A Low-Cost Visible Light Positioning System for Indoor Positioning

• Main Authors: Juan Carlos Torres, Aitor Montes, Sandra L. Mendoza, Pedro R. Fernández, Juan S. Betancourt, Lorena Escandell, Carlos I. del Valle, José Manuel Sánchez-Pena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: indoor positioning system (IPS); LED beacon; smart systems; visible light communication; visible light positioning (VLP); VLC beacons
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/18/5145

Currently, a high percentage of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this proportion will increase in the coming decades. In this context, indoor positioning systems (IPSs) have been a topic of great interest for researchers. On the other hand, Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems have advantages over RF technologies; for instance, they do not need satellite signals or the absence of electromagnetic interference to achieve positioning. Nowadays, in the context of Indoor Positioning (IPS), Visible Light Positioning (VLP) systems have become a strong alternative to RF-based systems, allowing the reduction in costs and time to market. This paper shows a low cost VLP solution for indoor systems. This includes multiple programmable beacons and a receiver which can be plugged to a smartphone running a specific app. The position information will be quickly and securely available through the interchange between the receiver and any configurable LED-beacon which is strategically disposed in an area. The implementation is simple, inexpensive, and no direct communication with any data server is required.