A Project Report

on
WIRELESS DATA TRANSMISSION
USING LIGHT

Submitted By
NAVYA 4NM18EC104
NIDHI SUBHAS POOJARY 4NM18EC107
NIRADVI N SHETTY 4NM18EC111

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

N.M.A.M. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NITTE - 574110
2021 – 2022
 Wireless Data Transmission Using Light

ABSTARCT

The Visible Light Communication (VLC) is an emerging technology, which provides

distinct facilities such as fast data communication, secure data communication and high
data rate wireless communication. Existing wireless networks use Radio Frequency
waves, but the usage of the available RF spectrum is limited. Light Fidelity is a recent
technology under VLC. This technology has advantages like security, increased
accessible spectrum, low latency efficiency and much higher speed as compared to WiFi.
The aim of this project is to design a Li-Fi transceiver using Arduino which is able to
transmit and receive data in binary format.

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INTRODUCTION

Visible Light Communication is the way of communication using light which is visible to
human eye. Figure 1 shows block diagram for VLC, communication is achieved with the
help of LEDs. Light at a very high speed is modulated such that the modulation is not
visible to human eye by switching the LEDs on and off rapidly on the transmitter side.
Photodiode is used on the receiver side to detect the modulation. Light Fidelity or Li-Fi is
communication through light at a very high speed. Modulation of light using LEDs can be
done using processors such as Arduino. Li-Fi makes the electronic devices able to
connect to the internet without any wire. The emergence of Li-Fi is to overcome the
shortages of Wi-Fi.

Figure 1: Block Diagram of VLC

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WORKING PRINCIPLE

Figure 2: Transmitter Circuit

Figure 3: Receiver Circuit

LED is used in transmitter side to transmit the data as shown in figure 2. The text data to
be transmitted is taken as a string. Each character in the data is converted to binary, this
bitstream is transmitted. Bit manipulation is done by Arduino Uno before transmitting. LED
is interfaced with Arduino UNO. The bit ʻ0ʼ is represented by ʻOFFʼ LED and the bit ʻ1ʼ is
represented by ʻONʼ LED. The data is followed coherently. Arduino Uno is very sensitive
to voltage fluctuations. A small-time interval after each bit separates it from the next bit.
There is a guard bit at the end that indicates completion of data transmission. LDR is
interfaced with Arduino UNO in receiver side. The LDR senses the incoming fluctuation,
of LED. Arduino decides whether it’s a 0 or 1 and stores. Then converts the bits into the
data at receiver end as shown in figure 3.

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 Wireless Data Transmission Using Light

APPLICATIONS & ADVANTAGES

Visible light communication is used in Li-Fi, which is a fastest growing technology, so it

allows data transmission using light as a medium of communication.

• Medical applications- Wi-Fi cannot be used in operation theatre because they can
interface with medical equipments.

• Internet access in Aircraft- The Wi-Fi cannot be used inside the aircraft as it can be
interfaced with navigation system of aircraft or aero plane.

• Underwater application- Radio waves can get easily absorbed in water and
therefore limit the underwater radio communications, whereas light can travel large
distances in water.

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 Wireless Data Transmission Using Light

CONCLUSION

The main motive of the project was to implement a Li-Fi model. It has been successful in
sending low amounts of data but sending data like multimedia (photo, video) and image
data is still a main point of concern. In the future this model can be implemented in IOT
as well. This model can be used in hospitals as the main media of communication between
systems and devices like live tracking of patients’ condition – heart rate, blood pressure
etc.

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 Wireless Data Transmission Using Light

CODE

TRANSMITTER CODE

#define LED_PIN A1

#define BUTTON_PIN A0 #define

PERIOD 100

char* string = "Electronics and Communication"; int

string_length;

void setup()

pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);

pinMode(BUTTON_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);

string_length = strlen(string);

void loop()

for(int i = 0; i < string_length; i ++)

send_byte(string[i]);

delay(1000);

void send_byte(char my_byte)

digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);

delay(PERIOD);

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//transmission of bits

for(int i = 0; i < 8; i++)

digitalWrite(LED_PIN, (my_byte&(0x01 << i))!=0 );

delay(PERIOD);

digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);

delay(PERIOD);

RECIEVER CODE

#define LED_PIN A0 #define

LDR_PIN A2

#define THRESHOLD 600

#define PERIOD 100

bool previous_state; bool

current_state;

void setup()

Serial.begin(9600);

pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);

void loop()

int sensorValue = analogRead(A2);

//Serial.println(sensorValue);

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current_state = get_ldr(); if(!current_state

&& previous_state)

print_byte(get_byte());

previous_state = current_state;

bool get_ldr()

int voltage = analogRead(LDR_PIN);

//Serial.println(voltage);

return voltage > THRESHOLD ? true : false;

char get_byte()

char ret = 0;

delay(PERIOD*1.5);

for(int i = 0; i < 8; i++)

ret = ret | get_ldr() << i;

delay(PERIOD);

return ret;

void print_byte(char my_byte)

char buff[2]; sprintf(buff,

"%c", my_byte);

Serial.print(buff);

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REFERENCES

[1] D. Ghosh, S. Chatterjee, V. Kothari, A. Kumar, M. Nair and E. Lokesh, "An

application of Li-Fi based Wireless Communication System using Visible Light
Communication," 2019 International Conference on Opto-Electronics and Applied
Optics (Optronix), 2019, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1109/OPTRONIX.2019.8862366.
[2] Karthika, R & Balakrishnan, S. (2015). Wireless Communication using Li-Fi
Technology. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering.
2. 2348-8387. 10.14445/23488549/IJECE-V2I3P107.
[3] Singh, Sukhvir & Kakamanshadi, Gholamreza & Gupta, Savita. (2016). Visible
Light Communication-An Emerging Wireless Communication Technology.
10.1109/RAECS.2015.7453409.

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