BlinkComm: Initialization of IoT Devices Using Visible Light Communication

Abstract

Many applications from the Internet of Things (IoT) domain used in healthcare, smart homes, and cities involve a large number of interconnected wireless devices. To ensure privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of the information, devices should be initialized prior to any communication. In this paper, we present a secure initialization method for constrained IoT devices such as wireless sensors devices and/or actuators. The solution uses visible light communication (VLC) for the initial configuration of the IoT devices. The VLC system consists of a modulated light source such as a smartphone screen and a very simple photodetector. We analyze known coding and modulation techniques used for the VLC and propose BlinkComm, a differential coding technique that achieves threefold increase in transmission speed compared to existing solutions. We showed through experiments with 32 participants that the proposed solution achieves fast completion times and low error rates as well as high user satisfaction levels.

Carrier synchronisation in multiband carrierless amplitude and phase modulation for visible light communication‐based IoT systems

“…In Ref. [12], IoT RF devices can potentially improve security by using VLC to configure the device during initialisation rather than using an unsecure RF channel. Others have proposed VLC‐based IoT devices with residual power consumption by reflecting a modulated version of an external light source.…”

Light-based Internet of Things: Implementation of an Optically Connected Energy-autonomous Node

“…In addition, visible light spectrum based visible light communication (VLC) technology has proven to reach several Gbps data rates in magnitude, which is well beyond the required data rate for most modern IoT applications [3]. With VLC-IoT optimized, efficient coding techniques such as Blinkcomm, the data rates can be further enhanced [4].…”

Optimized Analog Multi-Band Carrierless Amplitude and Phase Modulation for Visible Light Communication-Based Internet of Things Systems

“…IoT-targeted VLC devices and systems are currently very limited, and they are in an early development state. Some scenario examples that can be found in the literature include Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) [24,25], Visible Light Positioning (VLP) [13], VLC smart labels [26,27], and initialization of IoT devices for security improvement [28], amongst others, such as indoor healthcare data transmission, infotainment services, droneto-drone communications, and augmented/virtual reality, relying on both photodiode-and camera-based communications [29,30]. Although most proposed devices require significant processing resources, an effort to reduce their complexity and cost has also been pursued by some research teams, namely Corner Cube Retroreflectors (CCRs) (including batteryless devices) [31][32][33] and VLC backscattering architectures [34][35][36].…”