A Low-SWaP, Low-Cost Transceiver for Physically Secure UAV Communication with Visible Light

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are expected to utilize optical wireless technologies alongside radio frequency technologies for reliable, secure and high bandwidth communications. While terrestrial and atmospheric laser-based solutions in the past have achieved physically secure communication with very complex beam tracking/pointing mechanisms with large and costly telescopes, such systems are neither suitable nor necessary for medium-range (<100 m) commercial UAV communications. With the proliferation of low-cost solid-state lighting equipment and visible band photodetectors, visible light communications (VLC) offer a low-size-weight-and-power (SWaP) and low-cost solution. This paper presents a novel low-SWaP and low-cost transceiver for physically secure VLC in medium-range commercial UAV applications. Full implementation details for a proof-of-concept prototype built completely with off-the-shelf components are also reported.