Image Sensor Communication via Light Trail Using Propeller LED Transmitter

• Published in: IEEE photonics journal Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Tang, Zhengqiang, Zheng, Jinxing, Yamazato, Takaya, Arai, Shintaro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.10.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Cameras; Data transmission; Image sensor communication; Image sensors; Light emitting diodes; light trail; optical camera communication; Optical imaging; Optical switches; Optical transmitters; propeller LED transmitter; Propellers; Rotation; rotation coordinates transform; Transmission rate (communications); visible light communication
• ISSN: 1943-0655; 1943-0655; 1943-0647
• DOI: 10.1109/JPHOT.2023.3317082

This article proposes an image sensor communication (ISC) system based on light trails using rotary LEDs. The light trail refers to an optical phenomenon where light appears elongated and forms a trajectory due to the movement of luminous objects. In this study, we developed a propeller LED transmitter (P-Tx) that rotates LEDs with a propeller to generate and transmit light trail signals. According to the LED's rotation radius, the proposed system segments light trails to achieve high-capacity data transmission at short distances and high-trust transmission at long distances. In addition, we perform the rotation coordinates system conversion for the captured light trails to accurately and simply detect the signal LEDs' coordinates. We experimentally evaluate the proposed system's communication performance and data rate. The experimental results demonstrate that our system is capable of meeting communication requirements at various distances and exhibits significant potential in enhancing the data transmission rate of ISC.