Some practical constraints and solutions for optical camera communication

Abstract

<jats:p>Mobile wireless communication heavily relies on the radio frequency to convey message and data. However, its limited spectrum can hardly meet the demands for the future high data rate applications. Optical wireless communication, in particular visible light communication, opens up vast optical spectrum for communication, and meanwhile can retrofit the light sources as the communication transmitters in the existing working or living environments. In conjunction with the ubiquitous cameras in hand-held consumer electronics such as smartphones and pads, optical camera communication (OCC) further takes advantages of image sensors as the communication receivers and realizes low-cost communication systems. This article first provides an overview of OCC systems. It then addresses some practical constraints, ranging from sensor low frame rate and instability, rolling shutter readout, to visual qualities of displayed images and videos, and link blockage between the transmitter and receiver. Accordingly, it introduces existing and new solutions to deal with those constraints by data modulation, newly developed camera structures, post-processing of sensed signals and non-line of sight OCC as a new form. In particular, indirect paths by either the indoor surface reflection or the outdoor atmospheric scattering are explored for link connectivity under blockage. Finally, some future research directions are suggested.</jats:p> <jats:p>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Optical wireless communication’.</jats:p>

Optical Wireless Communication for the Internet of Things: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…We refer readers interested in OCC technology to the recent work by Saeed et al [104] in which they present a comprehensive survey of the technology. Other related work can be found in [105]- [108].…”

Optical Camera Communications for IoT–Rolling-Shutter Based MIMO Scheme with Grouped LED Array Transmitter

“…Although OCC does not support high capacity link connectivities, due to the speed limit of cameras, it can be employed in numerous low data rate applications, such as indoor positioning, mobile robot navigation, vehicular communications, small identification information, and advertisements [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Despite lower data rates, OCC is simple to implement, with low path loss, additional imaging functionality, and spatial modulation capability, as compared with high rate VLC links [ 12 ].…”

Experimental Demonstration of Continuous Sensor Data Monitoring Using Neural Network-Based Optical Camera Communications

“…The worldwide availability of camera-mounted devices makes OCC immensely potential. In addition, OCC is less susceptible to noise and interferences [1]. However, the major limitation of OCC is that it operates in low data rate.…”

“…On the other hand, until now, researchers have only used large LEDs and LED arrays. Literatures [1], [2], [12] showed the challenges using multiple LED array and large LEDs. However, many applications require small LEDs (several mm of diameter) such as health monitoring [13] and valve position monitoring in industries.…”