BlinkComm: Initialization of IoT Devices Using Visible Light Communication

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.