Indoor Visible Light Localization Algorithm with the Optimal Optical Angle-of-Arrival Estimator

Visible light communication (VLC) has been widely used in many applications because it can support lighting and communication simultaneously. Based on VLC, many attractive localization technologies are proposed, especially angle-of-arrival (AOA) algorithm. Existing AOA systems exploit optical receivers to detect the light power, but the receivers may not be arranged as the optimal orientations to reduce the localization error. In this letter, we employ an optimal optical omnidirectional angle estimator (OOAE) as the receiver, and a novel three dimensional (3D) localization algorithm is proposed, which requires low computational cost. Furthermore, we propose two supplemented methods to reduce the positioning error when more than two white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are exploited. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve centimeter-level accuracy, which would provide constructive insights for the design of AOA systems.

I. Introduction

As an emerging lighting device, LEDs are gradually replacing traditional light sources due to their long life, low power consumption, high lighting efficiency and low heat generation. Except illumination, LEDs can also modulate electrical signals into light signals at a high rate without introducing electromagnetic interference, which implies that LEDs can support VLC as well [1]–[3]. Based on the LEDs, VLC technologies could supplement traditional radio frequency (RF) communication, and can be utilized in intelligent transportation systems, machine-to-machine communication and indoor wireless communication [4], [5].