Fundamental Analysis for

Indoor Visible Light Positioning System

Penghua Lou a,b, Hongming Zhang a,b, Xie Zhang a,b, Minyu Yao a,b, Zhengyuan Xu a,b
a

Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Beijing, China
xuzy@tsinghua.edu.cn

AbstractThis paper describes the prototype of an

indoor positioning system (IPS) using LED
identification (LED-ID) technology. LED sources
transmit unique ID codes which identify users' position.
An optical link budget is analyzed and simulated. Our
lab prototype can satisfy the required accuracy in some
coarse location environments.
Keywordsindoor
positioning
system,
LED
identification, visible light communication, effective
positioning radius.

I.

INTRODUCTION

In the past decades, outdoor positioning has been

studied extensively and systems like Global
Positioning System (GPS) has been studied and
developed. In general, GPS needs to receive signals
from at least 4 satellites, which is impossible inside
some buildings [1]. Thus, other technologies for indoor
positioning are being developed such as RF based
positioning and infrared positioning. However, those
positioning systems are not widely popular so far, due
to high power consumption and lower resolution and
accuracy.
Meanwhile, light-emitting diode (LED) has been
considered as the most potential lighting technology
of the 21st century for its high brightness, affordable
cost, low power consumption and minimal heat
generation [2]. Additionally, LEDs can also be
modulated at relatively high rate which is proper for
transmitting data signal. Therefore, LEDs could be
utilized for both illumination and communication,
such as LED-identification (LED-ID) based
communication [3][4]. In this paper, we apply LED-ID
technology to supply variable position information for
indoor positioning system.

In the paper, we first demonstrate the indoor

positioning system prototype. Some numerical
analyses for the proposed system are performed, and a
MATLABbased simulation is made to study the
effectiveness and accuracy of positioning algorithm,
the probability distribution of detection and the
acceptable movement speed. Thereafter, it is
concluded that our lab prototype basically satisfies the
required accuracy in some coarse location
environments.
The paper is organized as follows. In section II,
the design of indoor positioning system is described,
and then we discuss the transmitter and channel
models in a hallway scenario. In section III, a
simulation is presented to analyze the performance of
positioning algorithm. Finally, conclusions are in
section IV.
II.

SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

In this section, we introduce an indoor positioning

system using LED-ID technology. The system model
is shown in Fig. 1, which consists of transmitter,
optical wireless channel and receiver. The details are
as follows.

Fig. 1. System Model

LED sources of visible light ID are modulated

with baseband On-Off Keying of 200kbps data rate,
in conjunction with Direct Detection (DD) for data
demodulation at the receiver. Since it is desired to
maintain visibility and flicker-free operation, a
symmetric Manchester encoder/decoder composed by
microprocessor is applied. At the transmitter, we
design a constant-current drive circuit using power
MOSET and low noise Operational Amplifier to
achieve 220mA driving current for 3W LED sources.
At the receiver, the signal preprocessing circuits
combine with weak signal pre-amplifier and signal
shaping circuit. Both of the transmitter and receiver
circuits create USB, SPI, UART interfaces to realize
communication between our system and Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA).
We next introduce simplified models for
transmitter and optical channel in a hallway scenario,
where coarse location is applicable.
A. Transmitter Model
In order to satisfy the standard for lighting design
in aforementioned scenario, we choose 3W LED as
transmitter sources in the prototype. The power
spectrum distribution St ( ) of the used LED is
shown in Fig. 2, which was measured by an
integrating sphere.

780 nm

Ft = 683

St ( )V ( ) d

(2)

380 nm

where V ( ) is the relative luminous efficiency

function defined by CIE and it can be approximated
by a Gaussian curve fitting [6] as follows:
V ( ) 1.019e 285.4( 0.559)

(3)

The luminous flux Ft is also a spatial integral of

spatial luminous intensity, and we have the following
relation [7]
Ft = I 0

max

2 g t ( ) sin d

(4)

where I 0 is the axial intensity, max is the maximum

half angle and gt ( ) is the normalized spatial
luminous intensity distribution.
The spatial distribution g t ( ) is claimed to be a
Lambertian radiation pattern [7][8], which would be
written as:
gt ( ) = cos m ( )

(5)

where m is the order of Lambertian radiation. Thus,

a simplified formula of the flux Ft is obtained.
Ft = I 0

max

2 cos m ( ) sin d

(6)

= 2 I 0 (m + 1)
Fig. 3 shows that the LED source in our prototype
can be assumed as an ideal Lambertian radiation
pattern with m=14.
1

Measured pattern
Ideal Lambertian pattern
(m=14)

0.9
Normalized Amplitude

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

Fig. 2. Measured spectrum distribution of LED source

0
-50

The optical power Pt of such LED is obtained

from St ( ) as [5]

-40

-30

-20

-10

0
10
Angle ()

20

30

40

50

Fig. 3. Comparison between the actual and ideal Lambertian

radiation pattern

Pt

S ( )d
t

The total luminous flux Ft is given as [5]

(1)

B. Channel Model
In an optical wireless link, the signal path loss is
determined as follows:

g t ( ) A cos( )

L=

max

SNR =

2 gt ( ) sin d

(7)

(m + 1) cos ( ) A cos( )
2 d 2
m

where is the angle between source beam axis and

source-receiver line and is the angle between
receiver normal and source-receiver line.
Now we can obtain the received optical spectral
density as
S r ( ) = L S t ( )

(8)

I r2

2
tatal

I r2
2
+ shot

2
thermal

(12)

2
is the variance of thermal noise
where thermal
2
stemming from the pre-amplifier, and shot
is the
variance of shot noise stemming from ambient light,
which is a dominant one in the wireless optical
communications. The shot noise variance is given by

[10]

2
shot
= N 0 B (1022 A2 Hz ) B

(13)

where N 0 is the noise power spectral density and B

is equivalent noise bandwidth, which is equal to the
bit rate at OOK.

The received optical power can be written as

Pr ( ) =

rH

S r ( ) d = L

rL

rH

III.
St ( ) d

(9)

rL

At the receiver, we use a photodiode to convert

optical power to electric power I r , which can be
derived as
Ir =

rH

S r ( ) R ( ) d = L

rL

rH

S ( ) R ( ) d
t

(10)

rL

where R( ) is the photodiode responsivity. Fig. 4

shows the responsivity of photodiode (THORLABS
FDS100) that we used.
0.7
FDS100
Responsivity (A/W)

0.6
0.5
0.4

SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this section, we will discuss about the effective

positioning radius, the probability distribution of
detection and the acceptable movement speed.
The following simulation and discussion is based
on the assumption that the size of the scenario is 10m
2.5m3m, a 3W LED is located at the coordinate
of (4, 1.25, 3) and the height of the receiver is 0.85m
from the floor.
A. The Effective Positioning Radius
In the system, the available LED-ID received at
the receiver is derived as the present location.
Therefore, the effective illumination radius reflects
the system positioning accuracy. Fig. 5 shows the
SNR distribution as a function of distance. To achieve
BER=10-6 it requires SNR=13.6dB in OOK
communication system.

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
300

400

500

600
700
800
Wavelength (nm)

900

1000

1100

Fig. 4. The responsivity of photodiode (FDS100)

By calculating the integral of the spectrum

distribution St ( ) (Fig. 2) and the photodiode
responsivity R( ) , the electric power can be
simplified as
Ir = L

rH

S ( ) R( )d = 0.131 L
t

(11)

rL

The electrical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at

receiver is expressed as [9]

Fig. 5. SNR distribution as a function of distance

From Fig. 5, the effective positioning radius of

1.3m is available, which is mainly dependent on the
order of LED Lambertian radiation m . Suppose that
the order m is small, then the beam is more divergent
and the effective positioning radius will become
larger. However, it is important to note that we should
consider avoiding overlapping of two adjacent LEDs
while selecting the radiation pattern of LED sources.

From Fig. 7, we can find that the probability

decreases slowly within the range of 0.8m, and then
start decreasing rapidly that is resulted from an
increasingly important part of the pitch angle in the
SNR function. When the horizontal distance between
transmitter and receiver is within 1.08m, the
probability of detection is beyond 50%.
C. The Acceptable Movement Speed

B. The Probability Distribution of Detection

The SNR distribution is not only a function of the
distance between the receiver and the transmitter, but
also a function of the pitch angle of the receiver. In
practical applications, the receiver attitude is random,
which leads to the probability distribution of detection.
Fig. 6 shows the SNR distribution with
radius=0.5m as the pitch angle varies. The probability
reaches 89%.

As every LED source has an effective radius, the

receivers' movement speed should be considered. The
case when the receiver is moving parallel to the
ground is studied.
In the system, the bit rate is 200kbps, and one
frame is made up of 4 bytes. Thus the time that LEDID sends once is 160s. If the effective positioning
radius 1.3m is applied, the maximum movement
speed is calculated as 1.3m 2/160 s=16.25km/s,
that far exceeds the walking speed 0.85~1m/s.
However, if this system is extended on the vehicle
positioning applications, the bit rate should be
increased to guarantee steady positioning.
IV.

In this paper, the LED-ID technology based on

visible light communication is developed into a kind
of indoor positioning system. We introduce an indoor
localization prototype that has been built, and then
report the simulation results for indoor scenarios
based on MATLAB. Starting from the standardized
requirements for hallway illumination, we select a
3W LED source with Lambertian order m=14.
Concluded from the above discussions and
simulations, we may state the following:

Fig. 6. SNR distribution as a function of the pitch angle

Fig. 7 shows the detection probability variation

trend as the radius increases.
1
0.9

The positioning accuracy, which is related to

the effective positioning radius, reaches 1.3m. It is
less than that most of wireless location or infrared
location systems.
If the receiver position is fixed, the detection
depends on the pitch angle of the receiver, which is
defined as the probability distribution detection. The
probability is beyond 50% while the distance between
the receiver and the vertical projection of LED source
is within the range of 1.08m.

0.8
0.7
Probability

CONCLUSIONS

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.2

0.4

0.6
0.8
Radius (m)

1.2

1.4

Fig. 7. The detection probability trend as a function of radius

The normal movement speed in interior

environment is completely acceptable in our
positioning system.

In summation, our system prototype can meet the

location accuracy in indoor environment to locate
both moving and static objects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by Tsinghua National
Laboratory for Information Science and Technology
(TNList) Cross-discipline Foundation (2011Z02289),
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
No.61171066, 60977003).
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