Image Sensor Based Visible Light Communication and Its Application to Pose, Position, and Range Estimations

This study introduces an image sensor based visible light communication (VLC) and its application to pose, position, and range estimations. There are two types of visible-light receiver: a photodiode and an image sensor. A photodiode is usually used as a reception device of VLC, and an image sensor consisting of a large number of pixels can also be used as a VLC reception device. A photodiode detects the signal intensity of incoming light, while an image sensor not only detects the incoming signal intensity but also an accurate angle of arrival of light emitted from a visible light transmitter such as a white LED light. After angles of arrival of light are detected by an image sensor, positioning and data reception can be performed. The ability of an image sensor to detect an accurate angle of arrival will provide attractive applications of VLC such as pose, position calculation, and range estimation. Furthermore, because the image sensor has the ability to spatially separate sources, outdoor positioning even with strong sunlight is possible by discarding the associated pixels of noise sources.