A Low Cost Mesh Network Using LED Automobile Headlights?

Intel research scientist Richard Roberts has revealed that he is working on a set of IEEE specs that could guide future development of visible light communication (VLC) in cars.

VLC may make it possible to use visible light emitted by LEDs in car headlights to create a low-cost automobile mesh network. Intel has been working on VLC since 2008 and Roberts is looking to develop the technology as a car-to-car communication platform.

The system proposed by Roberts and his colleagues aims to use a series of rapid pulses of visible light to relay information from one car to another. The LED flashes would be so short as to be invisible to the human eye, but could message other cars about traffic conditions along the road, positioning, possible collisions, and could form part of an autonomous driving system. Read more here.

03 Sep