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Visible light communication (VLC) is a data communications variant which uses visible light between 400 and 800 THz (780–375 nm). VLC is a subset of optical wireless communications technologies.
The technology uses fluorescent lamps (ordinary lamps, not special communications devices) to transmit signals at 10 kbit/s, or LEDs for up to 500 Mbit/s. Low rate data transmissions at 1 and 2 kilometres (0.6 and 1.2 mi) were demonstrated. RONJA achieves full Ethernet speed (10 Mbit/s) over the same distance thanks to larger optics and more powerful LEDs.
Specially designed electronic devices generally containing a photodiode receive signals from light sources, although in some cases a cell phone camera or a digital camera will be sufficient. The image sensor used in these devices is in fact an array of photodiodes (pixels) and in some applications its use may be preferred over a single photodiode. Such a sensor may provide either multi-channel communication (down to 1 pixel = 1 channel) or a spatial awareness of multiple light sources.
VLC can be used as a communications medium for ubiquitous computing, because light-producing devices (such as indoor/outdoor lamps, TVs, traffic signs, commercial displays and car headlights/taillights) are used everywhere. Using visible light is also less dangerous for high-power applications because humans can perceive it and act to protect their eyes from damage.
History
The history of Visible Light Communications (VLC) dates back to the 1880s in Washington, D.C. when the Scottish-born scientist Alexander Graham Bell invented the photophone, which transmitted speech on modulated sunlight over several hundred meters. This pre-dates the transmission of speech by radio.
More recent work began in 2003 at Nakagawa Laboratory, in Keio University, Japan, using LEDs to transmit data by visible light. A prototype of VLC had been presented by three undergraduate students at Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1995, resorting to the amplitude modulation of a 532 nm laser diode of 5 mW and photodiodes detector. Since then there have been numerous research activities focussed on VLC, notably by Smart Lighting Engineering Centre, Omega Project, COWA, ByteLight, Inc.,D-Light Project, UC-Light Centre, and work at Oxford University.
In 2006, researchers from CICTR at Penn State proposed a combination of power line communication (PLC) and white light LED to provide broadband access for indoor applications. This research suggested that VLC could be deployed as a perfect last-mile solution in the future.
In January 2010 a team of researchers from Siemens and Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin demonstrated transmission at 500 Mbit/s with a white LED over a distance of 5 metres (16 ft), and 100 Mbit/s over longer distance using five LEDs.
The VLC standardization process is conducted within IEEE Wireless Personal Area Networks working group (802.15).
In December 2010 St. Cloud, Minnesota, signed a contract with LVX Minnesota and became the first to commercially deploy this technology.
In July 2011 a live demonstration of high-definition video being transmitted from a standard LED lamp was shown at TED Global.
Recently, VLC-based indoor positioning system has become an attractive topic. ABI research [1] forecasts that it could be a key solution to unlocking the $5 billion "indoor location market". Publications have been coming from Nakagawa Laboratory, COWA at Penn State and other researchers around the world.
Another recent application is in the world of toys, thanks to cost-efficient and low-complexity implementation, which only requires one microcontroller and one LED as optical front-end.
VLCs can be used for providing security. They are especially useful in body sensor networks and personal area networks.
Recently Organic LEDs (OLED) have been used as optical transceivers to build up VLC communication links up to 10 Mbit/s.
In October 2014, Axrtek launched a commercial bidirectional RGB LED VLC system called MOMO that transmits down and up at speeds of 300 Mbit/s and with a range of 25 feet.
In May 2015, Philips collaborated with supermarket giant Carrefour to deliver VLC location-based services to shoppers' smartphones in a hypermarket in Lille, France. Indoor positioning systems based on VLC can be used in places such as hospitals, eldercare homes, warehouses, and large, open offices to locate people and control indoor robotic vehicles.