Line scan sampling for visible light communication: Theory and practice

This paper proposes a novel visible light communication method which consists of two techniques: a high-speed sampling method called line-scan sampling (LSS) and modulation schemes designed for LSS. LSS utilizes the line scan characteristics of CMOS image sensors and it enables high-speed sampling that is a thousand times faster than image frame-based sampling using conventional smartphones. The modulation schemes compensate for shortcomings of LSS and enable visible light communication without perceptible flicker using both current control and PWM control light sources. In this paper, we describe the principle of LSS and two types of modulation schemes, and discuss their experimentally-measured performance.