092925Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera CommunicationsAntonio Mederos-Barrera0Cristo Jurado-Verdu1Victor Guerra2Jose Rabadan3Rafael Perez-Jimenez4Institute for Technological Development and Innovation in Communications (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainInstitute for Technological Development and Innovation in Communications (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainInstitute for Technological Development and Innovation in Communications (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainInstitute for Technological Development and Innovation in Communications (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainInstitute for Technological Development and Innovation in Communications (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainVisible light communications (VLC) technology is emerging as a candidate to meet the demand for interconnected devices’ communications. However, the costs of incorporating specific hardware into end-user devices slow down its market entry. Optical camera communication (OCC) technology paves the way by reusing cameras as receivers. These systems have generally been evaluated under static conditions, in which transmitting sources are recognized using computationally expensive discovery algorithms. In vehicle-to-vehicle networks and wearable devices, tracking algorithms, as proposed in this work, allow one to reduce the time required to locate a moving source and hence the latency of these systems, increasing the data rate by up to 2100%. The proposed receiver architecture combines discovery and tracking algorithms that analyze spatial features of a custom RGB LED transmitter matrix, highlighted in the scene by varying the cameras’ exposure time. By using an anchor LED and changing the intensity of the green LED, the receiver can track the light source with a slow temporal deterioration. Moreover, data bits sent over the red and blue channels do not significantly affect detection, hence transmission occurs uninterrupted. Finally, a novel experimental methodology to evaluate the evolution of the detection’s performance is proposed. With the analysis of the mean and standard deviation of novel K parameters, it is possible to evaluate the detected region-of-interest scale and centrality against the transmitter source’s ideal location.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2925optical camera communicationsdetection systemtracking systemdiscovery systemtest system for tracking systemsK parameters
spellingShingle Antonio Mederos-Barrera
Cristo Jurado-Verdu
Victor Guerra
Jose Rabadan
Rafael Perez-Jimenez
Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
Sensors
optical camera communications
detection system
tracking system
discovery system
test system for tracking systems
K parameters
title Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
title_full Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
title_fullStr Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
title_full_unstemmed Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
title_short Design and Experimental Characterization of a Discovery and Tracking System for Optical Camera Communications
title_sort design and experimental characterization of a discovery and tracking system for optical camera communications
topic optical camera communications
detection system
tracking system
discovery system
test system for tracking systems
K parameters
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2925
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