To overcome the aforementioned conventional RF spectrum congestion in indoor and multi-users scenarios, under the support of European H2020 research project IoRL, in ISEP we built a Visible Light Communication/Positioning (VLCP) testbed. This system holds the potential to overcome the position’s instability inherent to wireless channels thanks to the most multipath - free propagation brought by VLC. It can achieve decimetre to centimetre precision, using specialised “beaconing LEDs” as landmarks [2]. VLC-Indoor Positioning System (IPS) can be installed inexpensively since they utilise existing illumination systems with few modifications. It can be used in RF-inappropriate environments, like hospitals, underground mines, and gas stations. Another advantage of VLC-IPS is that multipath has less effect on visible light than on RF signal, so the position estimation could be more accurate.
The main objective of the testbed is to provide a realistic visible light positioning testing environment for those experimenters 1) who are working on optical wireless access technology. This testbed offers indoor visible light communication wireless access. It can be used for analysing and demonstrating an innovative and data/energy/cost efficient communication system; 2) who are working on indoor positioning algorithm and AI-based positioning algorithm. The testbed provides a realistic measurement dataset in different indoor environments.
Currently, this testbed is open for different master/engineering student projects and for our European scientifical research partners. Meanwhile, this testbed is also integrated in the engineering academic learning track “IoT and electronic system” (code: IE.2307) in ISEP (40 students per year).
The corresponding works have been published in different journals and conference papers. Some selected publications are shown here, in which the corresponding hardware and software GUI are presented:
[1] Lina Shi , Dayu Shi, Xun Zhang , Benjamin Meunier, Hequn Zhang , Zhan Wang, Andrei Vladimirescu, Wei Li, Yue Zhang, John Cosmas, Kareem Ali, Nawar Jawad , Rudolf Zetik, Eric Legale, Matteo Satta, Jintao Wang , and Jian Song “5G Internet of Radio Light Positioning System for Indoor Broadcasting Service” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 66, NO. 2, JUNE 2020
[2] Kareem Ali, John Cosmas, Yue Zhang, Hequn Zhang, Ben Meunier, Nawar Jawad, Xun Zhang, Lina Shi, James Gbadamosi, Atanas Savov , Measurement Campaign on 5G Indoor Millimeter Wave and Visible Light Communications Multi Component Carrier System, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING,, November 2021
[3]Lina Shi, Xun Zhang, Andrei Vladimirescu, Zhan Wang, Yue Zhang, Jintao Wang, Jorge Garcia, John Cosmas, Adam Kapovits, Experimental testbed for VLC-based localization framework in 5G Internet of Radio Light, 2019 26th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS)
[4] Loi n° 2015-136 (“Loi Abeille”), JORF n°0034 du 10 février 2015 page 2346, texte n° 1 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000030212...
[5] J. Vucic et al., “513 Mbit/s visible light communications link based on DMT-modulation of a white LED,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 28, no. 24, pp. 3512–3518, 2010