Etude et réalisation d'un système de communications par lumière visible (VLC/LiFi). Application au domaine automobile.

The scientific problematic of this PhD is centered on the usage of Visible LightCommunications (VLC) in automotive applications. By enabling wireless communication amongvehicles and also with the traffic infrastructure, the safety and efficiency of the transportation canbe substantially increased. Considering the numerous advantages of the VLC technologyencouraged the study of its appropriateness for the envisioned automotive applications, as analternative and/or a complement for the traditional radio frequency based communications.In order to conduct this research, a low-cost VLC system for automotive application wasdeveloped. The proposed system aims to ensure a highly robust communication between a LEDbasedVLC emitter and an on-vehicle VLC receiver. For the study of vehicle to vehicle (V2V)communication, the emitter was developed based on a vehicle backlight whereas for the study ofinfrastructure to vehicle (I2V) communication, the emitter was developed based on a traffic light.Considering the VLC receiver, a central problem in this area is the design of a suitable sensorable to enhance the conditioning of the signal and to avoid disturbances due to the environmentalconditions, issues that are addressed in the thesis. The performances of a cooperative drivingsystem integrating the two components were evaluated as well.The experimental validation of the VLC system was performed in various conditions andscenarios. The results confirmed the performances of the proposed system and demonstrated thatVLC can be a viable technology for the considered applications. Furthermore, the results areencouraging towards the continuations of the work in this domain.La problématique scientifique de cette thèse est centrée sur le développement decommunications par lumière visible (Visible Light Communications - VLC) dans lesapplications automobiles. En permettant la communication sans fil entre les véhicules, ou entreles véhicules et l’infrastructure routière, la sécurité et l'efficacité du transport peuvent êtreconsidérablement améliorées. Compte tenu des nombreux avantages de la technologie VLC,cette solution se présente comme une excellente alternative ou un complément pour lescommunications actuelles plutôt basées sur les technologies radio-fréquences traditionnelles.Pour réaliser ces travaux de recherche, un système VLC à faible coût pour applicationautomobile a été développé. Le système proposé vise à assurer une communication très robusteentre un émetteur VLC à base de LED et un récepteur VLC monté sur un véhicule. Pour l'étudedes communications véhicule à véhicule (V2V), l'émetteur a été développé sur la base d’un pharearrière rouge de voiture, tandis que pour l'étude des communications de l'infrastructure auvéhicule (I2V), l'émetteur a été développé sur la base d'un feu de circulation. Considérant lerécepteur VLC, le problème principal réside autour d’un capteur approprié, en mesured'améliorer le conditionnement du signal et de limiter les perturbations dues des conditionsenvironnementales. Ces différents points sont abordés dans la thèse, d’un point de vue simulationmais également réalisation du prototype.La validation expérimentale du système VLC a été réalisée dans différentes conditions etscénarii. Les résultats démontrent que la VLC peut être une technologie viable pour lesapplications envisagées

Analysis of the scalability of UWB indoor localization solutions for high user densities

Radio frequency (RF) technologies are often used to track assets in indoor environments. Among others, ultra-wideband (UWB) has constantly gained interest thanks to its capability to obtain typical errors of 30 cm or lower, making it more accurate than other wireless technologies such as WiFi, which normally can predict the location with several meters accuracy. However, mainly due to technical requirements that are part of the standard, conventional medium access strategies such as clear channel assessment, are not straightforward to implement. Since most scientific papers focus on UWB accuracy improvements of a single user, it is not clear to which extend this limitation and other design choices impact the scalability of UWB indoor positioning systems. We investigated the scalability of indoor localization solutions, to prove that UWB can be used when hundreds of tags are active in the same system. This paper provides mathematical models that calculate the theoretical supported user density for multiple localization approaches, namely Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) and Two-Way Ranging (TWR) with different MAC protocol combinations, i.e., ALOHA and TDMA. Moreover, this paper applies these formulas to a number of realistic UWB configurations to study the impact of different UWB schemes and settings. When applied to the 802.15.4a compliant Decawave DW1000 chip, the scalability dramatically degrades if the system operates with uncoordinated protocols and two-way communication schemes. In the best case scenario, UWB DW1000 chips can actively support up to 6171 tags in a single domain cell (no handover) with well-selected settings and choices, i.e., when adopting the combination of TDoA (one-way link) and TDMA. As a consequence, UWB can be used to simultaneously localize thousands of nodes in a dense network. However, we also show that the number of supported devices varies greatly depending on the MAC and PHY configuration choices

Visible light communication system based on software defined radio: Performance study of intelligent transportation and indoor applications

In this paper, our first attempt at visible light communication system, based on software defined radio (SDR) and implemented in LabVIEW is introduced. This paper mainly focuses on two most commonly used types of LED lights, ceiling lights and LED car lamps/tail-lights. The primary focus of this study is to determine the basic parameters of real implementation of visible light communication (VLC) system, such as transmit speed, communication errors (bit-error ratio, error vector magnitude, energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio) and highest reachable distance. This work focuses on testing various multistate quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM). We have used Skoda Octavia III tail-light and Phillips indoor ceiling light as transmitters and SI PIN Thorlabs photodetector as receiver. Testing method for each light was different. When testing ceiling light, we have focused on reachable distance for each M-QAM variant. On the other side, Octavia tail-light was tested in variable nature conditions (such as thermal turbulence, rain, fog) simulated in special testing box. This work will present our solution, measured parameters and possible weak spots, which will be adjusted in the future.Web of Science84art. no. 43

Selected Papers from the 5th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications

This Special Issue comprises selected papers from the proceedings of the 5th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications, held on 15–30 November 2018, on sciforum.net, an online platform for hosting scholarly e-conferences and discussion groups. In this 5th edition of the electronic conference, contributors were invited to provide papers and presentations from the field of sensors and applications at large, resulting in a wide variety of excellent submissions and topic areas. Papers which attracted the most interest on the web or that provided a particularly innovative contribution were selected for publication in this collection. These peer-reviewed papers are published with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications. We hope this conference series will grow rapidly in the future and become recognized as a new way and venue by which to (electronically) present new developments related to the field of sensors and their applications