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Implementation of a Data Transmission System using Li-Fi Technology

Conference Paper · October 2019

DOI: 10.1109/NigeriaComputConf45974.2019.8949659

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 Implementation of a Data Transmission System
using Li-Fi Technology
Ifada Emmanuel E. Surajudeen-Bakinde N.T. Faruk Nasir
Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and Department of Telecommunication
Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering Science
University of Ilorin University of Ilorin University of Ilorin
Ilorin, Nigeria. Ilorin, Nigeria. Ilorin, Nigeria.
emmanuelifada7@gmail.com deenmat1211@gmail.com faruk.n@unilorin.edu.ng

Abubakar A. Mohammed Olatunji O. Otuoze A. O.

Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering
Ahamadu Bello University University of Ilorin University of Ilorin
Zaria, Nigeria. Ilorin, Nigeria. Ilorin, Nigeria.
abkzarewa@gmail.com reacholaabdul@gmail.com otuoze.ao@gmail.com

Abstract - Over the years, the overdependence on Wireless As of late, wireless innovation has blossomed, as it were such
Fidelity (Wi-Fi) for data transmission necessitated the need for an that, wireless technology requires huge amount of data to
alternate and more reliable means of communication, hence, transmit each day. These days, wireless communication have
Light Fidelity (Li-Fi). It involves the use of Light Emitting Diode turned out to be significant in the communication process.
to transmit data by blinking (i.e. switching them On and Off) at a
speed not noticeable to the eye. This paper proposed the
The fundamental methods for transmitting wireless
development of the Li-Fi system using off the shelf electronic information is by utilizing electromagnetic waves for
components. The proposed system utilizes an embedded system example radio waves. In any case, radio waves can bolster
with dual-core Advanced Virtual RISC (AVR) microcontroller less data transfer capacity (bandwidth) as a result of
(ATmega16L) interfaced to input/output circuits comprising of the conservative spectrum accessibility and intrusion. The
Light Emitting Diode (LED), LM358N Operational Amplifier and solution to this is data transmission using Visible Light
a photodiode. Also, by developing a user (Receiver PC) interface Communication (VLC). Wi-Fi deals with wireless coverage
using JAVA programming, the sample data (text) transferred was within premises, whereas Li-Fi is perfect for high
monitored and the speed, efficiency, security and capacity of the compactness wireless data coverage in a defined area and for
system was examined and discovered to be top-notch. This would
make the system an indispensable means of communication in the
mitigating radio interference issues. Li-Fi basically focuses
nearest future. This data transmission system is different from on transmitting multimedia data between two terminals using
those in existence because expensive components were not in the LEDs [2].
design, invariably reducing the overall cost of the implementation. Two fundamental functionalities: illumination and wireless
data transmission are combined by fitting a small microchip
Keywords - Light Fidelity (Li-Fi), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) to every potential illumination device. This relationship
Optical communication, Telecommunication between these functionalities could solve the four essential
problems namely, capacity, cost, efficiency, and security, that
we face in wireless communication nowadays.
I. INTRODUCTION In this work, the issues with unpredictability, various contrary
Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) is a fast, remote correspondence standards, and the subsequent costs in these current systems
utilizing visible light. It falls under the classification of are tended to by providing a simplified Li-Fi data
optical remote communications. Information transmission transmission system using off-the-shelf electronic
happens through Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs whose components.
intensity changes (varies). During this variation in light
intensity, communication takes places digitally. This II. RELATED WORKS
innovation has huge applications where the utilization of Wi-
Fi is restricted or prohibited. It likewise takes out the Harald Haas coined the term "Li-Fi" at his 2011 TED
unfavourable wellbeing impacts of utilizing electromagnetic (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Global Talk where
waves. Except light is seen, information can't be hacked; thus, he introduced the idea of "Wireless data from every light
data transmission is secure. The utilization of light as a way bulb” [3]. Through an organization with the French lighting
to transmit information has been authored Li-Fi. The high- maker Lucibel, pureLiFi manufactured a Li-Fi framework for
speed innovation is like Wi-Fi but is quicker, enabling you to places of business. Incorporated into the Li-Fi framework are
send and get more data in less time. By swapping glowing luminaires that hold the LED bulbs just as the balancing and
bulbs with LEDs - which have electronic properties - Li-Fi demodulating circuits and computerized signal processors
could bring Internet access to more regions and could reform that run the correspondence protocols as firmware. LED
the media communications industry. bulbs installed in the ceilings can be networked into the
company’s IT architecture, so people using a computer or

XX
mobile device outfitted with the LiFi-X dongle can access
data from office LEDs anywhere in the building [3].

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 [4]. An optical device that
accepts signals from the LED bulb, the dongle holds a receiver
that converts the light-intensity variations of the LED into an
electric signal, which is then converted back into a data stream
that is transferred to a computer [5]. The dongle likewise
contains a computerized data modulator that works with an
infrared LED to give full-duplex bidirectional remote access
at 43 Mb download and transfer speeds.
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 Fig. 1. Li-Fi Data Transmission System block diagram
wireless spectrum available by exploiting a completely
different part of the electromagnetic spectrum [1] while a This sign controls the transistor which functions as a switch to
number of companies that offered uni-directional VLC the power supply of the LED. The receiver converts the
products, which is not the same as Li-Fi - a term defined by incoming light (described by the thick arrow in Fig. 1) into an
the IEEE 802.15.7r1 standardization committee were electrical sign utilizing the photodiode. The operational
reviewed in [2]. Recently, the first VLC smartphone prototype amplifier - which channels and intensifies the signal - then
was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las feeds the microcontroller. The signal is in an analog form after
Vegas from January in 2014 [6]. In 2013, Lain’s work on the amplification; hence, it undergoes an ADC operation, before
Li-Fi bulbs produced showed in an exhibition in China that giving it to the Arduino.
the speed of data transfer was as high as 150Mbs [7].
B. Hardware Section
However fascinating the use of these implementations in
[3,4,6,7], the cost of procurement dissuades readily available The hardware section consists of the various parts as shown
consumers. Consequently, a Li-Fi data transmission system in Fig. 2:
has been implemented using off-the-shelf electronic 1. A microcontroller (Arduino). It also serves as the
components. Power Supply Unit (PSU) for the Li-Fi Trans
receiver System,
2. A Switching Transistor (2N222),
III. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY 3. A Dual Operational Amplifier (LM358N),
4. A Light Emitting Diode,
A. Background 5. A Photodiode,
The design of the Li-Fi data transmission system to be 6. Various resistors and a potentiometer (10 kΩ),
controlled was divided into two sections; the hardware section 7. Jumpers and
and software section as shown in Fig. 1. 8. Some connectors.
In the system, the Arduino microcontroller creates the
interface that was used to encode and then decode the data The circuit diagram of the Li-Fi system is divided into two
transmitted via the blinking LED (connected in the major parts: the transmitter part placed above while the
transmitter’s circuit) and received by the photodiode in the receiver part is placed below. The circuit diagram shows in
receiver’s circuit). The transmitter gets a signal from the PC details how the hardware components of the system are
utilizing USB Cable then from input-output connectors (pins) connected for data transmission. However, during the
on the Arduino. implementation of the system, a single microcontroller
(Arduino board) is used.
 i.e. (𝛽𝐷𝐶 = 10) is selected [9]. 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
= 0.43 mA
Thus,
𝐼𝐶 = 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐼𝐵 (2)
= 10 x 0.43 mA
= 4.3 mA
To get the collector resistor: From the collector loop,
𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶 (3)
where 𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 0.3 V (from the datasheet) and 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 = 0.7 𝑉,
The collector resistor is calculated as:
(𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐶𝐸 − 𝑉𝐿𝐸𝐷 )
𝑅𝐶 = (4)
𝐼𝐶
Fig. 2. Circuit diagram of the System designed using Proetus Design Tool
= (5 – 0.3 – 0.7) V / 4.3 mA
= 93.023 Ω
C. Arduino Uno Microcontroller board ≈ 100 Ω (closest standard resistor value)
In the Li-Fi transmission system, the Arduino board acts
as both the transmitter pc (using its serial monitor interface) E. Dual Operational Amplifier (LM358N)
and also the power supply for the whole system. This To duly implement the Li-Fi Transmission System, certain
configuration helps in preventing the use of an external power characteristics guided the choice of the operational amplifier
supply unit and also two microcontroller boards in the in the receiver circuit. The following were the unique
transmitter and receiver circuit for the system. The characteristics and features of the LM358N that made it most
ATmega328P has 32 Kilobytes of flash memory for storing
suitable for the receiver circuit.
the program code, 2 Kilobytes of static random-access
memory (SRAM) and 1 Kilobyte, and an electronically i. In the direct mode, the common-mode input voltage
erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). range incorporates ground and the voltage at the
These features and other facilities enable the Arduino board to output can likewise swing to ground, despite the fact
interconnect with a computer, another microcontroller as that it is operated from just a solitary power supply
another communication device. The ATmega328P pins voltage (of 5V from the Arduino).
configuration is shown in Fig. 3. ii. Eliminates the need for dual supplies thereby
making the Li-Fi receiver circuit simpler and cost-
effective.
iii. A current drain of about 500 μA during low supply
which is basically autonomous of the voltage
supplied.
iv. 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 extremely low input offset current and voltage
(2mV) in relation to other Operational Amplifiers
[9].
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 defined as:
Fig. 3 Arduino Microcontroller board [8]
𝐴𝑉 = 1 + 𝑅2 /𝑅1 (5)

D. Switching Transistor (2N222) Since from the datasheet, the output signal from the
photodiode is about 1.4V maximum and it is desired to have
In the proposed design, it is expected that: the switching
an output voltage that would be easily detected as a 1 signal
transistor in the transmitter circuit would operate under hard
when bit ‘1’ is sent, the amplifier is designed to have a DC
saturation i.e. in the saturation region under all conditions.
voltage gain of 3.
Hence, a base resistance that produces a current gain of 10
Setting the feedback resistor, 𝑅2 , to be 8.2 kΩ; using compare it. The transmitter and receiver's separation can be
equation 5, 𝑅1 is obtained to be : changed, yet so as to avoid the problem of having too small
or excessively high signal, an automatic gain regulator in
𝑅1 = 𝑅2 / (𝐴𝑉 – 1) form of a variable resistor is utilized here. This component
= 8.2 kΩ / (3 – 1) enhances or decreases the digital input voltage signal to a
= 4.1 kΩ desired digital output voltage signal. The LM358 Operational
𝑅1 ≈ 4.7 kΩ ( next closest standard resistor value) Amplifier comparator was used because it has little or no off-
set [9]. The schematic of the circuit diagram as shown in Fig.
With the configuration above, the maximum output 2 was tested on a Breadboard along with the transmitter
voltage to be read a bit ‘1’ is 3.84 V and a bit ‘0’ voltage before being transferred to a Vero Board.
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 IV. METHODOLOGY
deciphered accurately. A. Arduino Setup
The second stage of the receiver circuit is the gain regulation
The Arduino board features a serial communication interface
stage. The second amplifier having input Pins 5 & 6 and
(which includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller on
output Pin 7 is desired to have a unity gain. At the feedback
most models) which was used for loading programs from a
circuit, an automatic gain controller is implemented using a
personal computer to the board. The Arduino IDE was used
variable resistor of value 10 kΩ. This variable gain setup
to program the Arduino. The Arduino via the code was made
helps in boosting the amplified signal when necessary i.e
to perform various tasks like switching on or off the LED on
under improper lighting conditions and ensure that the
the transmitter’s circuit and as well reading the analog signal
photodiode signal from the transmitter’s LED is decoded
read from the photodiode in the receiver’s circuit.
correctly.
In order not to make the system less bogus and redundant,
F. Software Section
the Arduino board was used as the micro-controller as well as
The Arduino, compared to other families of microcontrollers the Power Supply Unit (PSU) for the circuits. It supplies a
is a very easy microcontroller to use. One of the reasons is voltage of about 5 V from its 𝑉𝐶𝐶 port when connected to the
due to the ease of programming the microcontroller [8]. It PC via the serial connector cable and also acts as the virtual
involves using the Arduino Integrated Development ground [8].
Environment (IDE) downloaded at
Arduino.cc/en/Main/Software for free. Codes written for
Arduino are very similar to C sometimes called Arduino-C. B. Hardware Implementation
Programs to be uploaded to the board are called “sketches”
The Li-Fi data transmission system is set up such that a single
and each sketch is divided, mainly into three parts:
Micro Controller - Arduino board is used to encode, decode
and supply power to the transmitter and receiver circuits.
1. Library and variable declarations
2. The setup function and
After the design and calculations of the resistor values in the
3. The loop function
transmitter and receiver, all the components of the circuit
were implemented on a breadboard carefully with the aid of
G. Hardware Design jumper wires and a multimeter was used to test the continuity
The Transmitter of the circuit from point to point.
The conversion digital data into visible light is the basic task
if the transmitter. In view of a LED's moderately linear 1) The Hardware for the transmitter was designed and
relationship between its intensity and current, it becomes a implemented utilizing the accompanying steps:
suitable component. Modulation of the LED’s intensity is the 2) The transmitter circuit design was drawn after
general idea i.e., the symbol transmitted correlates with the design calculations were completed. The software
light intensity. The Arduino ports are not equipped for used for drawing the circuit schematic layout is the
conveying the appropriate measure of current to make the Proteus 8 Professional Design Tool.
light intensity solid and quick enough. To get around this 3) After designing the circuit layout, the components
issue, a transistor is utilized as a switch, which made it were acquired and then connected on the breadboard
conceivable to switch a bigger current quicker. In Fig. 2, a using jumper wires where necessary.
schematic is appeared to give the transmitter's overview. 4) Next, the circuit after a series of tests on the
Breadboard is transferred into a Vero board of
The Receiver appropriate size carefully.
The task of the receiver is to convert the approaching light
into current utilizing a photodiode. Since for a signal that is Then finally, the components were soldered appropriately
digital, the Arduino cannot receive a voltage that is above 5 and then retested.
V; thus, the electrical circuit between the photodiode and the
Arduino needs to process the electrical signal so it tends to be In other to ensure the proper testing of the system and
deciphered correctly. The receiver's circuit needs to change circumvent its proneness to errors, the transmitter and receiver
over the current to voltage so as to enhance(amplify) and then circuits were implemented on a single breadboard and the
LED and photodiode were in close proximity to one another. 1) The Arduino program is uploaded onto it chip via
After several tests, the components on the breadboard were the serial port and the port number is noted.
then soldered carefully using the same circuit configuration on 2) After successfully uploading the program, the
separate Vero boards. A multimeter is used after soldering to Arduino serial monitor is opened and the text to be
detect dry joints, bridging of joints and test for continuity of sent is typed in the text box of the Arduino serial
lines on the Vero board. This helps to reduce the strain of monitor indicated in Fig. 4 (which was used to avoid
constructing the circuit and detecting causes of error before making the process tedious). The sent text was “Li-
using the circuit. Fi System”.
3) The system module will buffer it and begin
transmitting it through the LED which acts as the
C. Software Implementation input to the channel.
The only implementation of software design carried out is the 4) The Arduino connected to the receiving PC will
creation of the application that decodes the sent message from receive the data transferred over the LED to the
the transmitter and displays it on its output window. The channel i.e. the photodiode and the double stage
application is a Java application created using Net beans amplifier, which in turn decodes it.
Programming interface. The Arduino library was imported to The received text is then displayed using the Java GUI
the Net Beans IDE as this is an external library specially application designed as shown in Fig. 4.
designed to ensure the Java application can communicate
with the Arduino microcontroller effectively.
V. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed from the The final design verification was done using the complete
program has a connect button and a system-generated port list system; transmitter, receiver, and software, and the results are
so as to give the user flexibility in the selection of ports on shown in Fig. 4.
the Receiver PC. The application is opened through its link
stored in the Net Beans IDE used to create it. The application A. Transmitter
prompts the user to connect the Arduino microcontroller to The transmitter gets a signal from the PC utilizing USB Cable
one of the ports from the drop-down list of ports. The port to then from Arduino's GPIO connecting pins. The transistor
be chosen can be determined by carefully viewing the port which works as a switch to the LED's power supply is
number from the Arduino IDE used to upload the regulated by this signal. A Test data sent – a text (“Li-Fi
microcontroller encoding program onto the Arduino board. System”) encoding involved determining the characters of
The port to be connected 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. 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.

D. Implemetation Procedure
The practical execution of the work comprises of the
following 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;
Fig. 4. Encoding and Decoding Monitor
4) Transmission decoding: This is done by the
photodiode which converts the light signal to an the text individually in ASCII codes and then converting
analog signal of varying magnitude and then passes them to binary bits individually before being transmitted as
it to the amplifier for amplification and light signals. Here it tends to be noticed that both 5 V and 12
differentiation of the bits. V supply can be utilized in the transmitter for powering the
5) Error handling: This is performed by the automatic LED yet for straightforwardness and less complexity of the
gain controller which is immediately after the circuits, 5 V supply is favoured for low power operation.
photodiode. It ensures that a “1” is clearly
differentiated from a “0” bit.
B. Receiver
At whatever point a user needs to send information (data) to The incoming signal (light) is converted to a signal (in
another user, the following steps will occur: electrical form) by the receiver using the photodiode and
feeds it into the microcontroller via the operational amplifier can be connected to the computer system just like a modem
- which filters and amplifies the signal. ADC operation is and would get its power supply from the USB port of the
carried out on the signal before giving it to the Arduino computer. This set up would greatly improve the portability of
because it is in analog form after amplification. Fig. 4 shows the device as well as prevent its proneness to error. The major
the measured analog signal in parenthesis at the output of the improvement on this system should focus on the process of
amplifier when a bit ‘1’ or ‘0’ is received. The generated transferring data to and from a PC either in half-duplex mode
current by the photodiode is exceptionally low; hence, it is or even simultaneously.
converted to voltage by a high-value resistor. Subsequently,
this voltage is additionally enhanced for the comparator to
give appropriately transmitted bits. Finally, on the receiver VII. REFERENCES
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