Solar Panel-based Visible Light Communication for Batteryless Systems
Juan F. Gutierrez, Nhung Nguyen, Jesus M. Quintero, Andres Gomez
TL;DR
The paper addresses autonomous IoT nodes powered solely by ambient light and enabled by visible light communication (VLC) to receive data with minimal energy cost. It introduces a batteryless VLC-BLE receiver that combines a solar energy harvester, an analog front-end, and a two-processor MCU that selectively activates the main processor for BLE or VLC decoding based on energy and channel activity, leveraging the harvester's open-circuit phase to reduce interference. The hardware is implemented on a TI CC1352P1 platform with an MPPT harvester, a 470 μF storage capacitor, and a MAX4007 front-end, controlled by Zephyr RTOS, achieving reliable reception of a 32-bit VLC frame every 5 seconds at 800 bps while maintaining sleep power below 30 μW. This work demonstrates a practical, energy-efficient batteryless node capable of VLC reception and BLE communication, with potential extensions to higher data rates and VLC-based firmware updates for maintenance-free IoT deployments.
Abstract
This paper presents a batteryless wireless communication node for the Internet of Things, powered entirely by ambient light and capable of receiving data through visible light communication. A solar panel serves dual functions as an energy harvester and an optical antenna, capturing modulated signals from LED light sources. A lightweight analog front-end filters and digitizes the signals for an 8-bit low-power processor, which manages the system's operational states based on stored energy levels. The main processor is selectively activated to minimize energy consumption. Data reception is synchronized with the harvester's open-circuit phase, reducing interference and improving signal quality. The prototype reliably decodes 32-bit VLC frames at 800\,Herz, consuming less than 2.8\,mJ, and maintains sleep-mode power below 30\,uW.