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An Indoor Positioning System Based on Visible Light Communication Using a

Solar Cell as Receiver

Chapter · February 2018

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-73192-6_5

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Ameur Chaabna Abdesselam Babouri

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 An Indoor Positioning System Based on Visible
Light Communication Using a Solar
Cell as Receiver

Ameur Chaabna1, Abdesselam Babouri2(&), and Xun Zhang3

1
LABCAV, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Faculty Science and Technology, University of 8 May 1945 Guelma,
BP 401, 24000 Guelma, Algeria
[email protected]
2
LGEG, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Faculty Science and Technology, University of 8 May 1945 Guelma,
BP 401, 24000 Guelma, Algeria
[email protected]
3
ISEP, Paris, France
[email protected]

Abstract. This paper studies an Indoor Positioning System (IPS) based on

Visible Light Communication (VLC) using the solar cell as an optical receiver
unlike conventional receivers. Due to the advantage of the solar cell such as: low
cost, flexibility, and high light sensitivity, the proposed system is capable of
simultaneous communication and energy gathering. The studied system is
considered like an environmentally friendly and a promising technology in the
next years.

Keywords: Visible light communication
IPS
Solar cell
Energy gathering

Trilateration

1 Introduction

The operation of positioning people and objects has always been important and will be
more important in the next years. The recent technology to detect targets is the visible
light communication (VLC), where it’s very remarkable [1] as a new type of wireless
communication technology with less energy consumption. In addition, the no effected
to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) allows VLC to be applied in many sectors like
hospitals, airplane, smart cities, smart homes, offices, etc., where the radio frequency
(RF) communication is in interference with equipment’s signals. Hence, VLC has
attracted many interests recently [2–5]. Classical receivers used in VLC systems are
(PIN) photo-diode (PD) or avalanche photodiode (APD). Energy harvesting and signal
detecting system is a new conception which was proposed in [6] as a solar-panel VLC
receiver system and in [7] the authors used a solar cell as a simultaneous receiver of
solar power and visible light communication (VLC) signals. Besides, the modulated
VLC optical signal can converted into electrical data signal without having to supply
external power, by the solar cell arrays or solar panels Rx. This electrical signal can be
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
M. Hatti (ed.), Artificial Intelligence in Renewable Energetic Systems, Lecture Notes
in Networks and Systems 35, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73192-6_5
44 A. Chaabna et al.

used to fill the battery of the receiver. It should be noted that the silicon-based solar
cells can receive VLC data and recover energy at the same time. In our work, to locate
the receiver we uses Trilateration technique and to estimate the receiver’s distance from
transmitters on the ceiling, the information from the received signal is used. Unlike
conventional VLC positioning system, a solar cell is used as a positioning receiver. The
Field Of View (FOV), light sensitivity and detection area are significantly enhanced
compared to the performance of PIN Photodiode (PD). In addition to needless of
external power supply, it can provide energy efficiency to the receiver side [8]. This
work can be exploited for asset and people tracking in several indoor sectors as
tracking patients in hospitals or security guards in malls. A study of I-V and P-V curves
of solar cell under visible light is done, a similar model to the real lighting conditions
are solved with MATLAB simulations. The results indicate that we can receive data
and collect energy by the same solar cells.

2 Proposed Model of Visible Light Positioning System

2.1 Description Model
The proposed model of the visible light positioning system is shown in Fig. 1, where a
four LEDs function as transmitters placed on ceiling. The LEDs transmit a unique ID
signal to the receiver using the On-Off-Keying (OOK) modulation. The location of the
receiver can be estimated after demodulating the ID signal from four LEDs. When the
target moved, a new ID signal will be detected, hence a new position can be estimated
due to the varying of the received power with the distance between receiver to LEDs.
The assumed distance between the 2  8 solar cell array and the 15 W LED is 2 m.

Fig. 1. Proposed model.

 An Indoor Positioning System Based on Visible Light Communication 45

2.2 Model Analysis

In order to analyze relationship of the LED’s transmitter model and the solar cell
detector an approximation is formulated.

2.3 LED Light Model

According to [9], the channel DC gain is given by
(
mþ1
2pd 2 As cosm ð/Þ cosðwÞTs ðwÞgðwÞ; 0  w  wc
H ð0ÞLOS ¼ ð1Þ
0; w [ wc

Where As is the physical area of the photodetector, w is the angle of incidence with
respect to the receiver axis, wc is the field of view (FOV) of detector, / is the angle of
irradiance with respect to the transmitter perpendicular axis and d is the distance
between transmitter and receiver. The Lambertian order m is given by: m ¼   ln 2 
ln cos /1
2

and /12 is the half power angle of the LED bulb. Ts ðwÞ is the gain of optical filter, gðwÞ
is the optical concentrator gain.
The total received optical power of i LEDs is given by

LX
EDs
Prx;LOS ¼ i
Ptx HLOS ð 0Þ ð2Þ
i¼1

2.4 Solar Cell Model

The model of the solar cell shown in Fig. 2 can be expressed as [10]
   
qðV þ IRs Þ dV V þ IRs
I ¼ Np Ip  I0 exp 1 C  ð3Þ
Ns AKT dt Rth

Fig. 2. Typical solar cell model.

46 A. Chaabna et al.

Where Np is the number of solar cells in parallel, Ns is the series number, Ip is the
light current, I0 is the diode saturation current, V is the output voltage of solar cell, I is
the output current, and A is a constant which is typically in the range 1 to 3, assuming
that

AKT
K0 ¼ ð4Þ
q

As Rth  Rs , (3) can be written by

   
ðV þ IRs Þ dV
I ¼ N1 Ip  I0 exp 1 C ð5Þ
N2 K0 dt

Ip is positively proportional with received illuminance power for solar cell, hence,

S
Ip ¼ Isc ð6Þ
1000

Where S is the illuminance power of solar cell. Isc is the short circuit current. All the
parameters are considered in Standard Test Conditions (STC). The solar cell worked in
the open state if I ¼ 0, (5) becomes
  
Uoc
Np Ip ¼ I0 exp 1 ð7Þ
K0 Ns

Hence,

N I
I0 ¼  p p ð8Þ
exp Uoc
K0 Ns 1

2.5 Overall System Model

In the case where Pr ¼ S, the two precedent models can be connected. Hence, by
combining (5), (6) and (7) the final relationship between U of solar cell side and LED
power side can be expressed as
( h  i
þ1
Pt m2pd 2 cos ð/Þ cosðwÞTs ðwÞgðwÞ K  ; 0  w  wc
m 1 1 U
1 exp
U¼ 1 K2 Rh K3 ð9Þ
0; w [ wc

Where Rh is the load resistance of solar cell, K1 , K2 and K3 are constants depended
of parameters Np , Ns , Isc and Uoc .
 An Indoor Positioning System Based on Visible Light Communication 47

3 Principle of Positioning

Using Trilateration technique in order to locate the target by calculating the accurate
position and to achieve the distance a received signal power is exploited. Applying the
linear least square estimation for 2-D positioning, the receiver location is obtained [11].

ðx  xA Þ2 þ ðy  yA Þ2 ¼ dA2 ð10Þ

ðx  xB Þ2 þ ðy  yB Þ2 ¼ dB2 ð11Þ

ðx  xC Þ2 þ ðy  yC Þ2 ¼ dC2 ð12Þ

ðx  xD Þ2 þ ðy  yD Þ2 ¼ dD2 ð13Þ

Where ½xA ; xB ; xC ; xD  and ½yA ; yB ; yC ; yD  are the coordinates of LEDs,

½dA ; dB ; dC ; dD  are the horizontal distances from the receiver to LEDs, ðx; yÞ is the
receiver’s position to be estimated.

4 Results and Discussion

The solar cell AM-5308 parameters are chosen for this work, according to Eqs. (5), (6)
and (7) we represent our curves. Figure 3(a) represents I-V curves for different solar
cell arrays, noting that the Open Circuit Voltage Uoc for 4  4 array is half of values for
4  8 Uoc and the short circuit current Isc for 2  8 array also is half of values for 4  8
of Isc . The values of Uoc of 2  8 and 4  8 are between 3 to 3.5 V, which it’s enough
to charge Lithium battery. Figure 3(b) shows I-V curves of 2  8 array under different
illumination 300, 500 and 1000 Lx, which is according to the International Organi-
zation for Standardization (ISO) from 300 to 1500 Lx, where it is sufficient for office
work [12].

Fig. 3. (a) I-V curves for different solar cell arrays, (b) I-V curves with different illumination of
2  8 array (T = 298 K).
48 A. Chaabna et al.

In Fig. 4(a) a P-R curves for different solar cell arrays are illustrated. The resistance
corresponding for output power 1.4  10−4 W under 300 Lx is 50 kX . Power prop-
erties of 2  8 array under different illumination values are simulated in Fig. 4(b). The
amplitudes recorded from the four frequencies transmitted by LEDs are used to get the
distance between Rx and each LED. In order to obtain the results of positioning it is
necessary to solve the equations system (10), (11), (12) and (13). The estimated
position of the target at the center is illustrated in Fig. 5. Due we need a value at 500 Lx
of the illuminance of the typical room, an enhance of illuminance of LED lamps must
done.

Fig. 4. (a) P-R curves for different solar cell arrays, (b) P-R curves with different illumination of
2  8 array (T = 298 K).

Fig. 5. Results using Trilateration positioning method at the center: (a) Global view, (b) Eye
diagram
 An Indoor Positioning System Based on Visible Light Communication 49

5 Conclusion

In our work we studied an indoor positioning system using solar cell as an optical
receiver unlike conventional VLC positioning system. As we know the solar cell is a
passive component, hence it does not require an external power supply and this is the
difference compared with the PIN photodiode PD. Energy gathering and VLC signal
detection simultaneously can be realized. The Trilateration technique and the ID signal
information are used in this paper to achieve a suitable accuracy. The studied receiver
can be integrated with wearable device to obtain an indoor positioning device with low
cost and eco-friendly. Many factors were ignored in this model like response of solar
cell to frequency and the channel impact, in the next works we take them into con-
sideration and an optimization of the model will be done.

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