BlinkComm: Initialization of IoT Devices Using Visible Light Communication

Jan 1, 2018·
Toni Perković
Toni Perković
,
Tonko Kovačević
,
Mario Čagalj

Abstract

Many applications from the Internet of Things (IoT) domain used in healthcare, smart homes, and cities involve a large number of interconnected wireless devices. To ensure privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of the information, devices should be initialized prior to any communication. In this paper, we present a secure initialization method for constrained IoT devices such as wireless sensors devices and/or actuators. The solution uses visible light communication (VLC) for the initial configuration of the IoT devices. The VLC system consists of a modulated light source such as a smartphone screen and a very simple photodetector. We analyze known coding and modulation techniques used for the VLC and propose BlinkComm, a differential coding technique that achieves threefold increase in transmission speed compared to existing solutions. We showed through experiments with 32 participants that the proposed solution achieves fast completion times and low error rates as well as high user satisfaction levels.

Type

Publication

Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2018(1)

Status

Peer-reviewed Open access
publications
Toni Perković
Authors
Full Professor
I am a Full Professor in the Department of Electronics and Computing at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB), University of Split, Croatia, where I teach wireless network security, wireless communication networks, data science and reinforcement learning. My research spans information security, applied cryptography and the Internet of Things. Before returning to FESB in 2020, I was an assistant and then associate professor at the University Department of Forensic Sciences in Split. I co-founded the SpliTech international conference and serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Communications Software and Systems.