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DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A DATA TRANSMISSION SYSTEM USING

LI-FI TECHNOLOGY

Thesis · August 2018

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 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A DATA
TRANSMISSION SYSTEM USING LI–FI
TECHNOLOGY
TITLE PAGE

OWOLABI YUSSUF KEHINDE

13/30GC124

Project submitted to the Department of Electrical and

Electronics Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, in
partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
B.Eng. (Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

AUGUST 2018
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I carried out the work reported in this report in the Department of

Electrical & Electronics Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, under the supervision

of Engr. O. S. Zakariyya. I also declare that to the best of my knowledge, no part of this

project has been submitted elsewhere in a previous application for an award of a degree.

All sources of knowledge users have been duly acknowledged.

Signature and date

-------------------------------

Owolabi Yussuf Kehinde

owolabiyussuff@gmail.com

13/30GC124

ii
 APPROVAL

This is to certify that the project titled “Design and Construction of a Data Transmission

System using Li-Fi Technology” by Owolabi Yussuf Kehinde meet the requirements and

regulations governing the award of the Bachelor of Engineering degree (B.Eng.) in

Electrical and Electronics Engineering of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

__________________ ________________

Engr. O. S. Zakariyya Date

Project Supervisor

__________________ ________________

Dr. (Mrs.) N.T. Surajudeen–Bakinde Date

Ag. Head of Department

__________________ ________________

Prof. C.O.A. Awosope Date

External Examiner

iii
 DEDICATION

This project is dedicated to God, the Almighty (for everything in spite of everything),

my loving parents, guardians and siblings (I wish there was a better way of showing how

much you mean to me), my supervisor, project partner and to those wonderful friends of

mine, whose understanding and support have truly made this project possible.

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere gratitude and appreciations go to Almighty Allah, the Uncreated Creator,

Unfashion Fashioner, the Greatest, the Most Merciful, the master of the day of

judgement, the Lord of the Universe. The beginner and the end of my life, whom through

his infinite mercy guided me and made me who I am today, without Him behind me, my

success in education would not have become a reality. Allah, I am so grateful. To my

wonderful and ever remembered parents, Mr and Mrs Bashir Owolabi and to my Uncle

and his wife, Mr and Mrs Daud Owolabi, I say a big thank you for putting my feet on

the path of success through education. To my wonderful sisters (Omotola Owolabi and

Titilola Owolabi) and Cousins (Olanshile Owolabi, Abdullah Owolabi, Ibrahim

Owolabi, Yusuff Owolabi, Wareez Owolabi) without you, this work would not have

been a success story, I say Jazakumulahi khairan.

Let me use this golden opportunity to appreciate the efforts of my family members for

their supports both spiritually and financially, Engr. J.O.F. Owolabi, Late Chief Rasaq

Owolabi, Mr Kehinde Owolabi, Idowu Adekola Owolabi, Mr Kazeem Owolabi and

other family members to mention but few. To those who their names are not here, it does

not mean you do not deserve my appreciations, I say a very big thank you to you all.

I sincerely appreciate my ever-present supervisor Engr. O.S. Zakariyya for his immense

contributions towards the success of this project. He gave me everything I could ask for

and more. He understood me as a person and showed so much love to me. He gave a lot

v
of professional advice to me and his ideas and intuitions were always correct. He is the

best I could ever desire, special thanks goes to my amiable Acting Head of Department

and co-supervisor, Engr. Dr. (Mrs.) N.T. Surajudeen-Bakinde, my project partner, Ifada

Emmanuel E., who had been the light all the way and to the founder of Li-Fi, Prof.

Harald Haas for his genius and dedication to the expansion of this project worldwide.

Also to every lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, for

imparting useful knowledge in me. Among whom are Prof. Y.A. Adediran, Prof. B.J.

Olufeagba, Dr I.O.A. Omeiza, Dr M.F. Akorede, Dr A.Y. Abdulrahman, Dr S.A.Y.

Amuda, Dr Afolabi, Dr Akanni, Dr Abdulkarim, Dr A.I. Abdullateef, Engr. Otuoze,

Engr. Usman, Engr. Temitope Fajemilehin, and Mr Olayanju. May Allah continue to

reward you all, Amin. My deep appreciation goes to these two (Larry Page and Sergey

Brin- the founder of Google Inc.) who have provided the platform for me and many

researchers across the world.

My appreciation goes to Students of the department who are known for as NAEEESites

for their cooperation and support are given to me while serving as their departmental

president and especially to my ever-present and wonderful colleagues for their supports,

am truly grateful. Serving the class as the Deputy Class Representative (Admin) is not

an easy task but seeing you behind me kept me going, the work might be much at times

and most times it looks tedious but at the end, it has been an honour to be part of the

class.

vi
My appreciation also goes to my mentors, Abdulrahman Abdulhakeem Temitope,

Abdulsalam Abdulmaliq, Oke Ridwan Esq., Aremu Ibrahim, Oyetunde Saheed thanks

for imparting positively in my life. To mention few of my colleagues, to whom I owe

my gratitude, this set of people are so special to me, Aremu Mariam Abisola, Yusuff

Musbaudeen (Faculty President), Lawal Sophia Damilola, Ajiboye Toluwanimi A.,

Nafiu Sulaiman, Dikko Habeebat, Badmus Sodiq, Ayodeji Hammed (Coded),

Muhammed Jubril Kolo, Adebisi Ridwan, Agbe Praise Amavi, Oyewumi Muftau,

Oyewole Abdulmajeed, Bello Bashir A. and Sadiq Timilehin. To my friends on campus

to mention but few, Sadiq Roheemat, Tella Halimah, Rahman Latifat, Ojolowo Nafisat,

Oyedeji Toluwanimi, Adegbola Sodiq, Aminu Abiola, Balogun Adedotun Kabirat,

thanks for making my stay in Ilorin a fruitful and successful one.

My heartfelt acknowledgement and appreciation go to my bosses at my various

Industrial Training placements among whom are Engr. M.A. Lawal (Deputy Manager,

NOC Unilorin), Engr. Adeleke Olaoye (NOC Unilorin), Engr. Olushola (Power

Engineer, NOC Unilorin), and Engr. Alh. Ibraheem Abimbola Ganiyu (Electrical Unit,

FAAN Ibadan Airport).

This section would not be complete if I did not appreciate and mention my Achiever’s

Villa crew for their love and support, during this journey. Yes some of us started together

while we met some on the way, like; Tomori Blessing, Kolade Shakirat, Akinbola

Samuel, Izekor Lucky, Najeemdeen Adedamola Isma’il, Obadu Mobolaji John, Fayomi

vii
Samson, Kolawole Mubashir, Fakolade Adedoyin, Adeleke John, Alabi Fiyinfoluwa,

Ajayi Hannah, Ogunsanya Folakemi Bashirat, Adeyemi Precious, Olabamiji Deborah,

Olabamiji Mayowa, Ipinsokan Gbenga, and Moses Boluwatife.

Lastly, I am profoundly grateful and full of appreciations to all members of Rotaract

Club of University of Ilorin and Rotaract Zone J (Kwara and Ogbomoso) District 9125,

serving this noble humanitarian organization as the club service director and zonal

director of media and publicity has really added a lot to me both professionally and

service to humanity. To Federation of Ibadan Students’ Union (FIBSU) for the

opportunity given to serve the union as its financial secretary, it has been a pleasure. To

Nigerian Universities Engineering Students’ Association (NUESA) for the opportunity

given to serve as Assistant General Secretary for the 2015/2016 academic session and

Web Application and Database Engineer for NUESA e-resources application and

NUESA website for three years added a lot to me both professionally and academically.

To National Association of Muslim Engineering and Technology Students (NAMETS)

for the golden opportunity to have served as the Public Relations Officer II of the

Association for the 2015/2016 academic session which has really added a lot to me both

spiritually and academically.

In addition, to every other person that has contributed to the success of this project, I say

a very big thank you to you all.

Owolabi Yussuf Kehinde

2018

viii
 TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE i

DECLARATION ii

APPROVAL iii

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v

TABLE OF CONTENT ix

LIST OF FIGURES xiv

LIST OF TABLES xv

ABSTRACT xvi

CHAPTER ONE 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. BACKGROUND 1

1.2. OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT WORK 3

1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT 4

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT WORK 4

ix
 1.5. AIM AND OBJECTIVES 5

1.6. METHODOLOGY 5

1.7. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT 6

1.8. PROJECT OUTLINE 6

CHAPTER TWO 8

LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1. INTRODUCTION TO DATA PROCESSING 8

2.1.1. DATA 9

2.1.2. INFORMATION 9

2.1.3. TYPES OF DATA 9

2.2. VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION (VLC) 10

2.3. DATA MODULATION 12

2.4. WIRELESS NETWORKS 12

2.4.1. WI-FI (IEEE 802.11) 13

2.5. LIGHT FIDELITY (LI-FI) 14

2.5.1. LI – FI (IEEE 802.11) 15

2.5.2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND EVOLUTION OF LIGHT

FIDELITY 16

x
 2.5.3. APPLICATION OF LI-FI 17

2.5.4. ADVANTAGES OF LI-FI 20

2.5.5. LIMITATION OF LI-FI 21

2.6. CHALLENGES OF LI-FI BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 22

2.6.1. LED RELATED ISSUES 22

2.6.1.1. LED LIGHT ON-OFF MODE 22

2.6.1.2. LED JUNCTION TEMPERATURE 23

2.6.2. INDOOR BUILDING ISSUES 23

2.6.2.1. FOV ALIGNMENT 23

2.6.2.2. SHADOWING 24

2.6.3. INTERFERENCE 24

2.7. MODULATION TECHNIQUES USED IN LI-FI 25

2.8. COMPARISION BETWEEN Li-Fi & Wi-Fi 26

2.9. LIGHT EMITTING DIODES (LEDs) 28

2.9.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 28

2.9.2. WORKING PRINCIPLE 30

2.9.3. ELECTROLUMINESCENCE 30

2.9.4. PHOTODIODES 31

2.10. THE LI-FI COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 32

2.11. RELATED WORKS 35

xi
CHAPTER THREE 40

SYSTEM DESIGN 40

3.1. BACKGROUND 40

3.2. HARDWARE SECTION 41

3.2.1. ARDUINO UNO MICROCONTROLLER BOARD 42

3.2.2. SWITCHING TRANSISTOR (2N222) 44

3.2.3. DUAL OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER (LM358N) 46

3.2.3.1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION 46

3.2.3.2. CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES 47

3.2.3.3. LOGIC DIAGRAM 48

3.3. SOFTWARE SECTION 50

3.3.1. ARDUINO PROGRAMMING 50

3.4. TRANSMITTER HARDWARE DESIGN 51

3.5. RECEIVER HARDWARE DESIGN 52

CHAPTER FOUR 53

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING 53

4.1. ARDUINO SETUP 53

4.2. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION 53

xii
 4.3. SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION 56

4.4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE 58

4.5. TESTS AND RESULTS 59

CHAPTER FIVE 62

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 62

5.1. CONCLUSION 62

5.2. RECOMMENDATION 62

REFERENCES 64

APPENDICES 68

xiii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.2.1: Location of visible light and RF frequencies at the electromagnetic

spectrum. 11

Figure 2.5.1: Data transmission via LEDs 14

Figure 2.9.1: The LEDs 29

Figure 2.9.2: A Photodiode 32

Figure 2.10.1: The Radiowave and the Lightwave Frequency Spectrum 35

Figure 3.1.1: Li-Fi Data Transmission System block diagram 40

Figure 3.1.2: Circuit Diagram of the System 41

Figure 3.2.1: Arduino Microcontroller board 44

Figure 3.2.2: LM358N Dual Operational Amplifier configuration 46

Figure 3.2.3: LM358N Logic configuration 48

Figure 3.3.1: Arduino Programming Interface 50

Figure 4.2.1: Breadboard Implementation diagram 54

Figure 4.2.2: Li-Fi Transmitter 55

Figure 4.2.3: Li-Fi Receiver 55

Figure 4.3.1: Java Application on Receiver PC 56

Figure 4.3.2: Li-Fi Receiver Port Selector Interface 57

Figure 4.5.1: Encoding and decoding monitor 59

Figure 4.5.2: The Li-Fi Receiver Interface 60

xiv
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1.1 Types of Data [7] 10

Table 2.8.1.Comparison between current and future wireless[29] 27

Table 2.8.2 Comparison between LiFi and Wi-Fi [26] 28

xv
 ABSTRACT

Over the years, the over-dependence on Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) for data transmission

necessitated the need for an alternate even reliable means of communication, hence,

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi). It involves the use of Light Emitting Diode to transmit data by

blinking (i.e. switching them On and Off) at a speed not noticeable to the eye. This

project implemented the Li-Fi system using off the shelf electronic components. After

testing, the results obtained showed that the advantages of Li-Fi data transmission

(security, availability, efficiency, and capacity) would make it an indispensable means

of communication in the nearest future.

xvi
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND

Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) is a high speed, wireless communication using visible light. It falls

under the category of optical wireless communications. Data transmission takes place

through LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs whose intensity varies. Based on this

variation, communication occurs digitally. This technology has broad applications where

the use of Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) is limited or banned. It also takes out the adverse

health effects of using electromagnetic waves. Unless the light is seen, data cannot be

hacked, and so data transmission is secure. Data transmission is typically in terms of

Gigabytes per second.[1]

The usage of light as a means to transmit data has been coined Li-Fi (Light - Fidelity)

by Harald Hass at the University of Edinburgh[2]. The high-speed communication

technology is similar to Wi-Fi but is faster, allowing users to send and receive more data

in less time. By merely swapping incandescent bulbs with LEDs - which have electronic

properties - Li-Fi could bring Internet gain access to more areas and could revolutionize

the telecoms industry.

Recently, wireless technology has bloomed to a great extent where we require wireless

technology to transmit many data every day. Nowadays, wireless communications have
1
become important in the communication process. The primary way of wireless data

transmission is by using electromagnetic waves, i.e., radio waves. However, radio waves

can support less bandwidth because of compact spectrum availability and intrusion.

Solution to this is data transmission using Visible Light Communication (VLC)[1]. Wi-

Fi deals with wireless coverage within premises, whereas Li-Fi is perfect for high

compactness wireless data coverage in a defined area and for mitigating radio

interference issues. Li-Fi focuses on transmitting multimedia data between two terminals

using LEDs.

Communication between two terminals in the 21st century is vital and occurs every day.

Li-Fi plays an essential role in communication as discussed earlier which uses light for

data transmission rather than radio waves used in wireless communication. The velocity

of data transmission was about 10Mbps, though it is aimed to improve up to 100 Mbps

by 2022 [3]. Li-Fi can be achieved by fitting a small microchip to every possible

illumination device thereby, combining two basic functionalities: illumination and

wireless data transmission. By doing this, the four essential problems (i.e., capacity, cost,

efficiency, and security) faced in wireless communication these days would be solved.

Thus, in the future, there would not be only 14 billion light bulbs, but 14 billion Li-Fi

APs (Access Points) deployed worldwide -- for a cleaner, a greener and even brighter

future.

2
1.2. OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT WORK

Wireless communication which uses radio waves for data transmission and the

connection between terminals proves fatal in areas like oil petroleum which can harm

the environment causing vast destruction, so to avoid such situation using of light in

some area demonstrates beneficial [3]. Li-Fi is better as it does not allow data leakage

[2]. Li-Fi technology consists of the transmission of data using light. Therefore, the

proposed system has LEDs, which is used for data transmission and implements the

fundamental concept of Li-Fi, this is split up into two segments; Transmitter and

Receiver.

• The transmitter side, the terminal which is the PC should contain Java codes

which will help in converting the text data into its binary format and later

transmitting the binary conversion to the receiver via LED.

• The receiver side, the exact reverse procedure takes place, the light received from

the LED is captured by the phototransistor which functions as a sensor and passes

the output to the comparator which analyzes the binary input and similarly the

original text data is recovered using Java codes.[4]

Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a modern communication technology, which

employs visible light sources (LEDs). Li-Fi is implemented using LEDs. If the LED is

turned ON, a digital one (1) is transmitted, and if the LED is turned OFF, a digital zero

3
(0) is transmitted. The continuous flickering of LED helps in data travelling from one

terminal to another [5].

1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT

This project circumvents the main problems mitigating and limiting efficient data

transmission (i.e., capacity, efficiency, availability, and security) when using the radio

spectrum. Hence, it would help in reducing the over-reliance on Wireless- Fidelity (Wi-

Fi) for data transmission.

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT WORK

Among the benefits associated with Li-Fi beyond the speed is its relatively low

installation cost. Provided that a lighting system is available - and just about everywhere

requires some lighting - there is no need for new wiring and equipment to make a

connection. Li-Fi is more secure than Wi-Fi because visible light waves do not travel

beyond the area covered by the light. It would be inexpedient for someone to intercept a

Li-Fi data stream from a cafe next door, which means there’s less interference among

other devices.

Some applications of the project include:

1. It's usage in Indoor short-range data transfer such as in offices, classrooms and

lecture halls.

4
 2. Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communication - real-time application can be

implemented using Li-Fi. Using vehicle headlights data can be transmitted, and

thus a vehicle for vehicle communication would be achieved.

1.5. AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this project is to design and construct a data transmission system (made up

of the receiver and the transmitter) that transmits text data effectively using Li-Fi

technology.

The Objectives of the project are:

i. To design and construct the transmitter’s microcontroller unit.

ii. To design and construct the receiver’s microcontroller unit.

iii. To Implement the Java code on the PC (Transmitter & Receiver) to enable

text data processing.

1.6. METHODOLOGY

To achieve the various objectives of this project, the following steps would be taken

i. To review related works and theories on this project work.

ii. To draw block diagram that illustrates the implementation of the system.

iii. To design the circuit diagram for the Transmitter and the Receiver in the system.

5
 iv. To assemble the components on a Breadboard and then on a Vero board.

v. To package the assembled components into a Li-Fi text transmission system.

vi. To test and analyse the Li-Fi text transmission system to ensure it meets the

design details.

1.7. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

The proposed project would only be able to transmit text data using Li-Fi technology

but the receiver (PC) would not be able to transmit text data back to the transmitter.

1.8. PROJECT OUTLINE

Chapter One introduces the subject matter and problem(s) being studied, and its

importance and validity. Other information enumerated in this chapter includes the main

aim and objectives, the scope of the project, motivation and the intended methodology

employed to solve the problem. Chapter Two, on the other hand, would be devoted to a

critical review of the technical and academic literature on previous works on this project.

In addition to this, it provides insights into the problems and limitations of the previous

researchers on this project. Chapter Three concentrates mostly on my work on the

project. These involve the system design and calculations, the Java code development

and implementation, and the description of the construction of circuits implemented. All

these are broken down thoroughly into meaningful subchapters.

Consequently, Chapter Four contains the steps taken to test the developed text data

transmission system. In addition, the results obtained during the tests would be discussed
6
extensively, the shortcomings/limitations of this project would be explained, and the

possible remedy would then be suggested. Finally, Chapter Five summarizes the

highlights of the previous chapters and briefly mention the findings of this project. It

clearly states the contributions of the work. On the other hand, the recommendations

section would state the constraints of the project and recommendations for other possible

future work on this project

7
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. INTRODUCTION TO DATA PROCESSING

Data processing is the act of handling or exploits data in some fashion. Regardless of the

activities involved in it, processing attempts to assigned meaning to data. Thus, the

ultimate goal of processing is to transform data into information. Data processing is the

process through which data are gathered, assigned meaning, communicated in front of

significant people and retained for future use. Hence, data processing can be defined as

a series of activities or functions that switches data into useful information. We use the

term 'data processing system' to include the resources that are used to accomplish the

processing of data[6].

Inside the context of data processing, data are identified as numbers or character types

that represent measurements from the real world. A single datum is a single measurement

from the real world. Measured information can then be algorithmically derived and

logically deduced and statistically calculated from multiple data. Information is defined

as either a meaningful response to a query or a useful stimulus that can cascade into

further inquiries [7].

8
2.1.1. DATA

Data are any facts, figures, or text that can be processed by a computer. Today,

organizations are accumulating vast and growing amounts of data in several formats and

different directories. Data consists of:

- Operational or transactional data such as sales, cost, inventory, salaries, and accounting

- Non-operational data, such as industry sales, forecast data, and macroeconomic data

- Metadata - data about the information itself, such as logical database design or data

dictionary definitions [7].

2.1.2. INFORMATION

The patterns, associations, or relationship among all this data provides information. For

example, inspection of retail point of sale transaction data can yield information on

which products can sell and when.

2.1.3. TYPES OF DATA

Consider any collected data that you have the experience of; for example, weight, sex,

ethnicity, job grade, and consider their different attributes. These parameters can be

described as categorical or quantitative.

Table 2.1.1 summarizes the data types and their associated measurement level, plus some

illustrations. It is significant to appreciate that suitable method for summary and display

9
depending on the type of data being used. This is also valid for ensuring the proper

statistical test is employed.

Table 2.1.1 Types of Data [7]

Type of data Level of measurement Illustration

Categorical Nominal (no inherent order in Eye color, ethnicity,
categories) diagnosis
Ordinal (categories have inherent Job grade, age groups
order)
Binary (2 categories – particular case Gender
of above)
Quantitative Discrete (usually whole numbers) Size of household
(Interval/Ratio) (ratio)
(NB units of Continuous (can, in theory, take any Temperature °C/°F (no
measurement value in a range, although absolute zero)
used) necessarily recorded to a (interval) Height, age
predetermined degree of precision) (ratio)

2.2. VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION (VLC)

Visible light communication (VLC) is a data communications version, which uses

visible light between 400 and 800 THz (780–375 nm). VLC is a subset of optical

wireless communications technology. The technology uses neon lamps (conventional

lamps, not special communications devices) to transmit signals at 10 Kbit/s, or LEDs for

up to 500 Mbit/s [8]. By utilizing blinking of visible light elements such as LEDs for

10
communication, it is possible to transmit various varieties details fast and safely

anywhere, such as sending music information by a spotlight or obtaining in-depth traffic

information with light of traffic lights. [9].

The Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a fast-growing technology to provide data

communication using low-cost and omnipresent LEDs and photodiodes [10]. VLC can

also be used as a communications medium for ubiquitous computing because light-

producing devices (such as indoor/outdoor lamps, TVs, traffic signal, commercial

displays and car headlights/taillights are being used everywhere.

Using visible light is also less dangerous for high-power applications because humans

can perceive it and act to protect their eyes from damage [3].

One among VLC"s features is providing full bandwidth as descriptive in Figure 2.2.1.

It’s apparently seen that use of optical part of the spectrum guarantees about 10, 000

times better bandwidth compares to the consumption of the RF frequencies[11].

Figure 2.2.1: Location of visible light and RF frequencies at the electromagnetic spectrum.

11
2.3. DATA MODULATION

In a digital communication system, the signal to be sent is discrete in both time and

amplitude. The digital information carrying signals must be first changed into an

analogue waveform earlier to transmission. At the obtaining end, analogue signals

converted back to a digital format before sending to the end user, the transformation

process at the transmitting end is known as modulation, the receiving end is known as

demodulation or recognition [8].

Inside digital wireless communication systems, the modulating signal may be

symbolized as a time sequence of icons or pulses, where the icon has m finite states.

Each symbol presents n items of information where n = log2m items/icons [7].

The cause information is usually displayed as a baseband (low-pass) signal, due to signal

attenuation, it is pertinent to move the baseband signal spectrum to stay at a much higher

frequency band centred at fc, called the carrier frequency, in radio channel spectrum. At

the receiving end, the demodulation process eliminates the carrier frequency to recoup

the baseband information signal. Modulation/demodulation process makes it possible for

channel assignment and reduces interference from other feeds [12].

2.4. WIRELESS NETWORKS

A network consisting of devices connected to a network using a centralized Wireless

Access Point (WAP) is known as a Wireless Network. Wireless networking is a method

12
by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the

costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various

equipment locations[13]. Examples of wireless networks include cell

phone networks, wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless sensor networks,

satellite communication networks, and terrestrial microwave network, and most

importantly, the Li-Fi Network.

2.4.1. WI-FI (IEEE 802.11)

Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a device certification delivered by the Wi-Fi Alliance based

on the IEEE 802.11 standard. This was conceived as a “Wireless Ethernet” solution. The

standard contains many different wireless-related technologies that evolve over time.

When new wireless technologies appear, a new amendment is defined to provide

increased range and speed by using new technologies. The three most common

amendments in-home network are 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac. The

802.11b standard is the oldest and 802.11ac is the most recent. Additionally, some

amendments to the standard define how to secure a wireless network using cryptography

[14]. Other wireless communication standards include Bluetooth, ZigBee, XBee, etc.

Each of these is employed in suitable applications.

13
2.5. LIGHT FIDELITY (LI-FI)

Li-Fi is a new technology for short-range cellular communication system; which is well

suited for data transmission via LEDs by illumination. Li-Fi uses the visible light, a part

of the electromagnetic spectrum that remains to be not substantially utilized, rather than

RF part [15]. Professor Harald Haas, the founder of Li-Fi technology, in his Technology

Entertainment Design (TED) global talk on Li-Fi says: "At the cardiovascular system of

this technology is a new generation an excellent source of high brightness LEDs." He

also clarifies "Very simply, if the LED is on, you transmit a digital 1, if it’s off you

transmit a 0, they can be switched on and off very quickly, which gives nice opportunities

for transmitted data.” [15]. It will be possible to encode data in the light by varying the

speed at which the LEDs glint on and off to give different strings of 1s and 0s. Figure

2.5.1 illustrates the concept of data transmission using light. The LED intensity is

moderated so rapidly that the human eye cannot notice, so the output looks constant;

also, techniques that are more complex could drastically increase Li-Fi data rates such

as using an array of LEDs, where each LED transmits another type of data stream, to

Figure 2.5.1: Data transmission via LEDs

14
provide parallel data transmission. Other ideas are using mixtures of red, green and blue

LEDs to alter the light frequency encoding a different data channel [11].

2.5.1. LI – FI (IEEE 802.11)

Like Wi-Fi, Li-Fi is wireless and uses similar 802.11 protocols; but it

uses Ultraviolet, Infrared and visible light communication (instead of radio frequency

waves), which has the much bigger bandwidth. One part of VLC is modelled after

communication protocols established by the IEEE 802 workgroup [16]. However,

the IEEE 802.15.7 standard is out-of-date: it fails to consider the latest technological

developments in the field of optical wireless communications, specifically with the

introduction of Optical - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (O-OFDM)

modulation methods which have been optimized for data rates, multiple-access and

energy efficiency [17]. The introduction of O-OFDM means that a new drive for

standardization of optical wireless communications is required.

Nonetheless, the IEEE 802.15.7 standard defines the physical layer and media access

control (MAC) layer. The standard is able to deliver enough data rates to transmit audio,

video and multimedia services. It takes into account optical transmission mobility, its

compatibility with artificial lighting present in infrastructures, and the interference

which may be generated by ambient lighting. The MAC layer permits using the link with

the other layers as with the TCP/IP protocol [18], [19].

15
2.5.2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND EVOLUTION OF LIGHT

FIDELITY

Professor Harald Haas, from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, is

widely recognized founder of Li-Fi. This individual coined the term Li-Fi and he is Chair

of Mobile Communications at the University of Edinburgh and co-founder of pureLiFi.

The general term visible light communication (VLC) includes any use of the visible light

part of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit information. The D-Light project at

Edinburgh's Institute for Digital Communications was funded from January 2010 to

January 2012 [20]. Haas promoted this technology in his 2011 TED Global talk and

helped start up a company to market it.[21] PureLiFi, earlier known as pure VLC, is an

original equipment manufacturer (OEM) firm build to commercialize Li-Fi products for

incorporation with existing LED-lighting systems. In October 2011, companies and

industry groups created the Li-Fi Consortium, to sell high-velocity optical wi-fi systems

and triumph over the constrained amount of radio-based wireless spectrum to be had

with the aid of exploiting a particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum.[22] Many

companies offer uni-directional VLC products that are not the same as Li-Fi. VLC

technology was exhibited in 2012 using Li-Fi.[22] By August 2013, data rates of over

1.6 Gbit/s were proven over a single colour LED.[23] In September 2013, a press release

said that Li-Fi or VLC systems, generally speaking, do not require line-of-sight

conditions.[22] In October 2013, it was reported Chinese manufacturers were working

on the Li-Fi development kit.[24] In April 2014, the Russian company Stins Coman

16
announced the introduction of a Li-Fi wireless local network called Beam Caster. Their

current module transfers data at 1.25 gigabytes every second but foresees increasing

speeds up to five Gb/s shortly.[25]

2.5.3. APPLICATION OF LI-FI

There are several applications of Li-Fi technology, from public Internet gain access to

through existing lighting (LED) to auto-piloted cars that communicate through their car

headlights (LED based). Applications of Li-Fi can extend in areas where the Wi-Fi

technology lacks its occurrence like aircraft and hospital wards (operation theatres),

power plant life and various other areas, where electromagnetic (Radio) wave features

great concern for security and safety of equipment and people. Seeing that Li-Fi uses

just the light, it can be used safely in such locations or areas. For a later date with the Li-

Fi enhancement, all the street lamps can be transformed to Li-Fi connecting points to

copy data. As a result of it, it'll be possible to get entry to the internet at any public place

and avenue [26]. A few of the future applications of Li-Fi could be as comes after:

a) Education systems: Li-Fi is the latest technology that provides a most effective rate

for Internet access. Consequently, it can augment Wi-Fi at educational institutions and

companies so that the people there can employ Li-Fi with the high speed.

b) Medical Applications: Operation theatres (OTs) do not let Wi-Fi due to radiation

concerns. Usage of Wi-Fi at hospitals interferes/blocks the indicators for monitoring

equipment. As a result, it may have a harmful effect on the person's health, due to poor

17
working of medical equipment. To overcome this and make Operation Theatre (OT) tech

smart and modern, Li-Fi can be used to access the internet as well as control medical

equipment. This can be beneficial for conducting robotic surgical treatments and other

automated procedures.

c) Cheaper Internet in Aircraft: The passengers that venture in aircraft gain access to

the low-speed internet so at a very high rate. Additionally, Wi-Fi isn't always used due

to the fact that it may interfere with the navigational systems of the aviators. In aircraft,

Li-Fi can be adopted for data transmission. Li-Fi can certainly provide high-speed

Internet via every light source such as an overhead reading light bulb, etc. present inside

the aeroplane.

d) Underwater applications: Underwater ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) operate

from large cables that offer their power and can allow them to receive signals from their

pilots above. But the harness utilized in ROVs is not long enough to allow them to

explore larger areas. If their wires were replaced by light -- say from a submerged, high-

powered light fixture -- then it would be much freer to explore. They could also use their

headlamps to communicate with each other, processing data autonomously and sending

their findings regularly back to the top. Li-Fi can even work under the sea where Wi-Fi

fails, thereby throwing limitless open opportunities for the military under the sea

operations.

18
e) Disaster management: Li-Fi can be used as an effective means of communication in

times disasters such as earthquake or hurricanes. The average people might not exactly

know the protocols during such catastrophes. Subway stations and passageways,

common dead zones for most emergency communications, do not obstruct Li-Fi.

f) Applications in hypersensitive areas: Power plants need fast, inter-connected data

systems so that demand, main grid integrity and core temperatures (in case of elemental

power plants) can be monitored. The Radiocommunication interference is considered to

be bad for such sensitive areas surrounding these power plants. Li-Fi will offer safe,

abundant connectivity for all those areas of these hypersensitive locations. Also, the

pressure on the power plant 12’s reserves (power consumption for Radio marketing

communications deployments) will be reduced.

g) Traffic management: In traffic signals, Li-Fi can be used to communicate with

passing vehicles (through the LED lights of the cars, etc.) which can help in taking care

of the traffic in an improved manner resulting into an easy flow of traffic and decrease

in accident numbers. Likewise, LED car lights can alert drivers when other vehicles are

too close.

h) Mobile Connectivity: Mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and other smartphones can

certainly hook up with each other. The short-range network of Li-Fi can yield

exceptionally high data rates and higher security.

19
i) Replacement for other technologies: Li-Fi does not operate using radio waves. So,

it can effortlessly be used in the places where Bluetooth, infrared, Wi-Fi, etc. are

restricted.[18]

2.5.4. ADVANTAGES OF LI-FI

Li-Fi is an emerging technology poised to compete with Wi-Fi [19]. Also, Li-Fi

eliminates the constraints which have recently been put on the consumer by the Radio

wave tranny such as Wi-Fi [14]. Advantages of Li-Fi technology include:

a) Effectiveness: Energy consumption can be minimized with the use of LED

illumination that is already available in the home, offices, and Shopping mall, etc., for

lighting goal. Hence the transmission of data requiring negligible additional power,

which makes it very efficient in conditions of costs as well as energy.

b) High speed: Mixture of low disturbance, high bandwidths and high-intensity output,

help Li-Fi provide high data rate i.e. 1 Gbps or even beyond.

c) Availableness: Availability is not an issue as light resources are present everywhere.

Wherever there exists a light source, there can be an internet connection. Light bulbs are

available everywhere - in homes, offices, outlets, malls and even aircraft, which may be

used as a medium for the records transmission

d) Cheaper: Li-Fi does not require many components for its working and uses just a

negligible additional power for the data transmission.

20
e) Security: One main good thing about Li-Fi is security. As light cannot go through

maussade structures, Li-Fi internet is available only to the users an enclosed area and

cannot be blocked and misused, outside of the area under operation.

f) The scope of Li-Fi technology in the future is great. The accelerated growth in the

utilization of LEDs for lighting indeed provides the possibility to integrate the

technology into an array of environments and applications.[27]

2.5.5. LIMITATION OF LI-FI

A few of the significant limitations of Li-Fi are:

- The Internet cannot be accessed without a light source. This might limit the locations

and situations in which Li-Fi could be used.

- It requires a near or perfect line-of-sight to transmit data

- Opaque obstacles on pathways can affect data transmission

- Natural light, sunlight, and regular electric light can change the data transmission speed

- Light waves do not permeate through walls, and so Li-Fi has a significantly shorter

range than Wi-Fi

- High primary installation cost, if used to set up a full-fledged data network.

- To be developed for mass scale adoption [27].

21
2.6. CHALLENGES OF LI-FI BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The Li-Fi based communication system faced different varieties of challenges. These

challenges limit its performance and can decrease the overall efficiency of the network.

A lot of the critical challenges are given below:

2.6.1. LED RELATED ISSUES

A few of the LED related issues are:

2.6.1.1. LED LIGHT ON-OFF MODE

Indoor Li-Fi based communication system should provide illumination with

communication, so ON-OFF speed of the LED play an essential role. For a Li-Fi based

system, it is always compulsory to have a Source of light in ON condition, but it initiates

main problem showing how data transmission will occur when the LEDs are turned OFF.

A data transmission can easily still be possible if the lighting level of a LED transmitter

is shallow. The dimming level of LED bulb can be organized in such a way that the

desired data rate can be achieved using light depth. In hybrid setup, RF or infrared can

be used to provide communication in LED OFF state but in Li-Fi established

communication it is still a challenge to find a suitable solution of how communication

will be possible in any undesirable situation when LEDs are in its OFF mode.

22
2.6.1.2. LED JUNCTION TEMPERATURE

The management of thermal temperature is a critical design concern of high power

LEDs. High junction temperature can influence spectral efficiency. Passageway

temperature of LED can be increased due to variation in drive current, self-heating, and

ambient temperatures. This high junction temperature could cause degradation in

benefits of a solitary concerning time which lessens the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and

reduces the life expectancy of LEDs [28]. The result could cause severe problems if a

blend of hundreds of LEDs is linked closely to the other person in a light system in a

particular range.

2.6.2. INDOOR BUILDING ISSUES

Some of the indoor modelling issues are

2.6.2.1. FOV ALIGNMENT

In Li-Fi network, a presumption is considering communication that transmitter and

receiver have a Line of Sight (LOS) connection. The LOS connection provides high data

rate because the transmitter and receiver are lined up their Field of View (FOV) to take

full advantage of the channel response. However, in real-world practical cases, a receiver

FOV can be changed, and it can also move from one location to another. The

enhancements made on the orientation of the receiver as well as its mobility suggest that

receiver's FOV cannot always be aligned with the transmitter. Therefore, it is important

23
 to design such techniques which can handle the scenario of FOV imbalance and provides

desirable data rates. This needs adjustment in schemes and development of new

approaches to control this problem but designing such systems and methods is quite

challenging, and it is an essential direction for future research.

2.6.2.2. SHADOWING

The data rate in Li-Fi network will decrease if an obstacle blocks the LOS channel as a

result overall performance of the network will degrade. Not enough research is done so

far to understand the interior model and effect of shadowing on Li-Fi [28]. Shadowing

could be one of the reasons for the LOS channel stoppage; it will produce variations in

received signals. Therefore, it is necessary to have a mechanism to offer an alternative

wireless interconnection in a typical stoppage event. Additionally, it is possible that the

stoppage event is of very short timeframe caused by the driving of obstacles or humans,

therefore, it necessary to recommend such schemes and mechanisms that provide a

solution of problems such as FOV misalignment and shadowing.

2.6.3. INTERFERENCE

In Li-Fi system, light from some other energy source except LED such as sunlight or

free ordinary electric light source can cause interference as it can affect the LOS channel

between transmitter and receiver. The interruption in the path of transmission will

influence the data communication therefore for indoor communication, new techniques

will be required to find solutions regarding this condition.[28]

24
2.7. MODULATION TECHNIQUES USED IN LI-FI

As LI-FI uses visible light for sending data, it is required to modulate the data into a

signal that can be transmitted. These messages consist of light pulses. A few of the

conventional modulation techniques employed in LI-FI are discussed below:

(a) OFDM: Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a process for digital

encoding data on multiple carriers. OFDM is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)

scheme used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of carefully

spread out orthogonal sub-carrier signals are being used to transport data on several

parallel data streams or channels. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a typical

modulation scheme (such as quadrature amplitude modulation or phase shift keying) at

a low symbol rate, retaining total data rates similar to conventional single-carrier

modulation schemes in the same bandwidth.

(b) OOK: On-off keying (OOK) denotes a most effective form of amplitude-shift keying

(ASK) modulation that signifies digital data as the occurrence or absence of the flagship

wave. In its purest form, the existence of a carrier for a specific period represents a binary

one, while the lack for the same duration signifies a binary zero. More elaborate schemes

vary these durations to convey additional information. It can be analogous to unipolar

encoding line code. It is straightforward to generate and decode although not very ideal

regarding lighting control and data throughput.

25
(c) PWM: Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an approach used to encode a message

into a pulsing signal. Although this modulation approach can be used to encrypt

information for transmission, its primary use is to allow the control of the power

provided to electrical devices, especially to inertial loads such as motors. Pulse Width

Modulation transmits the data by encoding the data into the duration of the pulses. More

than one bit of data can be conveyed within each pulse.

(d) PPM: Pulse-position modulation (PPM) is a type of signal modulation by which M

message bits are encoded by transmitting just one pulse in one of the possible required

time-shifts. This is repeated every T seconds, in a way that the transmitted bit rate in bits

per second. It is mostly useful for optical communications systems, where there is

usually little or no multipath disturbance.

(e) SIM-OFDM: Sub-carrier Index Modulation OFDM is a technique that aggregates

an additional dimension to both dimensional amplitude/phase modulation approach. i.e.,

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). SIM

uses the sub-carrier index to convey information to the receiver. Unlike the traditional

OFDM technique, the SIM-OFDM technique splits the serial bit stream into two-bit sub-

streams of the same length. [26]

2.8. COMPARISION BETWEEN Li-Fi & Wi-Fi

LI-FI is a term of just one used to describe visible light communication technology

applied to high-speed wireless communication. It acquired this name due to the likeness

26
to WI-FI, only using light rather than radio. WI-FI is excellent for standard wireless

coverage within structures, and li-fi is suitable for high-density wireless data coverage

in a restricted area and for relieving radio interference issues, so the two technologies

can be considered complementary.

Table 2.8.1.Comparison between current and future wireless[29]

Technology Speed Data density

Wireless (current)

Wi-Fi – IEEE 150 Mbps *

802.11n

Bluetooth 3 Mbps *

IrDA 4 Mbps ***

Wireless (future)

WiGig 2 Gbps **

Giga-IR 1 Gbps ***

Li-Fi >1Gbps ****

Table 2.8.1 contains the current wireless technologies that can be used for shifting data

between devices today, i. e., Wi-Fi, Wireless Bluetooth and IrDA. Wi-Fi currently offers

high data rates. The IEEE 802. 11. n in most implementations provides up to 150Mbit/s

(in theory the standard can rise to 600Mbit/s) although in practice it is considerably less

than this. Be aware that one out of three of these is an optical technology [29].

27
 Table 2.8.2 Comparison between LiFi and Wi-Fi [26]

LI-FI WI-FI

SPEED 1-3.5 Gbps 54-250 Mbps

RANGE 10 meters 20-100 meters

IEEE STANDARD 802.15.7 802.11b

SPECTRUM RANGE 10000 times than WI-FI Radio spectrum range

NETWORK TOPOLOGY Point-to-point Point-to-MultiPoint

DATA TRANSFER Use light as a carrier Use radio spectrum

MEDIUM

FREQUENCY BAND 100 times of THz 2.4 GHz

2.9. LIGHT EMITTING DIODES (LEDs)

2.9.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Nick Holonyak, Jr. while working at General Electric developed the first visible-

spectrum (red) LED in 1962. Holonyak first reported his LED in the journal Applied

Physics Letters on December 1, 1962. Some years after, M. George Crawford, a former

graduate student of Holonyak, invented the first yellow LED and improved the

brightness of red and red-orange LEDs by a factor of ten in 1972 [30]. Consequently, in

1976, T. P. Pearsall created the first high-brightness, high-efficiency LEDs for optical

fibre telecommunications by inventing new semiconductor materials specifically

adapted to optical fibre transmission wavelengths [31].

28
 Figure 2.9.1: The LEDs

Appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-

intensity infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still frequently used as transmitting elements

in remote-control circuits, such as those in remote controls for a wide variety of

consumer electronics [30]. The first visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity and

limited to red. Modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet,

and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness as shown in Figure 2.9.1.

Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps for electronic devices, replacing small

incandescent bulbs. They were soon packaged into numeric readouts in the form

of seven-segment displays and were commonly seen in digital clocks. Recent

developments have produced LEDs suitable for environmental and task lighting. LEDs

have led to new displays and sensors, while their high switching rates are useful in

advanced communications technology [18], [30].

LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy

consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster

29
switching. Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as aviation

lighting, automotive headlamps, advertising, general lighting, traffic signals, camera

flashes, and lighted wallpaper. They are also significantly more energy efficient and,

arguably, have fewer environmental concerns linked to their disposal.

2.9.2. WORKING PRINCIPLE

A light – emitting diode (LED) is a two – lead semiconductor light – source. It is a p – n

junction diode that emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the

leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing

energy in the form of photons (i.e. light) [31]. This effect is called electroluminescence,

and the colour of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by

the energy band gap of the semiconductor.

2.9.3. ELECTROLUMINESCENCE

Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical phenomenon and electrical phenomenon in

which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a

strong electric field [32].

Electroluminescence as a phenomenon was discovered in 1907 by the British

experimenter H. J. Round of Marconi Labs, using a crystal of silicon carbide and a cat's-

whisker detector. Russian inventor Oleg Losev reported the creation of the first LED in

1927 [32]. Although his research was distributed in Soviet, German and British scientific

journals, no practical use was made of the discovery for several decades [32]. Kurt
30
Lehovec, Carl Accardo, and Edward Jamgochian explained these first light-emitting

diodes in 1951 using an apparatus employing Silicon Carbide (SiC) crystals with a

current source of battery or pulse generator and with a comparison to a variant, pure,

crystal in 1953.

This phenomenon is as a result of radiative recombination of electrons and holes in a

material, usually a semiconductor. The excited electrons release their energy

as photons - light. Prior to recombination, electrons and holes may be separated either

by doping the material to form a p-n junction (in semiconductor electroluminescent

devices such as light-emitting diodes) or through excitation by the impact of high-energy

electrons accelerated by a strong electric field (as with the phosphors in

electroluminescent displays) [17].

2.9.4. PHOTODIODES

A photodiode – whose diagram is shown in Figure 2.9.2 - is a device that helps in the

metamorphosis of light into electrical current. This photodiode is made of a

semiconductor material containing a p-n junction which is designed to function in

reverse bias. The current is propagated in the photodiode when photons are absorbed and

a very less amount of current is also propagated when there is no existing light.

Accompanied by the increase of the surface area, photodiodes have lingering response

times [33]. Photodiode technology has been victorious and widely used due to its normal

and low-cost rugged structure. Photodiodes have two separate operation modes, namely,

31
the photovoltaic mode and secondly, the photoconductive mode. In the photovoltaic

mode, credence in light is non-linear and the dynamic range achieved is justly small and

highest speed is also not acquired in photovoltaic mode. In the photoconductive mode,

the credence on the light is very linear and the opposite voltage has no significant impact

on light but has a weak impact on dark current (current achieved without light). The

Photodiodes are comprehensively used in the electronics industry, especially in detectors

and wide bandwidth optical telecommunications systems.

Figure 2.9.2: A Photodiode

2.10. THE LI-FI COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

This section deals with the physical layer, modulation formats and frequency spectrum

that are associated with the Li-Fi communication. The IEEE 802.15.7 standard defines

the physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layer [34]. The standard is

capable of delivering enough data rates to transmit audio, video and multimedia services.

It takes into account the optical transmission mobility, its similarity with artificial

lighting present in infrastructures, and the deviance, which may be caused by

interference, originate by the comprehensive lighting. The MAC layer allows using the

32
link with the other layers like the TCP/IP protocol. The standard defines three PHY

layers with dissimilar rates.

• The PHY I was established for outdoor application and serve from 11.67 kbit/s to 267.6

kbit/s.

• The PHY II layer permission to reach data rates from 1.25 Mbit/s to 96 Mbit/s.

• The PHY III is used for many emission sources with a distinctive modulation method

called Color Shift Keying (CSK). PHY III can convey rates from 13 Mbit/s to 98 Mbit/s.

The modulation formats valid for PHY I and PHY II are the codings, On-Off Keying

(OOK) and Variable Pulse Position Modulation (VPPM). The Manchester coding

applied to the PHY I and PHY II layers include the clock inside the transmitted data by

representing a logic 0 with an OOK symbol “01” and a logic 1 with an OOK symbol

“10”, all with a DC component [34]. The DC component averts the light extinction in

case of an extended line of logic 0. The Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing (O-OFDM) modulation methods which have been improved for data rates,

multiple-access and energy efficiency can be utilized for Li-Fi communication. The

novel high-speed optical wireless models can be utilized both indoors and outdoors. The

Li-Fi confers resources for ODM (Original Design Manufacturers) and OEM (Original

Equipment Manufacturer) developers to create exciting new products [35].

Accompanied by the emergence of high-speed cable connections like Thunderbolt and

USB 3.0, the stage is set for a wireless equivalent. When Wi-Fi is very famous for
33
pervasive 100+ Mbps service, multi-Gigabit short-range optical wireless interconnects

and provides a substitute to the proposed Gigabit RF (Radio Frequency) solution [33].

For communication, aimed light waves carry data in a rapid manner, but in a radio wave,

the data transfer rate is sluggish. For this cause, the essence of lightwave communication

is shown by the Figure 2.10.1, which complements Figure 2.2.1 and these consequently

explain the unlimited possibilities that abound in Li-Fi technology. However, the

drawback is that light cannot penetrate through the wall (which is an advantage,

considering the security mitigating RF networks) and no communication can take place

34
in darkness. Therefore, if one moves from one room to another one will require a wired

bulb in that room too.

Figure 2.10.1: The Radiowave and the Lightwave Frequency Spectrum

2.11. RELATED WORKS

Professor Harald Haas promoted the Li-Fi technology in his 2011 TED Global talk and

helped start a company to market it. PureLiFi, formerly pureVLC, is an original

equipment manufacturer (OEM) firm set up to commercialize Li-Fi products for

integration with existing LED-lighting systems [16].

35
Haas coined the term "Li-Fi" at his 2011 TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design)

Global Talk where he introduced the idea of "Wireless data from every light bulb"

[36]. He is a Chair Professor of Mobile Communications at the University of

Edinburgh and co-founder of pureLiFi.

In October 2011, companies and industry groups formed the Li-Fi Consortium, to

promote high-speed optical wireless systems and to overcome the limited amount of

radio-based wireless spectrum available by exploiting a completely different part of the

electromagnetic spectrum [16].

A number of companies offer uni-directional VLC products, which is not the same as

Li-Fi - a term defined by the IEEE 802.15.7r1 standardization committee [18].

Harald Haas - a professor of mobile communications at the University of Edinburgh -

established the LiFi Research and Development Centre at the school to conduct research

and development (i.e. R & D) on the technology. In 2012, he helped found pureLiFi,

also in Edinburgh, to commercialize the technology. The company recently unveiled

several products.

PureLiFi introduced its first LiFi-X dongle in February 2016. About the size and width

of a business card, LiFi-X plugs into a computer’s USB port. An optical device that

accepts signals from the LED bulb, the dongle holds a receiver that converts the light-

36
intensity variations of the LED into an electric signal, which is then converted back into

a data stream that is transferred to a computer [30].

The dongle also contains a digital data modulator that works with an infrared LED to

provide full duplex bi-directional wireless access at 43 Mb download and upload speeds.

Through a partnership with the French lighting manufacturer Lucibel, pureLiFi built a

Li-Fi system for office buildings. Included in the Li-Fi system are luminaires that hold

the LED bulbs as well as the modulating and demodulating circuits and digital signal

processors that run the communication protocols as firmware [36]. LED bulbs installed

in the ceilings can be networked into the company’s IT architecture, so people using a

computer or mobile device outfitted with the LiFi-X dongle can access data from office

LEDs anywhere in the building.

Also, OLEDComm a French company founded by one of the inventors of LiFi, Suat

Topsu, provided products for indoor positioning and bidirectional modems at 2 Mbit/s

able to operate with mass-market LEDs.

Recently, the first VLC smartphone prototype was presented at the Consumer

Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 7–10 in 2014. The phone uses SunPartner's

Wysips CONNECT, a technique that converts light waves into usable energy, making

the phone capable of receiving and decoding signals without drawing on its battery [16],

[17]. A clear thin layer of crystal glass can be added to small screens like watches and

37
smartphones that make them solar powered. Smartphones could gain 15% more battery

life during a typical day.

In April 2014, the Russian company Stins Coman announced the development of a Li-

Fi wireless local network called Beam Caster [37]. Their current module transfers data

at 1.25 gigabytes per second (GB/s) but they foresee boosting speeds up to 5 GB/s in the

near future [16]. In 2014, Sisoft (a Mexican company) that was able to transfer data at

speeds of up to 10 GB /s across a light spectrum emitted by LED lamps [24] established

a new record.

Interestingly, Philips lighting company has developed a VLC system for shoppers at

stores. They have to download an app on their smartphone and then their smartphone

works with the LEDs in the store. The LEDs can pinpoint where they are located in the

store and give them corresponding coupons and information based on which aisle they

are on and what they are looking at [38].

Recent integrated CMOS optical receivers for Li-Fi systems are implemented

with avalanche photodiodes (APDs) which has a low sensitivity. In July 2015, IEEE has

operated the APD in Geiger-mode as a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) to

increase the efficiency of energy usage and make the receiver more sensitive [38]. In

addition, this operation could be performed as a quantum-limited sensitivity that makes

receivers detect weak signals from a far distance [13].

38
Someday the last leg of our communication networks might not depend on a modulated

radio signal but on a modulated light signal from an LED bulb in a desk lamp or ceiling

fixture.

39
 CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM DESIGN

3.1. BACKGROUND

The design of the Li-Fi data transmission system to be controlled was divided into two

sections; the hardware section and software section.

Figure 3.1.1: Li-Fi Data Transmission System block diagram

In the system, an Arduino microcontroller is used as the encoder and the decoder of the

data transmitted via the blinking LED and received by the photodiode.

The circuit diagram of the Li-Fi system is divided into two major parts as shown in figure

3.1.2. The transmitter part placed above while the receiver part is placed below. The

40
circuit diagram shown in details how the hardware components of the system are

connected for data transmission. However, during the implementation of the system, a

single microcontroller (Arduino board) is used.

Transmitter Section

Receiver Section

Figure 3.1.2: Circuit Diagram of the System

3.2. HARDWARE SECTION

For the Li-Fi system as shown in the circuit diagram, the hardware section consists of
the following parts:

1. A microcontroller (Arduino). It also serves as the Power Supply Unit (PSU) for the
Li-Fi Trans receiver System,

41
2. A Switching Transistor (2N222),

3. A Dual Operational Amplifier (LM358N),

4. A Light Emitting Diode,

5. A Photodiode,

6. Various resistors and a potentiometer (10 kΩ),

7. Jumpers and

8. Some connectors.

3.2.1. ARDUINO UNO MICROCONTROLLER BOARD

Arduino is a small microcontroller board with a USB plug to connect to your computer

and a number of connection sockets that can be wired up to external electronics, such as

motors, relays, light sensors, laser diodes, loudspeakers, microphones, etc. They can

either be powered through the USB connection from the computer or from a 9 V battery.

In this project, the system was powered by the Arduino which could be controlled by the

computer or programmed to work independently[39].

The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328. It has 14 digital

input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analogue inputs, a 16

MHz external crystal oscillator. Since most 8-bit AVR boards run an instruction per

second, the Arduino runs about 16 Mega Instructions per second(MIPS). The UNO

board contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; such includes a voltage

regulator (which can provide 5V and 3.3V derived from a 6-20V external power supply

through a power jack), a reset button, onboard programmer interfaced via universal serial

42
bus (USB) and so on. The board differs from other existing boards in that it features

ATmega16U (programmed as a USB-to-serial) in lieu of the conventional FTDI USB-

to-serial driver chip. The ATmega328P has 32 Kilobytes of flash memory for storing the

program code, 2 Kilobytes of static random access memory (SRAM) and 1 Kilobyte

electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). These features

and other facilities enable the Arduino board to interconnect with a computer, another

microcontroller as other communication devices. The ATmega328P pins configuration

is shown in figure 3.2.1.

In the Li-Fi transmission system, the Arduino board acts as both the transmitter pc (using

its serial monitor interface) and also the power supply for the whole system. This

configuration helps in preventing the use of an external power supply unit and also two

microcontroller boards in the transmitter and receiver circuit for the system.

43
 Figure 3.2.1: Arduino Microcontroller board

3.2.2. SWITCHING TRANSISTOR (2N222)

By design, we desire the switching transistor in the transmitter circuit (shown in figure

3.1.2) to operate under hard saturation i.e. in the saturation region under all conditions.

Hence, a base resistance that produces a current gain of 10 i.e. (𝛽𝐷𝐶 = 10) is selected

[40]. This is because there is more than enough base current to saturate the transistor.

Selecting a base resistance, 𝑅𝐵 = 1 kΩ and taking 𝑉𝐵𝐸 = 0.7 V, from the base loop,

𝑉𝐵𝐵 = 𝐼𝐵 𝑅𝐵 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 (1)

𝐼𝐵 = (𝑉𝐵𝐵 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸 ) / 𝑅𝐵

= (5 – 0.7) V / 1 kΩ

44
 = 0.43 mA

Thus, 𝐼𝐶 = 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐼𝐵

= 10 x 0.43 mA

= 4.3 mA

To get the collector resistor: From the collector loop,

𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶 (2)

Where 𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 0.3 V (from the data sheet) and 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 = 0.7 𝑉,

The collector resistor is calculated as:

(𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐶𝐸 − 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 )

𝑅𝐶 = (3)
𝐼𝐶

= (5 – 0.3 – 0.7) V / 4.3 mA

= 93.023 Ω

≈ 100 Ω (closest standard resistor value)

45
3.2.3. DUAL OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER (LM358N)

3.2.3.1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The LM358N – a Low Power Dual Operational Amplifier, consists of two independent

high gain, internally frequency compensated operational amplifiers which were designed

specifically to operate from a single power supply over a wide range of voltages as

shown in figure 3.2.2.

Figure 3.2.2: LM358N Dual Operational Amplifier configuration

Operation from split power supplies is also possible and the low power supply current

drain is independent of the magnitude of the power supply voltage. Application areas

include transducer amplifiers, dc gain blocks and all the conventional op amp circuits.

For example, the LM358N can be directly operated off the standard +5V power supply

voltage, which is used in digital systems and will easily provide the required interface

electronics without requiring the additional ±15V power supplies.

46
3.2.3.2. CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES

To duly implement the Li-Fi Transmission System, certain characteristics guided the

choice of the operational amplifier in the receiver circuit. The following are the unique

characteristics and features of the LM358N that makes it most suitable for the receiver

circuit.

i. In the linear mode, the input common-mode voltage range includes ground and

the output voltage can also swing to ground, even though it is operated from only

a single power supply voltage (of 5V from the Arduino).

ii. It has two internally frequency compensated op amps for Unity Gain.

iii. Eliminates the need for dual supplies thereby making the Li-Fi receiver circuit

simpler and cost-effective.

iv. It has a very low supply drain current (500 μA) which is essentially independent

of supply voltage.

v. Most importantly, it has a large dc voltage gain (of around 100 dB), large output

voltage swing (which is very pivotal because of the inconsistently low signal

expected to be generated by the photodiode), and very low input offset voltage

(2 mV) and offset current as compared to other Operational Amplifiers.

47
3.2.3.3. LOGIC DIAGRAM

The figure 3.2.3 shows the logic diagrams of the two operational amplifiers in the

LM358N as used in the Li-Fi receiver circuit diagram.

Figure 3.2.3: LM358N Logic configuration

The first stage of the receiver circuit is set up as a non-inverting dc gain amplifier to

amplify the weak signal from the photodiode. The voltage gain of the non- inverting

amplifier having its output at Pin 1 is calculated as:

𝐴𝑉 = 1 + 𝑅2 /𝑅1 (4)

Since from the datasheet, the output signal from the photodiode is about 1.4V maximum

and we desired to have an output voltage that would be easily detected as a 1 signal when

bit ‘1’ is sent, the amplifier is designed to have a dc voltage gain of 3.

Setting the feedback resistor, 𝑅2 , to be 8.2 kΩ; using equation 4, 𝑅1 is calculated to be

48
 𝑅1 = 𝑅2 / (𝐴𝑉 – 1)

= 8.2 kΩ / (3 – 1)

= 4.1 kΩ

𝑅1 ≈ 4.7 kΩ ( next closest standard resistor value)

With the configuration above, maximum output voltage to be read a bit ‘1’ is 3.84 V and

a bit ‘0’ voltage would still be far below - at around 0.6 V after amplification. This

ensures the data sent from the LED to the photodiode is decoded properly with high

precision and the message is deciphered accurately.

The second stage of the receiver circuit is the gain regulation stage. The second amplifier

having input Pins 5 & 6 and output Pin 7 is desired to have a unity gain. At the feedback

circuit, an automatic gain controller is implemented using a variable resistor of value 10

kΩ. This variable gain setup helps in boosting the amplified signal when necessary i.e

under improper lighting conditions and ensure that the photodiode signal from the

transmitter's LED is decoded correctly.

49
3.3. SOFTWARE SECTION

3.3.1. ARDUINO PROGRAMMING

The Arduino, compared to other families of microcontrollers is a very easy

microcontroller to use.

Figure 3.3.1: Arduino Programming Interface

One of the reasons is due to the ease of programming the microcontroller. It involves

using the

50
Arduino IDE downloaded at Arduino.cc/en/Main/Software free. Codes written for

Arduino are very similar to C sometimes called Arduino-C. Programs to be uploaded to

the board are called “sketches” and each sketch is divided, mainly into three parts:

1. Library and variable declarations

2. The setup function and

3. The loop function

3.4. TRANSMITTER HARDWARE DESIGN

The task of the transmitter is to convert digital data into visible light. An LED was a

suitable component because of its relatively linear relationship between current and light

intensity. The general idea is to modulate the light intensity of the LED i.e., the intensity

of the light corresponds to the symbol transmitted. The Arduino ports are not capable of

delivering the right amount of current to make the light intensity strong and fast enough.

To get around this problem a transistor is used as a switch, which made it possible to

switch a larger current faster. In Figure 3.2.2 a schematic is shown to give an overview

of the transmitter. The Hardware for the transmitter is designed using the following

steps:

1) The transmitter circuit design was drawn after design calculations were

completed. The software used for drawing the circuit schematic layout is the

Proteus 8 Professional Design Tool.

51
 2) After designing the circuit layout, the components were acquired and then

connected on the breadboard using jumper wires where necessary.

3) Next, the circuit after series of tests on the Breadboard is transferred into a Vero

board of appropriate size carefully.

4) Then finally, the components were soldered appropriately and then retested.

3.5. RECEIVER HARDWARE DESIGN

The task of the receiver is to convert the incoming light into a current using a photodiode.

For a digital signal, the Arduino cannot receive a voltage above 5 V. Therefore, the

electrical circuit between the photodiode and the Arduino needs to process the electrical

signal so it can be interpreted correctly. The receiver’s electronics need to convert the

current to voltage in order to amplify and compare it. The distance between the

transmitter and the receiver can be varied, but in order to avoid too small or too high

signal, an Automatic Gain Controller (AGC) can be designed, instead, a variable resistor

is used here. This component amplifies or reduces the input voltage to a selected output

voltage. To make sure the signal is digital and stable before the Arduino, the LM358

Operational Amplifier comparator was used because it has little or no offset. The

schematic of the circuit diagram as shown in figure 3.2.2 was tested on a Breadboard

along with the transmitter before being transferred to a Vero Board. The receiver’s Vero

board layout would be shown in the next chapter.

52
 CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING

This Stage is the development and construction stage. The testing of the system

components is carried out in this stage.

4.1. ARDUINO SETUP

The Arduino board features a serial communication interface (which includes a

Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller on most models) which was used for loading

programs from a personal computer to the board. The Arduino IDE was used to program

the Arduino. The Arduino via the code was made to perform various tasks like switching on

or off the LED in the transmitter’s circuit and as well reading the analogue signal read from

the photodiode in the receiver’s circuit.

In other not to make the system less bogus and redundant, the Arduino board was used

as the micro-controller as well as the Power Supply Unit (PSU) for the circuits. It

supplies a voltage of about 5V from its VCC port when connected to the PC via the serial

connector cable and acts as the virtual ground.

4.2. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

The Li-Fi data transmission system is set up such that a single Micro Controller -

Arduino board is used to encode, decode and supply power to the transmitter and receiver

circuits.

53
After the design and calculations of the resistor values in the transmitter and receiver, all

the components of the circuit were implemented on a breadboard carefully with the aid

of jumper wires and a multimeter was used to test the continuity of the circuit from point

to point.

In other to ensure the proper testing of the system and circumvent its proneness to errors,

the transmitter and receiver circuits were implemented on a single breadboard and the

LED and photodiode were in close proximity to one another as shown in figure 4.2.1.

Figure 4.2.1: Breadboard Implementation diagram

After several tests, the components on the breadboard were then soldered carefully using

the same circuit configuration on separate Vero boards as shown in figure 4.2.2 and

4.2.3. A multimeter is used after soldering to detect dry joints, bridging of joints and test

54
for continuity of lines on the Vero board. This helps to reduce the strain of constructing

the circuit and detecting causes of error before using the circuit.

Figure 4.2.2: Li-Fi Transmitter

Figure 4.2.3: Li-Fi Receiver

55
4.3. SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

The only implementation of software design carried out is the creation of the application

that decodes the sent message from the transmitter and displays it on its output window.

The application is a Java application created using NetBeans Programming interface.

The Arduino library was imported to the NetBeans IDE, as this is an external library

specially designed to ensure the Java application can communicate with the Arduino

microcontroller effectively.

Figure 4.3.1: Java Application on Receiver PC

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed from the program is shown in figure

4.3.1. It has a connect button and a system generated port list to give the user flexibility

in the selection of ports on the Receiver PC.

The application is open through its link stored in the NetBeans IDE used to create it. The

application prompts the user to connect the Arduino microcontroller to one of the ports

from the drop-down list of ports shown in figure 4.3.1. The port to be chosen can be

determined by carefully viewing the port number from the Arduino IDE used to upload

56
the micro controller-encoding program onto the Arduino board. The port to connect to

is automatically chosen. Any error in connecting to the right port would impede the user

from viewing the message sent from the first computer.

After successfully connecting to a port, a message is displayed to acknowledge that a

port has been chosen correctly as shown figure 4.3.2

Figure 4.3.2: Li-Fi Receiver Port Selector Interface

The ‘Connect’ button now becomes locked and changes to ‘Disconnect’ to prevent the

user from changing the port when a message is being received and thus disrupting the

decoding process.

57
4.4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE

The practical implementation of the project consists of the following separate parts:

1) Data packaging and encoding: This is done by the Arduino connected to the

transmitter. It converts the text to bits and sends sequentially as a Low or High voltage

signal.

2) Hardware control;

3) Transmission synchronization;

4) Transmission decoding: This is done by the photodiode which converts the light signal

to an analogue signal of varying magnitude and then passes it to the amplifier for

amplification and differentiation of the bits.

5) Error handling: This is performed by the automatic gain controller, which is

immediately after the photodiode. It ensures that a “1” is clearly differentiated from a

“0” bit.

Whenever a user wants to send data to another user, the following steps will take place:

1) The Arduino program is uploaded onto it chip via the serial port and the port number

is noted.

2) After successfully uploading the program, the Arduino serial monitor is opened and

the text to be sent is typed in the text box of the Arduino serial monitor indicated in

figure 4.5.1 (which was used to avoid making the process tedious). The sent text was

“Li-Fi System”.

58
3) The network module will buffer it and start transmitting it over the channel which is

the LED.

4) The Arduino connected to the receiving computer will collect the packet from the

channel i.e. the photodiode and the double stage amplifier, and hand it to the kernel of

the receiving computer.

5) The received text is then displayed using the Java GUI application designed as shown

in figure 4.3.1.

4.5. TESTS AND RESULTS

The final design verification was done using the complete system; a transmitter, receiver

and software, and the results are shown in figure 4.5.1 and figure 4.5.2.

Figure 4.5.1: Encoding and decoding monitor

59
 Figure 4.5.2: The Li-Fi Receiver Interface

4.5.1 TRANSMITTER

The transmitter receives a signal from the PC using USB Cable then from General

Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins on the Arduino. This signal controls the transistor,

which opens and closes the power supply to the LED. The LED voltage levels are shown

in figure 4.5.1; here it can be noted that both 12 V and 5 V supply can be used in the

transmitter for powering the LED but for simplicity 5 V supply is preferred for low

power operation.

4.5.2 RECEIVER

The receiver converts the incoming light into an electrical signal using the photodiode

and feeds it into the microcontroller via the operational amplifier - which filters and

amplifies the signal. After amplification, the signal is in analogue form; hence, ADC

operation is performed, before providing it to the Arduino. Figure 4.5.1 shows the

measured analogue signal at the output of the amplifier when a bit ‘1’ or ‘0’ is received.

The current which is generated by the photodiode is of very low value; hence a high-

value resistor is used to convert it to voltage. Now this voltage is further amplified for

60
the comparator to give properly transmitted bits. The difference in amplitude of the

amplified voltage, which is the output of the second part of the LM358 operational

amplifier, can be compared in figure 4.5.1. Finally, on the receiver PC, the message (text)

decoded is collected and displayed as shown in figure 4.5.2.

61
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1. CONCLUSION

The aim of this project was to design a Li-Fi Data Transmission system to send data

(limited to text – strings) from a PC to another PC. The Data Transmission system

constructed when tested showed satisfactory performances. The Li-Fi data transmission

system constructed was very cheap making it satisfy the major aim of the project –

incorporation of a Li-Fi medium using off the shelf electronic devices.

Therefore, a Li-Fi prototype has been designed which demonstrates the basic principle

and supports the claim of the advantages of Li-Fi over Wi-Fi. The system constructed

has some limitations also. The Li-Fi prototype designed does not support multi-user

access. The speed achieved with this prototype is 11,520 bps only which is not of the

high order of Gbps. Also, this prototype is not bidirectional. Hence, it is only used for

broadcast purposes. The limitations of this work can be removed by using higher-end

devices.

5.2. RECOMMENDATION

For a personal project, the project is very good as it uses simple off the shelf electronic

devices and is incredibly cheap. However, if the project is to be commercialized, more

sophisticated Graphical User Interface (GUI) would have to be created and more

functions incorporated at the receiver PC. Also, messages to be sent from the
62
transmitting PC need not be sent through the Arduino serial monitor using an application

designed specifically for that purpose.

Furthermore, a specially made chip - Integrated Circuit (IC) could be manufactured for

the encoding circuit to encode data as the microcontroller and at the receiver to decode

data sent in bits and interpret it correctly without the aid of the whole Arduino board,

which makes it look more bogus and less portable. This special chip can be connected

to the computer system just like a modem and would get its supply from the USB port

of the computer. This set up would greatly improve the portability of the device as well

as prevent its proneness to error.

I would recommend that the main improvement of this system should focus on the

process of transferring data to and from a PC either in half-duplex mode or even

simultaneously.

63
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67
 APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: BILL OF ENGINEERING MEASUREMENT AND

EVALUATION (BEME)

Item Description Quantity Unit price (N) Amount (N)

Micro Arduino Uno
Controller
Operational LM358N
Amplifier
Transistor 2N2222
Resistor Carbon
LEDs Low Power (5
V)
Jumper Wires Solid and Male-
Female
Connectors
Board Vero Board
Packaging Terminal Box
Total

68
 APPENDIX B: SOURCE CODE FOR THE ARDUINO

1. Arduino code for viewing the sent message and how it is received in ANALOG
FORM

int pin1 = 13;

int pin2 = A1;

int Time = 10; //Blinking time of the LED

int i;

byte text;

int output;

void setup() {

// put your setup code here, to run once:

pinMode(pin1,OUTPUT);

pinMode(pin2,INPUT);

Serial.begin(9600);

void loop() {

// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

DATABUFFER();

if(Serial.available() == 0){

Serial.println(" ******************* ");

Serial.println(" Message sent Successfully !");

69
}

void DATABUFFER(){

while(Serial.available()==0){}

text = Serial.read();

bool x;

for (i = 7; i >= 0; i=(i-1) ){

x = bitRead(text,i);

if(x == 1){

Serial.print(x);

digitalWrite(pin1,HIGH);delay(Time);

output = analogRead(pin2);

Serial.print(" (");Serial.print(output);Serial.print(")");

else if (x == 0){

Serial.print(x);

digitalWrite(pin1,LOW);delay(Time);

output = analogRead(pin2);

Serial.print(" (");Serial.print(output);Serial.print(")");

70
 Serial.print(" ");

Serial.print(" ");Serial.print(text);Serial.print(" ");

Serial.write(text);Serial.println("");

2. Arduino code for sending message

// Define special symbols

char start_char = '@';

char end_char = '#';

char sep_char = ':';

….contact if you need the code

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 APPENDIX C: JAVA CODE FOR RETRIEVING THE SENT MESSAGE

import java.awt.BorderLayout;

import java.awt.Color;

import java.awt.FlowLayout;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import jssc.SerialPort;

import jssc.SerialPortException;

import jssc.SerialPortList;

import javax.swing.*;

…contact if you need the codes

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