Image-sensor-based visible light communication for automotive applications

The present article introduces VLC for automotive applications using an image sensor. In particular, V2I-VLC and V2V-VLC are presented. While previous studies have documented the effectiveness of V2I and V2V communication using radio technology in terms of improving automotive safety, in the present article, we identify characteristics unique to image-sensor-based VLC as compared to radio wave technology. The two primary advantages of a VLC system are its line-of-sight feature and an image sensor that not only provides VLC functions, but also the potential vehicle safety applications made possible by image and video processing. Herein, we present two ongoing image-sensor-based V2I-VLC and V2VVLC projects. In the first, a transmitter using an LED array (which is assumed to be an LED traffic light) and a receiver using a high-framerate CMOS image sensor camera is introduced as a potential V2I-VLC system. For this system, real-time transmission of the audio signal has been confirmed through a field trial. In the second project, we introduce a newly developed CMOS image sensor capable of receiving highspeed optical signals and demonstrate its effectiveness through a V2V communication field trial. In experiments, due to the high-speed signal reception capability of the camera receiver using the developed image sensor, a data transmission rate of 10 Mb/s has been achieved, and image (320 × 240, color) reception has been confirmed together with simultaneous reception of various internal vehicle data, such as vehicle ID and speed.

[1]  Shinichiro Haruyama Visible light communications , 2010, 36th European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication.

[2]  Shoji Kawahito,et al.  LED and CMOS Image Sensor Based Optical Wireless Communication System for Automotive Applications , 2013, IEEE Photonics Journal.

[3]  Takeshi Takaki,et al.  High-Frame-Rate Optical Flow System , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology.

[4]  Shoji Kawahito,et al.  A CMOS imager and 2-D light pulse receiver array for spatial optical communication , 2009, 2009 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[5]  Masao Nakagawa,et al.  Visible Light Communication with LED Traffic Lights Using 2-Dimensional Image Sensor , 2006, IEICE Trans. Fundam. Electron. Commun. Comput. Sci..

[6]  S. Yoshimura,et al.  A 48 kframe/s CMOS image sensor for real-time 3-D sensing and motion detection , 2001, 2001 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers. ISSCC (Cat. No.01CH37177).

[7]  Maria Kihl,et al.  Inter-vehicle communication systems: a survey , 2008, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[8]  T. Fujii,et al.  On-vehicle receiver for distant visible light road-to-vehicle communication , 2009, 2009 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium.

[9]  Toshiaki Fujii,et al.  Tracking an LED array transmitter for visible light communications in the driving situation , 2010, 2010 7th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems.

[10]  Dominic C. O'Brien,et al.  Visible light communications: Challenges and possibilities , 2008, 2008 IEEE 19th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

[11]  Masao Nakagawa,et al.  Fundamental analysis for visible-light communication system using LED lights , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics.

[12]  Haruyama Shinichiro,et al.  The design of high-speed image sensor chip for receiving the data of visible-light ID system , 2007 .

[13]  M. Ikeda,et al.  A smart image sensor with high-speed feeble ID-beacon detection for augmented reality system , 2003, ESSCIRC 2004 - 29th European Solid-State Circuits Conference (IEEE Cat. No.03EX705).

[14]  Takaya Yamazato,et al.  Image Sensor Based Visible Light Communication and Its Application to Pose, Position, and Range Estimations , 2014, IEICE Trans. Commun..

[15]  Fumio Teraoka,et al.  High data rate ground-to-train free-space optical communication system , 2012 .