Analysis of Multiple-Access Discrimination Techniques for the Development of a PSD-Based VLP System

There are several technologies and techniques available when developing indoor positioning systems (IPS). Recently, the development of positioning systems based on optical signals has aroused great interest, mainly those using visible light from the lighting infrastructure. In this work, we analyze which techniques give better results to lay the foundations for the development of a Visible Light Positioning system (VLP). Working only with a receiver, it is analyzed what the result of determining the position of different emitters is when they emit simultaneously and without any synchronism. The results obtained by Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) (with digital bandpass filters, I/Q demodulation, and FFT) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) are compared. The interference between signals when emitted simultaneously from multiple emitters is analyzed as well as the errors they cause and how these effects can be mitigated. As a result of the research, the advantages and disadvantages using different multiple-access determination techniques are determined. In addition, advantages and disadvantages of using FDMA and CDMA techniques as well as hardware requirements that make one more feasible than the other are presented. The system behavior, in terms of errors, is established using FDMA and different configurations such as: I/Q, RMS, or FFT. The work also determines the error rates that can be obtained with the different FDMA and CDMA configurations, considering different error scenarios and integration time. Synthetic emulations and empirical tests were performed, which concluded that IPS systems based on optical signals and PSD sensors can achieve very high measurement accuracies and a high measurement rate. Obtained positioning errors in a room of 3 m height are less than 1 cm when working in noisy environments.Agencia Estatal de Investigació

Hybrid Dy-NFIS & RLS equalization for ZCC code in optical-CDMA over multi-mode optical fiber

For long haul coherent optical fiber communication systems, it is significant to precisely monitor the quality of transmission links and optical signals. The channel capacity beyond Shannon limit of Single-mode optical fiber (SMOF) is achieved with the help of Multi-mode optical fiber (MMOF), where the signal is multiplexed in different spatial modes. To increase single-mode transmission capacity and to avoid a foreseen “capacity crunch”, researchers have been motivated to employ MMOF as an alternative. Furthermore, different multiplexing techniques could be applied in MMOF to improve the communication system. One of these techniques is the Optical Code Division Multiple Access (Optical-CDMA), which simplifies and decentralizes network controls to improve spectral efficiency and information security increasing flexibility in bandwidth granularity. This technique also allows synchronous and simultaneous transmission medium to be shared by many users. However, during the propagation of the data over the MMOF based on Optical-CDMA, an inevitable encountered issue is pulse dispersion, nonlinearity and MAI due to mode coupling. Moreover, pulse dispersion, nonlinearity and MAI are significant aspects for the evaluation of the performance of high-speed MMOF communication systems based on Optical-CDMA. This work suggests a hybrid algorithm based on nonlinear algorithm (Dynamic evolving neural fuzzy inference (Dy-NFIS)) and linear algorithm (Recursive least squares (RLS)) equalization for ZCC code in Optical-CDMA over MMOF. Root mean squared error (RMSE), mean squared error (MSE) and Structural Similarity index (SSIM) are used to measure performance results

Visible light positioning system based on a quadrant photodiode and encoding techniques

Visible light positioning systems (VLPSs) are a feasible alternative to local positioning systems due to the technology improvement and massive use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Compared to other technologies, VLPSs can provide significant advantages, such as the achieved accuracy, although they still present some issues, mainly related to the reduced coverage area or the high computational load. This article proposes the design of a VLPS based on four LED lamps as transmitters and a quadrant photodiode angular diversity aperture (QADA) as a receiver. As the shape of the QADA is circular and the aperture to be installed over it is square, we derive the corresponding general equations to obtain the currents through the different pads of the QADA, regarding the angle of incidence of the light (and, inversely, how to estimate the angle of incidence from the measured currents). An encoding scheme based on 1023-bit Kasami sequences is proposed for every transmission from the LED lamps, thus providing multiple access capability and robustness against low signal-to-noise ratios and harsh conditions, such as multipath and near-far effect. A triangulation technique has been applied to estimate the receiver's position, by means of the least-squares estimator (LSE), together with some geometrical considerations. The proposal has been validated by simulation and by experimental tests, obtaining 3-D positioning average errors below 13 and 5.5 cm for separations between the transmitters' plane and the receiver of 2 and 1 m, respectively

Design, Calibration, and Evaluation of a Long-Range 3-D Infrared Positioning System Based on Encoding Techniques

Optical indoor positioning systems have experienced an increasing research interest during last years as they can provide 3D centimeter accuracy using LED lighting. In the case of having several LEDs emitting simultaneously and a receiver (e.g. the tag to be localized), these systems face important challenges, such as very high dynamic ranges with low Signal-to-Noise Ratios when the coverage area is increased, Multiple Access Interference (MAI), multipath and near-far effects, calibration issues (misalignments in the receiver and other intrinsic parameters), and so on. Previous work have already shown the feasibility of using LED emitters in combination with Quadrature Angular Diversity Aperture (QADA) receivers to implement positioning systems. This work further introduces new design considerations, tested on an experimental setup, to enlarge the emitter-receiver range, thus increasing the total coverage, while dealing with the aforementioned challenges. The system applies encoding techniques to each transmitter to solve the multiple access problem. The performance of two different types of codes has been compared, as well as their influence on the final estimation of the receiver?s position: one based on Kasami sequences and another based on Loosely Synchronous (LS) codes, derived from Complementary Sets of Sequences. At the receiver, the estimation of the incident point is constrained to angles at which the system can be linearized, and a specific calibration process for this type of sensor has also been defined and applied. The proposal has been finally validated with both, simulated and experimental results, in a large space of 2 2m2 (base), with a distance from transmitters to receiver of 3:4m (height). The experimental tests at distances up to 4 m, carried out after the calibration process, achieve average absolute errors bellow 10 cm for X and Y axis and around 20 cm for Z, and standard deviations below 4 cm for X and Y , and around 30 cm for Z.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónUniversidad de Alcal

Contribución al posicionamiento en interiores basado en emisores de señal óptica y detectores PSD

Esta tesis se centra en aportar propuestas que permitan establecer la base de desarrollo de sistemas de posicionamiento local (LPS) basados en señales ópticas y que utilicen sensores PSD. La principal fuente de error de los sistemas LPS desarrollados a partir de señales ópticas es el efecto del multicamino producido por las diferentes reflexiones de la luz en el entorno. Gran parte del trabajo se ha centrado en analizar su influencia para poder decidir qué técnica de medida es más inmune a este efecto. Para conocer cómo se va a reflejar la luz procedente del emisor en los distintos materiales del entorno se ha desarrollado un modelo de reflexión. Se ha demostrado que el modelo propuesto es válido para la gran mayoría de los materiales. Además, se ha propuesto un método para obtener los parámetros del modelo de forma sencilla y con pocas medidas. Conocido cómo se refleja la luz en los distintos materiales, se ha propuesto un método para obtener la respuesta al impulso del canal debida al efecto del multicamino, utilizando el modelo de reflexión propuesto. Además, se ha desarrollado un método que permite analizar la influencia del efecto del multicamino en sistemas basados en AoA con sensores PSD obteniendo el punto de impacto y la potencia con la que llega cada uno de los multicaminos, después de k rebotes de la señal en el entorno, a la superficie del PSD. Una vez desarrollado el método, se ha analizado qué técnica de medida es más inmune al efecto del multicamino. Se han estudiado los efectos sobre las técnicas de ángulo de llegada (AoA) y fase de llegada (PoA), concluyendo que la técnica más inmune es AoA. Se ha demostrado la validez del método con pruebas experimentales. Dado que en ocasiones es necesario poder distinguir entre varios agentes en sistemas de posicionamiento local, se han analizado distintas técnicas de discriminación multiagente para su uso en posicionamiento local con sistemas que utilicen PSD y señales ópticas, como pueden ser el acceso múltiple por división de frecuencia (FDMA) y de código (CDMA). Tras analizarlas en distintos entornos se ha concluido que la técnica usada en el LPS será FDMA ya que, eligiendo correctamente los filtros, la interferencia entre emisores es mínima y se evitan los problemas de interferencia por acceso múltiple (MAI) de CDMA y se reducen los tiempos de obtención de la posición. Se han expuesto distintas propuestas para el posicionamiento 3D con sensor PSD en función del número de emisores dentro del campo de visión (FoV) del receptor. Finalmente, se han realizado distintas pruebas en entornos reales donde se demuestra que se pueden obtener, a partir de las propuestas presentadas, una alta precisión y exactitud en el posicionamiento, con errores de pocos centímetros y en algunos casos por debajo del centímetro

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2003, nr 2

kwartalni

A two phase framework for visible light-based positioning in an indoor environment: performance, latency, and illumination

Recently with the advancement of solid state lighting and the application thereof to Visible Light Communications (VLC), the concept of Visible Light Positioning (VLP) has been targeted as a very attractive indoor positioning system (IPS) due to its ubiquity, directionality, spatial reuse, and relatively high modulation bandwidth. IPSs, in general, have 4 major components (1) a modulation, (2) a multiple access scheme, (3) a channel measurement, and (4) a positioning algorithm. A number of VLP approaches have been proposed in the literature and primarily focus on a fixed combination of these elements and moreover evaluate the quality of the contribution often by accuracy or precision alone. In this dissertation, we provide a novel two-phase indoor positioning algorithmic framework that is able to increase robustness when subject to insufficient anchor luminaries and also incorporate any combination of the four major IPS components. The first phase provides robust and timely albeit less accurate positioning proximity estimates without requiring more than a single luminary anchor using time division access to On Off Keying (OOK) modulated signals while the second phase provides a more accurate, conventional, positioning estimate approach using a novel geometric constrained triangulation algorithm based on angle of arrival (AoA) measurements. However, this approach is still an application of a specific combination of IPS components. To achieve a broader impact, the framework is employed on a collection of IPS component combinations ranging from (1) pulsed modulations to multicarrier modulations, (2) time, frequency, and code division multiple access, (3) received signal strength (RSS), time of flight (ToF), and AoA, as well as (4) trilateration and triangulation positioning algorithms. Results illustrate full room positioning coverage ranging with median accuracies ranging from 3.09 cm to 12.07 cm at 50% duty cycle illumination levels. The framework further allows for duty cycle variation to include dimming modulations and results range from 3.62 cm to 13.15 cm at 20% duty cycle while 2.06 cm to 8.44 cm at a 78% duty cycle. Testbed results reinforce this frameworks applicability. Lastly, a novel latency constrained optimization algorithm can be overlaid on the two phase framework to decide when to simply use the coarse estimate or when to expend more computational resources on a potentially more accurate fine estimate. The creation of the two phase framework enables robust, illumination, latency sensitive positioning with the ability to be applied within a vast array of system deployment constraints

Sensors and Systems for Indoor Positioning

This reprint is a reprint of the articles that appeared in Sensors' (MDPI) Special Issue on “Sensors and Systems for Indoor Positioning". The published original contributions focused on systems and technologies to enable indoor applications

3D Positioning system with optical sensors using encoding techniques

Esta tesis doctoral se centra en el desarrollo y la mejora de los Sistemas de Posicionamiento Locales (LPS) en interiores, los cuales se utilizan en entornos no compatibles con señales GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) para localizar, seguir y guiar a personas, objetos o vehículos. Se han realizado numerosos estudios para llevar a cabo un sistema de posicionamiento en entornos interiores, donde las personas pasan aproximadamente el 80% de su tiempo. Algunas de las técnicas propuestas emplean diversas señales, como acústicas, de radiofrecuencia, mecánicas u ópticas, entre otras. Por su bajo coste, facilidad de integración en el entorno de trabajo y ausencia de riesgos para la salud, la tecnología óptica es una alternativa viable que ha comenzado a expandirse rápidamente. Esta tesis aporta propuestas que permiten establecer las bases para el desarrollo de un LPS óptico basado en técnicas de codificación y sensores QADA. Se han propuesto dos diseños: un LPS orientado a la privacidad, basado en un conjunto de cuatro LEDs transmisores, aunque fácilmente extensible a más emisores, que actúan como balizas en ubicaciones conocidas y un único sensor QADA que actúa como el receptor a posicionar; y un LPS centralizado basado en un conjunto de transmisores móviles y al menos dos receptores QADA colocados en ubicaciones conocidas. Se han estudiado los módulos transmisor y receptor. En concreto, se propone un esquema de codificación para la emisión del transmisor, que proporciona capacidad de acceso múltiple, así como robustez frente a bajas relaciones señal a ruido y condiciones adversas como los efectos de multicamino y cerca-lejos. Además, para mejorar las prestaciones de la propuesta sin aumentar significativamente el tiempo de emisión, se han analizado diferentes secuencias y sus longitudes, como los códigos LS (Loosely Synchronized) o las secuencias pseudoaleatorias (Kasami). Por otro lado, el módulo receptor está compuesto por un sensor QADA, una apertura cuadrada y una etapa de filtrado para reducir las interferencias no deseadas. El sensor QADA y la apertura se han modelado para, en primer lugar, analizar la influencia de la longitud de la apertura en la linealidad de las ecuaciones de estimación del punto imagen y, en segundo lugar, determinar los parámetros intrínsecos que modelan el receptor (longitud, altura, desalineación y descentrado de la apertura respecto al sensor QADA), de forma que se pueda implementar un algoritmo de calibración para mejorar la precisión del sistema propuesto. El LPS tiene como objetivo estimar la posición 3D de un objeto estático o en movimiento. Para ello, se diseñan varios algoritmos basados en técnicas de triangulación con determinación de ángulos de llegada (AoA) y técnicas homograficas que resuelven el problema de la perspectiva de n puntos (PnP) del sistema pin-hole propuesto. Todas las propuestas han sido verificadas mediante simulaciones y pruebas experimentales en una gran variedad de situaciones: utilizando luz visible o infrarroja, secuencias LS o Kasami, diferentes longitudes de apertura, distintas distancias entre transmisores y receptores, diferentes algoritmos de posicionamiento y varias rotaciones del receptor. Finalmente, las pruebas experimentales han demostrado que es posible posicionar con errores de menos de 5 centímetros

Indoor Positioning and Navigation

In recent years, rapid development in robotics, mobile, and communication technologies has encouraged many studies in the field of localization and navigation in indoor environments. An accurate localization system that can operate in an indoor environment has considerable practical value, because it can be built into autonomous mobile systems or a personal navigation system on a smartphone for guiding people through airports, shopping malls, museums and other public institutions, etc. Such a system would be particularly useful for blind people. Modern smartphones are equipped with numerous sensors (such as inertial sensors, cameras, and barometers) and communication modules (such as WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE/5G, and UWB capabilities), which enable the implementation of various localization algorithms, namely, visual localization, inertial navigation system, and radio localization. For the mapping of indoor environments and localization of autonomous mobile sysems, LIDAR sensors are also frequently used in addition to smartphone sensors. Visual localization and inertial navigation systems are sensitive to external disturbances; therefore, sensor fusion approaches can be used for the implementation of robust localization algorithms. These have to be optimized in order to be computationally efficient, which is essential for real-time processing and low energy consumption on a smartphone or robot