Visible Light Communication Indoor Navigation System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional GPS-based navigation systems are ineffective in large-scale building structures where GPS signals are blocked, such as skyscrapers and underground areas, as they cannot provide navigation information indoors.
Innovation Solution
A Visible Light Communication (VLC) navigation system that uses building lights to transmit navigation data, where a map server generates visible light signals to guide a mobile terminal to its destination by exchanging messages with a navigation server, including registration, map requests, and path information, allowing the terminal to display the optimal route.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If GPS-based navigation systems are used, then outdoor navigation is effective, but indoor navigation becomes ineffective in large-scale building structures where GPS signals are blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces visible light signals from building lamps as an intermediary medium to transmit navigation information indoors. The lamps serve as mediators between the navigation server and mobile terminals, carrying location and path information through visible light communication, thereby enabling navigation service continuity from outdoor GPS to indoor environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the radio frequency-based GPS system with an optical communication system using visible light from lamps. This substitution allows navigation functionality to extend into indoor environments where RF signals are blocked, while maintaining the core navigation service capability through a different physical medium.
2Adaptability or versatility
If visible light signals are used for navigation, then indoor navigation capability is improved, but message exchange complexity between terminal and server increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes existing lamp infrastructure serve multiple functions: illumination and navigation information transmission. By encoding navigation data into visible light signals from standard lamps, the system avoids requiring separate dedicated indoor navigation devices, thereby reducing overall system complexity despite the added communication protocol.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile terminal autonomously processes visible light signals to extract navigation information such as location identification and path guidance. The terminal performs self-service by decoding the optical signals and displaying navigation routes without requiring complex external processing infrastructure, simplifying the overall system architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable indoor navigation by using building lights to provide location-based information and path guidance to users within large-scale structures, overcoming the limitations of GPS signal unavailability.
Implementation Method 1
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have gained popularity in the general lighting market
Implementation Method 2
VLC for transmitting information by light visible to the human eye offers the benefits of a wide bandwidth
Data Source
AI summary
Method and device for exchanging messages in a VLC navigation system is provided, in which a map server generates a provision message in the form of visible light signals through all lamps in an area, using a PLC network, where a navigation service is provided, a terminal that wants to implement the navigation service among terminals that have received the provision message transmits a registration request message to the map server, the map server transmits a registration response message for the registration request message to the terminal, the terminal transmits a map request message including information about a destination to the map server, the map server transmits a map response message including information about a path to the destination to the terminal, and the terminal displays map information and the path.