AN INTRODUCTION TO INFRARED COMMUNICATION

THE WAVELENGTH OF INFRARED (IR) LIGHT IS LONGER THAN THAT OF VISIBLE LIGHT BUT SHORTER
THAN THAT OF MICROWAVES. THE TERM IS A COMBINATION OF THE LATIN WORDS INFRA, WHICH
MEANS BELOW, AND ROSÉ, THE COLOR OF VISIBLE LIGHT WITH THE LONGEST WAVELENGTH. INFRARED
LIGHT HAS A WAVELENGTH THAT RANGES FROM 750 NANOMETERS (THE NEAR INFRARED) TO 1
MILLIMETER (THE FAR INFRARED). THE RANGE OF FREQUENCIES IS ROUGHLY 300 GHZ TO 400 THZ.
SHORT-RANGE COMMUNICATIONS FREQUENTLY USE INFRARED TRANSMISSION METHODS. INFRARED IS
FREQUENTLY USED IN REMOTE CONTROLS FOR TELEVISIONS, VCRS, DVD PLAYERS, AND SET-TOP BOXES
OF ALL KINDS. INFRARED TRANSMITTERS ARE OFTEN DIRECTIONAL, AFFORDABLE, LIGHT,
TRUSTWORTHY, AND SIMPLE TO MAKE. THE BIGGEST DRAWBACK IS THAT SOLID OBJECTS CANNOT BE
PENETRATED BY INFRARED LIGHT. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, COMPARED TO RADIO-BASED SYSTEMS, AN
INFRARED SYSTEM IN ONE ROOM OF A BUILDING WON'T INTERACT WITH COMPARABLE SYSTEMS IN
SURROUNDING ROOMS, AND EAVESDROPPING IS FAR LESS LIKELY. AS A RESULT, A PRACTICAL
ALTERNATIVE TO INDOOR WIRELESS LANS IS INFRARED COMMUNICATION. THE PHYSICAL INTERFACE
SPECIFICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL STANDARDS FOR SHORT-RANGE DATA
COMMUNICATIONS IN APPLICATIONS LIKE PERSONAL AREA NETWORKS ARE DEFINED BY THE INFRARED
DATA ASSOCIATION (IRDA), AN INDUSTRY-SPONSORED ORGANIZATION FOUNDED IN 1993 TO DEVELOP
STANDARDS FOR INFRARED COMMUNICATION HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. (PANS). IRDA INTERFACES
HAVE BEEN WIDELY UTILIZED TO CONNECT DEVICES, INCLUDING MOBILE PHONES, LAPTOPS AND
DESKTOP COMPUTERS, AND PERSONAL DATA ASSISTANTS (PDAS). SINCE THE EARLY 2000S, BLUETOOTH
HAS LARGELY REPLACED IRDA AS THE WIRELESS INTERFACE IN NEW PRODUCTS. UNLIKE IRDA, WHICH
REQUIRES A DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT, BLUETOOTH DOES NOT, AND IT CAN SUPPORT HARDWARE LIKE
WIRELESS MICE AND KEYBOARDS. BLUETOOTH HAS BEEN OFFERED AS AN ALTERNATIVE INTERFACE FOR
SUCH DEVICES IN RECENT YEARS, BUT IT HAS LARGELY REPLACED IRDA SINCE THE EARLY 2000S. IRDA IS
STILL EMPLOYED IN SETTINGS WHERE RADIO-BASED WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES ARE RENDERED USELESS
BY INTERFERENCE, AND IT ALSO HAS THE BENEFIT OF HAVING UNRESTRICTED BANDWIDTH. INFRARED
LIGHT PULSES ARE EMPLOYED BY IRDA TRANSCEIVERS TO BROADCAST INFORMATION IN A
DIRECTIONALLY CONCENTRATED CONE THAT SPANS 15 DEGREES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE
TRANSMISSION'S CENTERLINE. THE MINIMUM RANGE REQUIRED BY THE STANDARD FOR A STANDARD
POWER OUTPUT IS ONE METER, WHILE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PRODUCTS HAVE RANGES THAT
RANGE FROM LESS THAN ONE METER TO SEVERAL METERS. DUE TO THE INFRARED DEVICE'S RECEIVER
BEING "BLINDED" BY THE LIGHT OF ITS OWN TRANSMISSION, COMMUNICATION IS ONLY HALF-DUPLEX.
THE RANGE OF DATA RATES IS 9.6 KBPS TO 16 MBPS (9.6 KBPS IS THE LOWEST COMMON
DENOMINATOR FOR ALL DEVICES AND, AS SUCH, IS USED FOR NEGOTIATION BETWEEN
COMMUNICATION DEVICES). A PROTOCOL CALLED ULTRA FAST INFRARED (UFIR) IS BEING CREATED
THAT WILL ALLOW DATA RATES OF UP TO 100 MBPS. IRDA DEVICES CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS PRIMARY OR
SECONDARY DEVICES IN GENERAL. THE MAIN UNIT STARTS UP COMMUNICATION, ISSUES COMMANDS,
AND CONTROLS DATA FLOW. (HANDSHAKING). SIMPLE REQUESTS FROM PRIMARY DEVICES ARE
ANSWERED BY SECONDARY DEVICES. WITH A MAXIMUM PREDICTED DATA RATE OF 16 MBPS, INFRARED
LASER SYSTEMS CAN ALSO BE EMPLOYED FOR LONG-DISTANCE COMMUNICATION (UP TO AROUND 2.4
KILOMETERS). THESE SYSTEMS ARE STRICTLY POINT-TO-POINT (LINE-OF-SIGHT) DEVICES AND ARE
DELICATE TO AIR CONDITIONS SUCH AS FOG. BUILDING-TO-BUILDING TRANSMISSION LINES FOR
METROPOLITAN OR CAMPUS-AREA NETWORKS ARE TYPICAL APPLICATIONS, AND TRANSMITTING AND
RECEIVING EQUIPMENT IS GENERALLY POSITIONED ON ROOFTOPS TO OFFER CLEAR LINE-OF-SIGHT
LINKS. WIRELESS LAN CONNECTIONS MAY USE DIFFUSE (OR NON-LINE-OF-SIGHT) SYSTEMS, IN WHICH
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER IS KEPT ALIVE BY "BOUNCING" THE SENT
SIGNALS OFF REFLECTIVE OBJECTS LIKE WALLS AND CEILINGS. WIDE-ANGLE TRANSMIT BEAMS ARE
USED BY THE TRANSMITTER, AND WIDE-ANGLE DETECTORS ARE USED BY THE RECEIVER. THE IEEE
802.11 STANDARD COVERS THE REQUIREMENTS FOR INFRARED WIRELESS LANS. AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL
IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN OPTICAL SIGNAL BY AN INFRARED TRANSMISSION DEVICE, SUCH AS A LASER
DIODE OR LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE (LED). LEDS ARE IDEAL FOR SHORT-RANGE APPLICATIONS BECAUSE
THEY HAVE A NATURALLY WIDE TRANSMISSION PATH. FOR INDOOR USE, THEY ARE ALSO
CONSIDERABLY SAFER THAN LASER DIODES. LASER DIODES ARE BETTER SUITED FOR POINT-TO-POINT,
LONG-RANGE APPLICATIONS DUE TO THEIR NARROW TRANSMIT BEAMS AND RELATIVELY SMALL
SPECTRAL WIDTH. TO PERFORM OPTICAL MODULATION AND DEMODULATION, THE MAJORITY OF
SYSTEMS USE INTENSITY MODULATION WITH DIRECT DETECTION (IM/DD). A PHOTODETECTOR AT THE
RECEIVER GENERATES AN OUTPUT CURRENT PROPORTIONATE TO THE INTENSITY OF THE RECEIVED
OPTICAL SIGNAL, AND THE TRANSMITTED SIGNAL'S POWER OR INTENSITY IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE
MODULATING SIGNAL. OTHER SOURCES OF LIGHT ENERGY, SUCH AS AMBIENT LIGHT SOURCES LIKE
SUNSHINE OR ARTIFICIAL LIGHT SOURCES, ILLUMINATE THE SENSORS IN THE MAJORITY OF
OPERATIONAL SITUATIONS. AT THE RECEIVER, THIS NOISE COMPONENT FROM THE LIGHT SOURCES IS
VERY LARGE. THE NEED FOR TRANSMITTERS WITH A PEAK-POWER WAVELENGTH OF BETWEEN 850 AND
950 NANOMETERS HAS BEEN BROUGHT ON BY THE AVAILABILITY OF EFFICIENT, INEXPENSIVE LEDS AND
PHOTODIODES OPERATING IN THE 800-1000 NANOMETER RANGE. ONE OF THE SIMPLEST WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES IS INFRARED, WHICH CAN BE USED TO SEND A FEW BYTES OF DATA
WIRELESSLY AT A REASONABLE PRICE. ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS HAS PROBABLY USED A VARIETY
OF REMOTE CONTROLS AT HOME OR AT WORK. THE MAJORITY OF THESE STRAIGHTFORWARD GADGETS
EMPLOY INFRARED PULSES TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE RECEIVER. IN ADDITION TO EXPLAINING TWO
OF THE MOST WIDELY USED IR PROTOCOLS FOR CONTROLLING VARIOUS DEVICES, THIS BLOG
ADDRESSES THE FUNDAMENTALS OF IR COMMUNICATIONS. THE LIGHT THAT INFRARED LEDS EMIT IS
INVISIBLE TO THE HUMAN EYE. SUCH DEVICES TYPICALLY PRODUCE LIGHT WITH A WAVELENGTH OF 950
NANOMETERS OR LESS. HOWEVER, NOT JUST IR LEDS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING IR OR NEAR-IR
WAVES. ONE OF THE CHALLENGES WHEN DEALING WITH IR COMMUNICATIONS IS THAT IR WAVES ARE
RELEASED FROM NUMEROUS DIFFERENT SOURCES, SUCH AS LIGHTBULBS AND THE SUN ITSELF.
ADDITIONALLY, ANYONE CAN TRANSMIT IR SIGNALS. THE SENDER AND THE RECEIVER TYPICALLY DON'T
SHAKE HANDS, AUTHENTICATE, OR GET AUTHORIZED. ANY REMOTE THAT SPEAKS THE SAME
LANGUAGE CAN CONTROL A TV, FOR INSTANCE. LANGUAGE IS REFERRED TO AS A PROTOCOL IN
COMMUNICATIONS, WHICH IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE DATA
TRANSMITTER AND RECIPIENT. THE TWO PARTIES AGREE TO TRANSFER THE INFORMATION IN A
SPECIFIC MANNER AND ADHERE TO A PREDETERMINED PATTERN. TURNING ON THE INFRARED LED (TO
COMMUNICATE A LOGICAL 1) OR LEAVING IT OFF (WHICH MAY REPRESENT A LOGICAL 0) FOR A
PREDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME WOULD BE THE EASIEST WAY TO BROADCAST BINARY VALUES
USING AN IR LED. THIS COULD BE DONE BY THE SENDER REPEATEDLY UNTIL ALL OF THE DATA BITS HAVE
BEEN SENT. UNFORTUNATELY, SINCE SO MANY OTHER SOURCES EMIT IR RADIATION, THIS WON'T
ACTUALLY WORK. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE RECEIVER TO BLOCK UNDESIRABLE SIGNALS FROM
OTHER SOURCES. INSTEAD OF SIMPLY TURNING THE LED ON AND OFF, THE TRANSMITTER MUST PULSE
THE LED ON AND OFF VERY QUICKLY TO GET AROUND THIS PROBLEM. THE FREQUENCY THAT IS
TYPICALLY EMPLOYED IS 38,000 HZ, WHICH IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE IR SIGNAL'S CARRIER FREQUENCY.
KEEP IN MIND THAT ADDITIONAL CARRIER FREQUENCIES AND WAVELENGTHS, SUCH AS 940 NM AND 36
KHZ, ARE ALSO FEASIBLE. BUT IN PRACTICE, THAT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE AN ISSUE. THE MAJORITY OF IR
RECEIVERS CAN TOLERATE SMALL CHANGES IN CARRIER FREQUENCY AND WAVELENGTH. IR SIGNALS
ARE SENT VIA IR LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES (LED), WHICH PASS THROUGH A LENS AND CONCENTRATE
INTO AN IR DATA BEAM. FOR DATA ENCODING, THE BEAM SOURCE IS QUICKLY TURNED ON AND OFF.

IOT-POINT IR COMMUNICATION VIA INFRARED COMMUNICATION (IRDA)

AN IRDA DEVICE WITH A SILICON PHOTODIODE RECEIVES THE IR BEAM DATA. THE IR BEAM IS
TRANSFORMED INTO AN ELECTRIC CURRENT FOR PROCESSING BY THIS RECEIVER. THE SILICON PHOTO
DIODE CAN SEPARATE THE IRDA SIGNAL FROM AMBIENT IR BECAUSE IR TRANSITIONS FROM AMBIENT
LIGHT OCCUR MORE SLOWLY THAN THEY DO FROM A FAST-PULSATING IRDA SIGNAL.

WHAT MAKES IR COMMUNICATION UNIQUE

THEY ARE SOMEWHAT DIRECTIONAL, AFFORDABLE, AND SIMPLE TO CONSTRUCT. BUT HAVE THE
SIGNIFICANT LIMITATION OF NOT BEING ABLE TO PASS THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS. (TRY STANDING
BETWEEN YOUR REMOTE CONTROL AND YOUR TELEVISION AND SEE IF IT STILL WORKS.) IN GENERAL,
THE WAVES BEHAVE MORE AND MORE LIKE LIGHT AND LESS AND LESS LIKE RADIO AS WE MOVE FROM
LONG-WAVE RADIO TO VISIBLE LIGHT. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT IS ALSO A BENEFIT THAT INFRARED
WAVELENGTHS DO NOT EASILY TRAVEL THROUGH SOLID WALLS. IN OTHER WORDS, AN INFRARED
SYSTEM INSTALLED IN ONE ROOM OF A BUILDING WON'T INTERFERE WITH AN IDENTICAL SYSTEM
INSTALLED IN ANOTHER ROOM OR ANOTHER STRUCTURE. INFRARED SYSTEMS ARE ALSO MORE SECURE
AGAINST EAVESDROPPING THAN RADIO SYSTEMS FOR THE SAME REASON. IN CONTRAST TO RADIO
SYSTEMS, WHICH NEED A LICENSE TO OPERATE OUTSIDE THE ISM BANDS, AN INFRARED SYSTEM CAN
THEREFORE BE USED WITHOUT ONE. FOR INSTANCE, MOBILE INFRARED IS USED IN REMOTE CONTROLS
FOR TELEVISIONS, VCRS, AND STEREOS TO TRANSMIT DATA ACROSS SHORT DISTANCES. TWO VARIETIES
OF INFRARED COMMUNICATION EXIST.

A LINE OF SIGHT MUST EXIST BETWEEN THE TRANSMITTER AND THE RECEIVER FOR POINT-TO-POINT
COMMUNICATION. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY OBSTRUCTIONS BETWEEN THE
TRANSMITTER AND THE RECEIVER, AND THEY SHOULD BOTH BE AIMED IN THE SAME DIRECTION. THE
REMOTE CONTROL COMMUNICATION IS AN EXAMPLE.

DIFFUSE POINT: THERE IS NO NEED FOR A DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT, AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE
TRANSMITTER AND THE RECEIVER IS KEPT ALIVE BY THE BROADCAST SIGNAL BEING REFLECTED OR
BOUNCED OFF OF SURFACES LIKE CEILINGS, ROOFS, ETC. THE WIRELESS LAN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
IS ONE EXAMPLE.
THE BENEFITS OF IR COMMUNICATION INCLUDE:

SECURITY: SINCE INFRARED COMMUNICATION IS VERY DIRECTIONAL AND CAN PINPOINT THE SOURCE
SINCE DIFFERENT SOURCES EMIT RADIATION AT VARIOUS FREQUENCIES, THE POSSIBILITY OF
INFORMATION BEING SPREAD IS REDUCED. SAFETY: HUMANS ARE NOT ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY
INFRARED RADIATION. THE USE OF INFRARED COMMUNICATION IS THEREFORE UNIVERSAL. HIGH-
SPEED DATA TRANSMISSION IS POSSIBLE USING INFRARED TECHNOLOGY, WHICH HAS A DATA RATE OF
ROUGHLY 1 GBPS AND CAN BE USED TO CONVEY INFORMATION LIKE VIDEO SIGNALS.