Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Optics Communications
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optcom

Regression analysis for LED color detection of visual-MIMO system

Partha Pratim Banik, Rappy Saha, Ki-Doo Kim *
School of Electronics Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: Color detection from a light emitting diode (LED) array using a smartphone camera is very difficult in a visual
LED array multiple-input multiple-output (visual-MIMO) system. In this paper, we propose a method to determine the LED
Smartphone camera color using a smartphone camera by applying regression analysis. We employ a multivariate regression model to
Visual-MIMO identify the LED color. After taking a picture of an LED array, we select the LED array region, and detect the LED
K-means clustering
using an image processing algorithm. We then apply the k-means clustering algorithm to determine the number
Multivariate regression model
of potential colors for feature extraction of each LED. Finally, we apply the multivariate regression model to
predict the color of the transmitted LEDs. In this paper, we show our results for three types of environmental
light condition: room environmental light, low environmental light (560 lux), and strong environmental light
(2450 lux). We compare the results of our proposed algorithm from the analysis of training and test R-Square
(%) values, percentage of closeness of transmitted and predicted colors, and we also mention about the number
of distorted test data points from the analysis of distortion bar graph in CIE1931 color space.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction smartphone camera at low exposure in different environmental light

Light emitting diode (LED) array to camera communication, known
as visual-MIMO, is an outstanding paradigm in visual-MIMO system [1–
7]. This type of communication provides flexibility to the user during
short distance communications. The LED array transmits data symbols
through color and the camera sensor serves as a receiver, detecting
the transmitted color to receive the data symbol. The data symbols are
mapped using different modulation schemes such as Color Shift Keying
(CSK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), On–Off Keying (OOK), etc. [8–10]
and the received colors are demodulated to data symbols on the receiver
side.
However, detecting colors from an active source (such as an LED)
is difficult in visual-MIMO system because of real-time random envi-
ronmental noise. LEDs typically transmit diluted colors because of real-
world extreme illumination. As a result, the identification of LED colors
by a smartphone camera is difficult using existing image processing
algorithms. Therefore, an algorithm for detecting LED colors using
a smartphone camera is needed, specifically, a prediction algorithm
capable of predicting the color of LEDs. The regression model is one
prediction algorithm (machine learning algorithm) that can be used for
this purpose [11,12].
In this paper, we propose an algorithm of LED color prediction
based on multivariate regression analysis of captured LED images by
conditions. Then, the captured image is processed to detect the LEDs.
After detecting the LEDs, an area is selected for color prediction using
the regression model. In Section 2, we describe some related works.
The proposed algorithm is described in Section 3. In Section 4, the
experimental setup is described. The results of our proposed model
on different environmental lights are discussed in Section 5 and we
conclude in Section 6.
2. Related works
There have been many studies on visual-MIMO communication
[1–7]. Ashok et al. discussed the feasibility of networking, communi-
cations, and computer vision fields [1]. They described a method for
communicating with LED arrays within a very short distance without
color detection. They also proposed a method for characterizing MIMO
techniques such as multiplexing and diversity based on perspective
distortions of the received image [2]. Their proposed system used
photodiodes and a camera receiver to overcome transmission range
limitations [2]. Kim et al. aimed to obtain a visual-MIMO scheme
by maintaining the original color and brightness during performing
seamless communication [3,4]. They used camera sensor to detect trans-
mitted color for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication for real time
application. Takai et al. proposed a V2V communication system using

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kdk@kookmin.ac.kr (K.-D. Kim).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2017.11.086
Received 23 August 2017; Received in revised form 28 October 2017; Accepted 29 November 2017
0030-4018/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
P.P. Banik et al. Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed method.

an image sensor with a ‘‘communication pixel (CPx)’’ that functions

through light intensity variation [5]. They did not detect the color of
LEDs and used a special type of image sensor. There was another detailed
study on automotive application based on image-sensor for visible light
communication (VLC). Yamazato et al. investigated the characteristics
of image-sensor based VLC compared to radio wave technology [6].
They used a high speed complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
(CMOS) image sensor camera capable of detecting the color of LEDs
for V2V communication [6]. Kim et al. proposed a method for tracking
LED array by Kalman filtering to predict the most probable location
of the LED array and evaluated the possibility of their method [7].
Note that these studies on visual-MIMO have been done without using
a smartphone camera.
Smartphone camera in VLC system is always a practical receiver
because of its availability and portability. Several researches have done
on VLC using smartphone in the receiver side [8–10,13–15]. Chen et al.
Fig. 2. Selected LED array image with three levels of exposure, captured by a smartphone.
proposed a VLC system using color-shift-keying (CSK) modulation and
(a) Image with high exposure, (b) image with normal exposure, and (c) image with low
code division multiple access (CDMA) technology for transmitting data exposure.
from LED array to mobile phone camera. They demonstrated their
proposed idea but they did not figure out the LED color detection
technique [8]. Rajagopal et al. explored on smartphone devices as
receiver for VLC system and presented a demodulation approach to and extreme illumination noise, we decided to predict the LED color
detect frequencies above 2 kHz of LED light flickering [9]. Hu et al. using a machine learning algorithm. First, we take a picture of an LED
used LEDs as colorbars to detect color efficiently to demodulate color array with low exposure using a smartphone camera. Next, we select the
symbols and to increase data rate for VLC system [10]. They detected LED array region and then we convert the selected LED array region to
colors of LED bar but did not detect LED color individually. Penubaku a binary image using the global threshold algorithm [16]. After that, we
et al. proposed a color coding modulation technique for LED display to select the desired processing area for detecting LED using a square box
smartphone camera communication using a light medium [13]. Lee et al. and separate LEDs from the LED array. We apply the k-means clustering
designed a prototype Rolling-Light and implemented with Arduino Mega algorithm [17] and use the red, green, blue (RGB) color channel for
2560 to communicate from light to camera by using a smartphone. They the clustered colors as the feature input for the multivariate regression
also developed an iOS app to evaluate their design and implementation model to predict the LED colors. Fig. 1 shows the block diagram for the
[14]. Kim et al. proposed a method to detect LED color by generating proposed method. We describe the details in the subsections below.
a dynamic palette and applying the K-means clustering algorithm to
minimize the wireless channel noise in visual-MIMO system [15]. They
3.1. Taking a picture with low exposure
used smartphone camera for their experimental purpose.
In [1–10,13,14], individual LED color detection using smartphone
We take the picture with low exposure because most of smartphones,
camera was not conducted directly. In [15], they only used smartphone
laptops, and tablets have cameras with CMOS image sensors. This type
camera for individual LED color detection but they showed their ex-
periment for few colors and did not provide any numerical analysis on of sensor cannot detect extreme illumination from an active source
their LED color detection method. It is important to note that LED color under normal exposure, but the information can be deciphered with low
detection by smartphone camera is a very reliable and robust idea for exposure. The colors from an active source can be better detected with
visual-MIMO communication because smartphone is a flexible device low exposure than with normal or high exposure, partly because the
for VLC system. For this reason, an algorithm is needed that can detect low exposure mode reduces the fading of colors. Fig. 2 shows an image
individual LED color in LED array by smartphone camera. captured by a smartphone with three levels of exposure. Fig. 2(c) shows
that low exposure gives the best human visualization of the presence of
3. Proposed method color in an LED array compared visualization of the presence of color
in an LED array compared to the other levels of exposure (normal and
Our proposed method is based on the regression model on different high exposure). For this reason, we select the low exposure mode for
environmental light conditions. To neutralize random environmental capturing images.

122
P.P. Banik et al. Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130

emitted RGB colors. As a result, it is possible to obtain four colors

around the edge of each LED circle. However, due to the extreme
illumination noise, the four colors fade away around each LED circle,
eventually turning to a pure white color at the center of the LED circle.
Consequently, we obtain a total of five colors. We, therefore, select five
clusters to obtain all possible colors. After generating five clusters for
each color channel, we can determine the color of each cluster. We take
four RGB colors from four clusters because the fifth cluster is pure white
and does not contain any of the actual color information transmitted
from the LED. In Fig. 5, we can see the color of each cluster for each
LED.

3.4. Applying regression model

Fig. 3. (a) Selected LED array region, captured with low exposure, (b) Binarized image,
(c) Detecting LED with red-marked area, and (d) Separating LEDs from LED array. After selecting the four clusters, we create a feature matrix for every
LED color as the input for the multivariate regression model [18]. The
feature matrix is given below:
3.2. Detecting LEDs and marking the processing area [ ]
𝐹 𝐶 = 𝐶1 𝐶2 𝐶3 𝐶4 . (1)
To detect LEDs, we first select the LED array region and convert the In (1), 𝐹𝐶 is the feature matrix where the suffix ‘𝐶’ represents the
selected region to a binary image using the global threshold algorithm RGB color channel. 𝐶1 , 𝐶2 , 𝐶3 , 𝐶4 are the clusters for each color channel,
[16]. Fig. 3(a) shows the selected region of an LED array diluted by where ‘𝐶’ represents the RGB color channel. The features are the primary
wireless channel noise. There is no color information in the center of the features in the matrix. The correlation of these features is not very good.
LEDs in Fig. 3(a), but the edges contain color information. Therefore, we Therefore, we have to find more features to add to the feature matrix.
have to detect the LEDs and their edges. To do so, we convert the image /
∑4
from Fig. 3(a) to a binary image, shown in Fig. 3(b). We measure the 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝐶𝑐𝑙 4 (2)
radius of inner circle of each LED. Here, inner circle indicates the LED 𝑐𝑙=1
itself, more specifically, the white circle of Fig. 3(b). Then, we measure
√ /
the diameter of the inner circle and extend this diameter by five pixels in √ 4
√∑( )2
both sides. By taking this extended diameter, we will have outer circle. 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 =√ 𝐶𝑐𝑙 − 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 4 (3)
Now, if we draw a red box by touching the circumference of outer circle, 𝑐𝑙=1
the inside area of the red box will be the selected region for each LED,
shown in Fig. 3(c). Thus, we separate the four LED circles from the LED ( )
𝐶max = max 𝐶𝑐𝑙 , 𝑐𝑙 ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4} (4)
array, shown in Fig. 3(d). This gives us four separate images containing
LED circles to which we can apply the next processing algorithm for
( )
color detection. The block diagram in Fig. 4 shows the process of LED 𝐶min = min 𝐶𝑐𝑙 , 𝑐𝑙 ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4} (5)
detection and separation from an LED array. We experimentally confirm
( ( ) )/
that the maximum color information can be found in the five pixels near 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 − 2𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑔
the edges of the LED circle. The color gradually fades at five pixels and 𝑅𝐴𝑣𝑔𝐸 = 𝐺1 + 𝑅min − 𝑅𝑠𝑡𝑑 + 4. (6)
𝑅𝑠𝑡𝑑
above from the circumference of the LED.
In (2), 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 represents the average of every color channel for the
3.3. Generating the number of possible colors four clusters, 𝐶 ∈ {𝑅, 𝐺, 𝐵}. 𝐶𝑐𝑙 represents the color channel for each
cluster, the suffix ‘𝑐𝑙’ denotes the cluster and 𝑐𝑙 ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}. In (3),
We use the k-means clustering algorithm [17] to calculate the 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 is the standard deviation of each color channel. In (4) and (5),
number of possible colors. We choose five clusters initially. The RGB 𝐶max , and 𝐶min represent the maximum and minimum values of each
LED emits RGB color and each LED emits red, green, and blue colors color channel for the four clusters, respectively. In (6), 𝑅𝐴𝑣𝑔𝐸 is the
separately. In the bottom LED, Fig. 2(c), we can see that the LED has average effect of other LED colors on one LED color, 𝐺1 is the green color
three separate RGB color emission points. These three points emit red, channel of the first cluster for the LED circle, 𝑅min is referenced from
green, and blue colors separately. When spread out within a viewing (5), 𝑅2 , and 𝑅3 are the red color channels of the 2nd and 3rd clusters
angle, they generate a new color that is a combination of the three of the LED circle, 𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑔 is referenced from (2) and 𝑅𝑠𝑡𝑑 is referenced

Fig. 4. The block diagram for LED detection.

123
P.P. Banik et al. Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130

Fig. 5. The five clustered colors of the four LEDs.

from (3). We calculate six more features, namely 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 , 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 − 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 , Then, we use the calculated coefficients to determine the transmitted
𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝐶min , 𝐶min − 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 , 𝐶max + 𝐶min − 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 , and 𝐶min + 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 . The features color for an unseen dataset. Here, the test dataset is called an unseen
are added to the feature matrix, 𝐹𝐶 in (1). However, we calculate one dataset because it is not used during the training session. We also
more feature for the red color channel, which is given in (6). Thus, the calculate the R-Square values for the training and test dataset. The
total number of features is 15 for the red color channel and 14 for the R-Square value represents the percentage of total variation of the
green, and blue color channels. We select these features because their output according to the variation of the input. A higher R-Square value
correlation coefficients for 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 , 𝐶max , and 𝐶min are greater than 0.75. indicates that the model has a good fit for the data.
Not all of these features are used in the multivariate regression model.
We select features with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.75 for the ∑
𝑛
( )2
transmitted color channel. A higher correlation value indicates that the 𝑆𝐸𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒,𝐶 = 𝐶𝑘,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 − 𝑌𝑘,𝐶 (11)
𝑘=1,𝐶∈{𝑅,𝐺,𝐵}
feature has a strong linear relationship with the transmitted color [19–
22]. The range of the correlation coefficient is −1 to +1. A correlation ∑𝑛
( )2
𝑆𝐸𝑌 ,𝐶 = 𝑌𝑘,𝐶 − 𝑌𝑎𝑣𝑔,𝐶 (12)
coefficient close to 1 indicates a strong linear relationship between two 𝑘=1,𝐶∈{𝑅,𝐺,𝐵}
variables. We select features with high correlation values and calculate ( ( ))
the coefficient for the multivariate regression model. The coefficient 𝑅2𝐶 = 1 − 𝑆𝐸𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒,𝐶 ∕𝑆𝐸𝑦,𝐶 × 100. (13)
measurement equation is given below:
In (11),𝑆𝐸𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒,𝐶 represents the sum of the square error from the
−1
⎡𝛽1,𝐶 ⎤ ⎛⎡𝐹1,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎤
𝑇
⎡𝐹1,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎤⎞
𝑇
⎛⎡𝐹1,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎤ ⎡𝑌1,𝐶 ⎤⎞ fitted line. In (12), 𝑆𝐸𝑌 ,𝐶 represents the sum of the square error from
⎢𝛽 ⎥ ⎜⎢𝐹 ⎥ ⎢𝐹 ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢𝐹 ⎥ ⎢𝑌 ⎥⎟ the transmitted color average line for each color channel. In (13), the
⎢ 2,𝐶 ⎥ ⎜⎢ 2,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢ 2,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢ 2,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢ 2,𝐶 ⎥⎟ R-Square value, 𝑅2𝐶 is the measurement of the variation of output in
⎢𝛽3,𝐶 ⎥ ⎜⎢𝐹3,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢𝐹3,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢𝐹3,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢𝑌3,𝐶 ⎥⎟
⎢. ⎥ = ⎜⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥⎟ (7) percentage with the variation of the input for every color channel.
⎢ ⎥ ⎜⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎟
⎢ . ⎥ ⎜⎢ . ⎥ ⎢ . ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥⎟
⎢. ⎥ ⎜⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥⎟ 4. Experimental setup
⎢ ⎥ ⎜⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎟ ⎜⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎟
⎣ 𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 ⎦ ⎝⎣ 𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎦
𝛽 𝐹 ⎣ 𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎦⎠
𝐹 ⎝⎣ 𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎦
𝐹 ⎣ 𝑚,𝐶 ⎦⎠
𝑌
For this experiment, we use the WS2812B LED array, as the trans-
mitter, which is programmed with an Arduino Nano MEGA328P based
⎡𝐶1,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 ⎤ ⎡𝐹1,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎤ ⎡𝛽1,𝐶 ⎤
⎢𝐶 ⎥ ⎢𝐹 ⎥ ⎢𝛽 ⎥ microcontroller. We generate random LED colors into the transmitter.
⎢ 2,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 ⎥ ⎢ 2,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢ 2,𝐶 ⎥ We take pictures using the SAMSUNG GALAXY GRAND PRIME device,
⎢ 3,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 ⎥ ⎢ 3,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎥ ⎢ 3,𝐶 ⎥
𝐶 𝐹 𝛽
⎢. ⎥ = ⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥. equipped with a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB RAM, and an 8-
(8)
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ megapixel camera with low exposure mode. We take 85 images to
⎢ . ⎥ ⎢ . ⎥⎢ . ⎥
⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥ ⎢. ⎥ construct the dataset and maintain a 0.3 meter distance between the
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ object, and the smartphone. We take all pictures with same distance
⎣𝐶𝑛,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 ⎦ ⎣𝐹𝑛,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ⎦ ⎣𝛽𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 .⎦
and angle between the object, and smartphone by fixing smartphone
In (7), 𝛽1,𝐶 , 𝛽2,𝐶 , 𝛽3,𝐶 , . . . ,𝛽𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 are the coefficients of the selected camera with a tripod. Light meter (CL-200A) was used to measure the
features where the suffix ‘𝑠𝑒𝑙’ and ‘𝐶’ represent the selected features and environmental light. We change the position of the light meter from
the RGB color channel, respectively. The size of the coefficient matrix is the transmitter to the receiver but measured value is almost same.
𝑠𝑒𝑙×1. 𝐹1,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 , 𝐹2,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 ,. . . ,𝐹𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 are the features of 𝑚 number of training So, the measured light value in lux is independent of the position
data points. The size of this matrix is 𝑚 × 𝑠𝑒𝑙 and 𝑌1,𝐶 , 𝑌2,𝐶 , … , 𝑌𝑚,𝐶 are of the light meter. We capture our images in two light intensities,
the transmitted colors for the training dataset. The size of this matrix 560 lux and 2450 lux, named as low environmental light, and strong
is 𝑚 × 1. In (8), 𝐶1,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 , 𝐶2,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 , … , 𝐶𝑛,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 are the predicted colors for 𝑛 environmental light, respectively. Room environmental light means the
number of test data points for each color channel, the size of this matrix adequate illumination condition of a room. So, we do not need to
is 𝑛 × 1. After training the model, we calculate the coefficients for the mention the value of room light intensity. The images contain 340
selected features. Now, we can rewrite (8) in a compact form as in (9). random RGB colors because each image has four different LED colors.
In the similar manner, we can also write the equation of predicted colors The algorithm is executed in MATLAB 2017 on a computer with 8
for training dataset as in (10). GB RAM running on Microsoft Windows 10. The experimental setup
is shown in Fig. 6.
𝐶𝑛,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 = 𝛽1,𝐶 𝐹𝑛,𝐶,1 + 𝛽2,𝐶 𝐹𝑛,𝐶,2 + 𝛽3,𝐶 𝐹𝑛,𝐶,3 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 𝐹𝑛,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 (9)
5. Results and discussion
𝐶𝑚,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 = 𝛽1,𝐶 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,1 + 𝛽2,𝐶 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,2 + 𝛽3,𝐶 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,3 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 . (10)
We use 80% of the data to train our regression model to determine
In (10), 𝐶𝑚,𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑 is the predicted output of training dataset, 𝛽1,𝐶 , 𝛽2,𝐶 , the coefficients of the selected features and 20% of the data to test our
𝛽3,𝐶 ,. . . ,𝛽𝑠𝑒𝑙,𝐶 are the coefficients of input selected features, 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,1 , 𝐹𝑚,𝐶,2 , algorithm at room environmental light, low, and strong environmental
𝐹𝑚,𝐶,3 ,. . . ,𝐹𝑚,𝐶,𝑠𝑒𝑙 and suffix ‘𝑠𝑒𝑙’, ‘𝑚’, and ‘𝐶’ are the total number of light. The selected features, correlation coefficients, and R-Square (%)
selected features, the number of data points of training dataset and RGB values of the test dataset are listed in Tables 1–3 for the red, green,
color channel, respectively. and blue color channels, respectively at three different environmental

124
P.P. Banik et al. Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130

Table 1
Selected features for red color channel.
Correlation coefficients
Types of environmental light 𝑅2𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛,𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑅2𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡,𝑟𝑒𝑑
𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑔 − 𝑅𝑠𝑡𝑑 𝑅min 𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝑅min 𝑅min − 𝑅𝑠𝑡𝑑 𝑅𝐴𝑣𝑔𝐸
Room 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.82 0.83 0.76 95.13% 94.85%
Low (560 lux) 0.89 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.91 0.82 96.45% 95.64%
Strong (2450 lux) 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.81 0.80 94.37% 95.05%

Table 2
Selected features for green color channel.
Correlation coefficients
Types of environmental light 𝑅2𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛,𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑅2𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡,𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛
𝐺𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝐺𝑎𝑣𝑔 − 𝐺𝑠𝑡𝑑 𝐺min 𝐺𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝐺min 𝐺max + 𝐺min − 𝐺𝑠𝑡𝑑
Room 0.84 0.87 0.86 0.86 0.83 94.91% 94.80%
Low (560 lux) 0.81 0.84 0.83 0.82 0.81 94.29% 94.69%
Strong (2450 lux) 0.76 0.77 0.76 0.77 0.77 91.03% 92.44%

Table 3
Selected features for blue color channel.
Correlation coefficients
Types of environmental light 𝑅2𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛,𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑅2𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡,𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝐵𝑎𝑣𝑔 − 𝐵𝑠𝑡𝑑 𝐵min 𝐵𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝐵min 𝐵min + 𝐵𝑠𝑡𝑑
Room 0.91 0.90 0.91 0.90 96.61% 96.24%
Low (560 lux) 0.89 0.88 0.88 0.88 94.83% 94.14%
Strong (2450 lux) 0.88 0.86 0.87 0.87 94.56% 93.58%

values in training and test dataset for three different environmental

Fig. 6. Experimental setup.
lights. For all color channels, 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 − 𝐶𝑠𝑡𝑑 , 𝐶min , and 𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑔 + 𝐶min are
common features, with ‘𝐶’ replacing the specified color channel (red,
green, and blue). Using these selected features, the received color values
are predicted for the red, green, and blue color channels. From Table 1,
we can see that the red color channel always has better R-Square (%)
light conditions. In Table 2, the training and test R-Square (%) values
of green color channel represent little bit poor performance in strong
environmental light. But we get better response in training and test R-
Square (%) values for blue color channel at room environmental light,
listed in Table 3.
We show the graphical representation of training and test R-Square
(%) values with respect to the different number of features for room
environmental light, low, and strong environmental light in Fig. 7–9.
In Fig. 7(a) and (b), at room environmental light, the performance of
each color channel is very close to each other. But if we analyze point-
to-point, we can see that the red, and blue color channel curve has a
little better performance in terms of training R-Square (%) value than
green color channel. The reason is that they take more features to train
themselves to achieve to the maximum R-Square (%) value and becomes
saturated after 13, and 10 number of features, respectively while green
color channel gets saturated after 7 number of features. It represents
that red, and blue color channels are less influenced than green color
channel and comparatively, blue color channel has minimum influence

(a) Training dataset. (b) Test dataset.

Fig. 7. R-Square (%) vs number of features at room environmental light.

125
P.P. Banik et al.
(a) Training dataset.
Fig. 8. R-Square (%) vs number of features at low environmental light.
(a) Training dataset.
Fig. 9. R-Square (%) vs number of features at strong environmental light.
than red color channel at room environmental light. The maximum test
R-Square (%) values, 94.85, 94.80, and 96.24 are observed with six, five,
and four number of features for the red, green, and blue color channel,
respectively.
In Fig. 8(a) and (b), at low environmental light, the red color
channel curve has better performance than other two color channel
curves indicating that red color channel is less influenced by the low
environmental light. The maximum test R-Square (%) values, 95.64,
94.69, and 94.14 are observed with six, five, and four number of
features for the red, green, and blue color channel, respectively. It is
also important to note that the performance of red color channel in
training and test dataset at low environmental light is better than room
environmental light.
In Fig. 9(a) and (b), at strong environmental light, the red, and blue
color channel curves have better performance than green color channel
curve indicating that red, and blue color channels are less influenced by
the strong environmental light. The maximum test R-Square (%) values,
95.05, 92.44, and 93.58 are observed with six, five, and four number of
features for the red, green, and blue color channel, respectively.
After these analysis of R-Square (%) values for training and test
dataset of red, green, and blue color channel at different environmental
126
Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130
(b) Test dataset.
(b) Test dataset.
lights, we can say that we get maximum test R-Square (%) value at six,
five, and four number of features at three types of environmental light
for each color channel while we select features on the basis of correlation
coefficient greater than 0.75, as listed in Tables 1–3.
Figs. 10–12 show the transmitted and predicted curve for the red,
green, and blue color channels, respectively at room environmental
light. They also show that our prediction model predicts data almost
accurately. There are also some predicted data points varying up and
down from the transmitted curve. We measure the closeness of two
curves for the red, green, and blue color channels, approximately
92.33%, 90.30%, and 92.80%, respectively. The closeness of each color
channel is over 90%, strongly validating our prediction algorithm. This
shows that our multivariate regression model predicts the value of RGB
LED color with an accuracy of more than 90% at room environmental
light.
Figs. 13–15 show the transmitted and predicted curve for the red,
green, and blue color channels, respectively at low environmental light.
We measure that the closeness of transmitted and predicted curve of red
color channel is 90.93%. For green, and blue color channel, the curves
are close to each other, 88.68%, and 87.33%, respectively This shows
P.P. Banik et al.
Fig. 10. Transmitted and predicted colors for red color channel in test dataset at room
environmental light.
Fig. 11. Transmitted and predicted colors for green color channel in test dataset at room
environmental light.
Fig. 12. Transmitted and predicted colors for blue color channel in test dataset at room
environmental light.
Fig. 13. Transmitted and predicted colors for red color channel in test dataset at low
environmental light.
that our multivariate regression model predicts the value of RGB LED
color with an accuracy of more than 87%at low environmental light.
Figs. 16–18 also shows the closeness of the transmitted and predicted
curve for the red, green, and blue color channel at strong environmental
light. We estimate that the predicted values of red color channel are
89.76% close to transmitted color. We also measure that the predicted
values of green, and blue color channel are 85.20%, and 87.20% close
127
Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130
Fig. 14. Transmitted and predicted colors for green color channel in test dataset at low
environmental light.
Fig. 15. Transmitted and predicted colors for blue color channel in test dataset at low
environmental light.
Fig. 16. Transmitted and predicted colors for red color channel in test dataset at strong
environmental light.
Fig. 17. Transmitted and predicted colors for green color channel in test dataset at strong
environmental light.
to transmitted color, respectively. So, we can also say that our proposed
multivariate regression model predicts the value of RGB LED color with
an accuracy of more than 85% at strong environmental light.
Fig. 19 shows the distortion (%) bar graph in the CIE1931 color
space between the original transmitted colors and the predicted received
colors for the test dataset at room environmental light. We measure
the distortion with respect to the maximum distance in the CIE1931
P.P. Banik et al.
Fig. 18. Transmitted and predicted colors for blue color channel in test dataset at strong
environmental light.
color space. The maximum possible distance in the CIE1931 color space
can be estimated by calculating the distance between two opposite
corners from (0, 0) coordinate to (0.8, 0.8) coordinate, which is 1.13
√
( 2 × 0.80 × 0.80). We measure the number of data points with high
and low levels of distortion. In Fig. 19, we identify 53 data points with
distortion less than 15% out of 68 data points in the test dataset and one
data point with high distortion close to 75%. We also determine that the
minimum distortion is 0.35% and the maximum distortion is 74%. From
these statistics, we can say that approximately 80% of the test data have
small distortion (less than 15%) at room environmental light.
Figs. 20 and 21 show the distortion (%) bar graph in the CIE1931
color space between the original transmitted colors and the predicted
received colors for the test dataset at low environmental light, and
strong environmental light, respectively. In Fig. 20, we identify 45 data
points with distortion less than 15% out of 68 data points in the test
dataset, 4 data points with distortion greater than 50% and 2 data points
with high distortion close to 70%. We also determine that the minimum
distortion is 0.35% and the maximum distortion is about 70%. From
these statistics, we can say that approximately 66% of the test data have
small distortion (less than 15%) at low environmental light.
In Fig. 21, we estimate 38 data points having less than 15% distor-
tion, 6 data points having greater than 50% distortion and 1 data point
having near about 75% distortion. We also determine that the minimum
distortion is 0.11% and the maximum distortion is about 75%. For this
strong environmental light (2450 lux) interference, we can show that
about 56% of test data have small distortion (less than 15%).
So, from the above analysis of test R-Square (%) values, the closeness
of curve between predicted and transmitted colors and distortion bar
graph on test dataset at room environmental light, low, and strong
environmental light, we can say that our multivariate regression model
is not influenced so much in environmental light interference. The test
Fig. 19. Bar graph of distortion (%) in CIE1931 color space between transmitted and predicted LED colors of test dataset at room environmental light.
128
Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130
R-Square (%) values for each color channel are very close, more than
90, the closeness of curve between predicted and transmitted colors
is greater than 85% and more than 50% of test data are distorted
less than 15% at low and strong environmental light. This implies
that the effect of low, and strong environmental light cannot influence
our result so largely but we get better result and less distortion in
room environmental light, and low environmental light than strong
environmental light.
6. Conclusions
From the results of our test dataset at different environmental lights,
our proposed algorithm improves the detection of the received colors on
the receiver side. The algorithm can be further improved by increasing
the size of the feature matrix and finding more highly correlated inde-
pendent features, also known as predictors. During feature extraction,
we calculated some features that were not completely independent,
which might have led to the high correlation coefficient among the
features. It is important to detect some independent features that are
highly correlated with the transmitted color. This will make the color
detection more robust and reduce the amount of distortion. From
Tables 1–3, we can see that the blue color channel has the larger test
R-Square (%) value, 96.61 at room environmental light than the other
color channels. The R-Square (%) values for all of the color channels are
very close to 95 at different environmental lights. From Table 3, we can
also see that the correlation coefficients of the features are very high and
all selected features have correlation coefficients more than 0.85. This
indicates a stronger linear relationship for the blue color channel than
others and is responsible for the high R-Square (%) value for the blue
color channel. But due to the interference of strong environmental light,
the training and test R-Square (%) values of green color channel are
decreased, about 91 and the correlation coefficient of selected features
are also decreased, less than 0.80, as listed in Table 2. The prediction
of red color channel is better at low environmental light because we get
the maximum training and test R-Square (%) value at low environmental
light, as listed in Table 1. We also observe that at strong environmental
light, red color channel is not influenced so much like other color
channels. Some of the predicted colors differ from the original colors by
approximately 15%, described in distortion bar graph. This distortion
can be minimized by increasing the size of the dataset for every color
channel. This will also increase the R-Square (%) value above 95 for each
color channel. In the near future, we plan to improve the test dataset R-
Square (%) value and will attempt to show the symbol error rate with
respect to the distance between the transmitter and receiver.
P.P. Banik et al.
Fig. 20. Bar graph of distortion (%) in CIE1931 color space between transmitted and predicted LED colors of test dataset at low environmental light.
Fig. 21. Bar graph of distortion (%) in CIE1931 color space between transmitted and predicted LED colors of test dataset at strong environmental light.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program
through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea funded by
the Ministry of Education [2015R1D1A1A01061396] and was also
supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded
by the Ministry of Science, ICT, Future Planning [2015R1A5A7037615].
References
[1] A. Ashok, M. Gruteser, N. Mandayam, J. Silva, M. Varga, K. Dana, Challenge: Mobile
optical networks through visual MIMO, in MobiCom’10 : Proceedings of the 16th
Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, New York,
NY, USA, 2010, pp. 105–112.
[2] A. Ashok, M. Gruteser, N. Mandayam, K. Dana, Characterizing multiplexing and
diversity in visual MIMO, in: Proceedings of the IEEE 45th Annual Conference on
Information Sciences and Systems (CISS), 2011, pp. 1–6.
[3] J.-E. Kim, J.-W. Kim, Y. Park, K.-D. Kim, Applicability of color-independent Visual-
MIMO for V2X communication, 7th International Conference on Ubiquitous and
Future Networks (ICUFN), 2015, pp. 898–901.
[4] J.-E. Kim, J.-W. Kim, Y. Park, K.-D. Kim, Color-space-based visual-MIMO for V2X
communication, Sensors 16 (2016) E591.
[5] I. Takai, T. Harada, M. Andoh, K. Yasutomi, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito, Optical vehicle-
to-vehicle communication system using LED transmitter and camera receiver, IEEE
Photon. J. 6 (2014) 7902513.
[6] T. Yamazato, I. Takai, H. Okada, T. Fujii, T. Yendo, S. Arai, M. Andoh, T. Harada, K.
Yasutomi, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito, Image-sensor-based visible light communication
for automotive applications, IEEE Commun. Mag. 52 (2014) 88–97.
129
Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130
[7] J.-E. Kim, J.-W. Kim, K.-D. Kim, LEA detection and tracking method for color
independent visual-MIMO, Sensors 16 (2016) 1027.
[8] S.-H. Chen, C.-W. Chow, Color-shift keying and code-division multiple-access trans-
mission for RGB-LED visible light communications using mobile phone camera, IEEE
Photon. J. 6 (2014) 7904106.
[9] N. Rajagopal, P. Lazik, A. Rowe, Visual light landmarks for mobile devices, in:
Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Information Processing in
Sensor Networks (IPSN-14), 2014, pp. 249–260.
[10] P. Hu, P.H. Pathak, X. Feng, H. Fu, P. Mohapatra, ColorBars: Increasing data rate of
LED-to-Camera communication using color shift keying, in: Proceedings of the 11th
ACM Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies, 2015,
article no. 12.
[11] Analytic Vidhya, learn everything about analytics, https://www.analyticsvidhya.
com/blog/2015/08/common-machine-learning-algorithms/, 2015 (Accessed on 17
August 2017).
[12] M. Fatima, M. Pasha, Survey of machine learning algorithms for disease diagnostic,
J. Intell. Learn. Syst. Appl. 9 (2017) 1–16.
[13] L. Penubaku, L.S. K, An attempt to transfer information using light as a medium
and camera as receiver, in: International conference on computing and network
communications (CoCoNet), 2016, pp. 964–968.
[14] H.-Y. Lee, H.-M. Lin, Y.-L. Wei, H.-I. Wu, H.-M. Tsai, K.C.-J. Lin, RollingLight:
enabling line-of-sight light-to-camera communications, in: Proceedings of the 13th
Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Application, and Services
(MobiSys), 2015, pp. 167–180.
[15] J.-E. Kim, K.-D. Kim, Symbol decision method of color-independent Visual-MIMO
system using a dynamic palette, Submitted for ICCE, January 2018.
[16] S.U. Lee, S.Y. Chung, A comparative performance study of several global thresh-
olding techniques for segmentation, Comput. Vis. Graph. Image Process. 52 (1990)
171–190.
P.P. Banik et al.
[17] T. Kanungo, D.M. Mount, N.S. Netanyahu, C.D. Piatko, R. Silverman, A.Y. Wu, An
efficient k-means clustering algorithm: Analysis and implementation, IEEE Trans.
Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 24 (2002) 881–892.
[18] G.K. Uyanik, N. Guler, A study on multiple linear regression analysis, Procedia Soc.
Behav. Sci. 106 (2013) 234–240.
[19] M.A. Hall, L.A. Smith, Feature selection for machine learning: Comparing a
correlation-based filter approach to the wrapper, FLAIRS (1999) 235–239.
130
Optics Communications 413 (2018) 121–130
[20] M.A. Hall, Correlation-based feature selection for discrete and numeric class machine
learning, Hamilton, New Zealand: University of Waikato, Department of Computer
Science, Working Paper 00/08, 2000.
[21] L. Yu, H. Liu, Feature selection for high-dimensional data: A fast correlation-based
filter solution, in: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Machine
Learning (ICML-03), 2003, pp. 856–863.
[22] X. Li, J. Zheng, Active learning for regression with correlation matching and labeling
error suppression, IEEE Signal Process. Lett. 23 (2016) 1081–1085.