Vehicular Visible Light Communication with Dynamic Vision Sensor

Abstract

This paper outlines the research to develop a vehicular visible light communication system with the use of a new type of CMOS sensor: a dynamic vision sensor. Rather than reporting still frames and absolute intensity values, a DVS camera only outputs events when it observes a change in luminance. This unique property greatly reduces the possibility of wasting the valuable bandwidth in capturing fix image backgrounds. To understand the behavior of a DVS camera, preliminary experiments are carried out. Based on the experimental results, we propose to design a LED array which is able to achieve a long communication range even with low average luminance level, when using a DVS camera as the receiver. On the other hand, algorithms are also developed for addressing the system mobility issue. We believe that this proposed system can offer several advantages over the existing systems. First, long communication range is achieved with a much lower luminance level. Second, the system is able to perform simultaneous transmission without additional multiplexing overheads. Finally, with the use of a DVS camera, the bandwidth is preserved for data carrying and hence the chance for boosting the system throughput.