Self-synchronizing on-off-keying visible light communication system for intra- and inter-vehicle data transmission

Visible light communication is a present technology which allows data to be transmitted by modulating information onto a light source. It has many advantages over traditional radio frequency communication and up to 10,000 times larger bandwidth. Many existing research in visible light communication assumes a synchronized channel, however, this is not always easily achieved. This paper proposes a novel synchronized VLC system with the potential to ensure reliable communication in both intra- and inter-vehicle communication. The protocol achieves synchronization at the symbol level using the transistor-transistor logic protocol and achieves frame synchronizations with markers. Consequently, the deployment of the system in both intra- and inter-vehicle communication may present numerous advantages over existing data transmission processes. A practical application where visible light communication is used for media streaming is also previewed. In addition, various regions of possible data transmission are determined to infer forward error correction schemes to ensure reliable communication.