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A cost-efficient transceiver prototype for Arduino-based laser communication

Conference Paper · October 2016

DOI: 10.1109/IEMCON.2016.7746087

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 A Cost-Efficient Transceiver Prototype for
Arduino-Based Laser Communication
Simon Bambey, Edward Lim, Kai Corley-Jory, and Pooya Taheri
Department of Computing Science & Information Systems
Langara College
Vancouver, BC, Canada
ptaheri@langara.bc.ca
Abstract—The main goal of this paper is to propose a simple
and low-cost microcontroller-based laser communication link. To
demonstrate that laser communication is a viable and efficient
means for transmitting data, a transceiver capable of transfer
rates of approximately 0.7 kB/s is prototyped. The hardware
used for the transceiver consists of Commercial Off-The-Shelf
(COTS) lasers, photodiodes, and the Arduino Mega 2560 which is
an open-source and easy-to-use microcontroller-based platform
intended for making interactive projects. A graphic user
interface utilizing the Meteor framework is developed to
facilitate the communication between the user and transceiver.
The developed transceiver prototype is capable of receiving and
transmitting data at significant ranges with no loss of
information. Furthermore, stable and secure communication is
achieved through several mechanisms developed to manage
simultaneous sending and receiving, in addition to detecting
physical interruptions during transmission. The design setup is
scalable and with further development can be transformed into a
fiber-optic transmission system. Due to its nature, laser
communication is very secure and can provide a safe and private
communication link. Overall, this paper demonstrates how laser
communication can be an economical, durable, and effective
means of information transfer.
Keywords—Arduino microcontrollers; laser applications; user
interfaces; wireless communication.
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the most interesting developments in the field of
telecommunications is the use of laser light to transfer
information over large distances. The ever increasing cost and
the lack of space available in congested metropolitan cities, as
well as the rapid developments in the field of Internet of
Things (IoT) call for the advent of a less costly
communication system [1]-[2]. The advancements in the field
of semiconductor lasers have made possible the use of lasers
for signal transmission which reduces the need for broadcast
rights and buried cables [3]. Therefore, with the development
of applications in space technology [4]-[6], and the increasing
importance of wireless sensor networks [7]-[8], laser
communication has become the subject of great research and
development activity. A remarkable feature of laser
technology is the concentration of energy to extremely high
intensities that remain relatively constant over long distances
due to low divergence. The main advantage of this system
over RF communication and fiber optics are high transmission
security and reliability [9]-[10].
The intent of this paper is to propose an inexpensive
microcontroller-based laser communication transceiver which
can be easily deployed and connects to a chat server to enable
reliable point-to-point two-way communication. One-way
microcontroller-based laser communication has been
implemented using a simple RS232 signal converter and
operational amplifier [11]. Another laser data link based on
light collectors and high-switch-rate MOSFET was proposed
in [12] with a high two-way transmission rate of up to 20 Mb/s
over a range of approximately 5 m.
Our proposed prototype had to be uncomplicated,
inexpensive, and reliable. The system involves a very simple,
cost-effective physical setup consisting of an Arduino Mega
2560 [13], a QRD1114 photodiode, and a 650-nm red Keyes
laser module [14]. The effect of amplifiers and
photomultipliers on the signal-to-noise ratio and the quality of
data transmission has been studied extensively [15]. To keep
the prototype as simple and inexpensive as possible, emphasis
was placed on determining the limitations of the simple
sensors and optimizing the code, rather than using amplifiers
or photodiodes which are capable of faster response time.
The software consists of advanced communication logic on
the microcontroller and a web server written in JavaScript to
serve the chat interface. Both the collected and sent data are
carried through the serial port of the Arduino 2560 Mega to
and from a Meteor web-interface [16]. This transceiver
prototype was implemented as proof of concept for large-scale
projects of data transmission to remote environments. By
integrating with fiber optics, secure communication between
two nodes is achieved. The project was designed to simply
allow for the switching of existing hardware for more
expensive parts.
Sections II and III explain the preliminary tests and the
proposed methodology of the work. In Section IV, the
hardware and software setup of the laser transceiver is
explained. In Section V we talk about the web-based chat
interface. And finally, the results and conclusion are presented
in Sections VI and VII, respectively.
II. PRELIMINARY TESTS
A top-down engineering approach was utilized to ensure
that design challenges were identified early and could be
easily remedied when encountered. Early tests were conducted
to determine the feasibility of the project. The earliest tests
involved a red 633-nm LED, as well as a standard off the shelf
photoresistor. Due to a very shallow response gradient from
the photoresistor, the signal delay was significant and the
highest attainable response frequency was 3Hz.
Further tests were conducted using a red 650-nm Keyes
laser module and a QRD1114 photodiode. A significant
improvement in the response frequency was obtained, with the
photodiode being able to accurately pick up signals in the
above-1-kHz range. Oscilloscope readouts of photodiode
responses can be found in Fig. 1. In these readouts the very
steep rising edges can be noticed. The photodiode’s residual
capacitance discharge causes a signal delay of approximately
100 microseconds on the falling edge. Due to this bottleneck,
the signal frequency was limited between 5–10 kHz as
dictated by the hardware.
Further tests were conducted to determine the operating
range of the setup by testing signal reception at incrementally-
longer distances. Laser transceivers require less energy, but
need line-of-sight for communication and are sensitive to
atmospheric conditions [17]. Due to a high degree of beam
divergence in the low-cost laser module, reliable operation
was only accomplished at distances up to five meters.
However, there is little doubt that with the right laser this
setup is easily extendable over larger distances.
(a) (b)
Fig. 1 Photodiode response at (a) 0.5 and (b) 10 kHz
Safety is of utmost importance when dealing with laser
devices. The laser identified for use is a low power KY-008
laser module, with a power rating between 2–5 mW. As
shown in Fig. 2, the American Standards Institute (ANSI)
classifies these lasers as “Class 3R” [18]. Lasers in this class
are safe given that they are handled carefully, and direct eye
exposure is kept to a minimum. As the prototyped transceiver
is off for the most part and only ever pulses for less than a
second, safety concerns are very minor. Furthermore, a Class
3R laser is normally low powered and would not harm the
eyes during a momentary exposure of less than ¼ second. This
is within the aversion response, where a person turns away
and/or blinks to avoid bright light [19]. For added safety, laser
communication is inhibited until both parties acknowledge
and activate the laser through the web interface. Additionally,
the state of the laser is set to off when there are no
transmissions.
Fig. 2 Laser eye-injury hazard
The Arduino Mega 2560 is used for transferring and
processing data, as well as controlling the functionality of
other components. Arduino is an open-source microcontroller
board, intended to formulate a more accessible process of
exploiting electronics in multidisciplinary projects. Arduino
simplifies the process of working with microcontrollers, and
offers some advantages for students, teachers and interested
amateurs over other systems [20]-[21]. The Arduino interface
connectors provide direct connections to microprocessor pins
such as digital I/O, analog I/O, interrupts and TTL-level
UARTS. With a simple add-on “shield”, Arduino can be used
as a network infrastructure to control wireless sensor nodes
[22]-[24].
The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based
on the ATmega 2560. It has 54 digital I/O pins (of which 15
can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs
(hardware serial ports) for TTL (5V) serial communication.
The Arduino Software (IDE) includes a serial monitor which
allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the board
[13]. Fig. 3 shows the main components of the transceiver.
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 3 The main components of the laser transceiver: (a) Keyes-008
laser module, (b) QRD1114 photodiode, (c) Arduino Mega 2560
III. METHODOLOGY
The system consists of two modules. On the user-facing
side there is a web interface that interacts with the serial
stream from the Arduino to serve as the actual chat interface.
This web page is built using a JavaScript framework called
Meteor. The back-end logic controls the data transmission
using two Arduino Mega 2560 microcontrollers, each of
which is connected to one Keyes laser module and one
QRD1114 photodiode. Thee block diagram of the transceiver
design, images of the setup, and circuit schematics are shown
in Fig. 4-Fig. 6.
Fig. 4 Transceiver setup

Fig. 5 Transceiver block diagram
Fig. 6 Schematic of Transceiver [25]
Efforts were made to keep the transmission logics separate
which in theory, means that the lasers could transmit any
String data received over a serial connection, not just from
Meteor. The microcontroller logic has no dependencies on the
content of messages at all but is only responsible for
transmitting exactly what is provided through the serial
connection.
Serial communication uses a single data line which helps
minimize the problem of transmitting data with an 8-bit data
communication including cable-length limitations and cost. In
asynchronous serial data communication, each data character
has a bit which identifies its start and 1 or 2 bits, which
identify its end. Since each character is individually identified,
characters can be sent at any time. When no data is being sent,
the signal line is in a constant high or masking state.
Following the data bit is a parity bit, which is used to check
for errors in the data received [26].
IV. TRANSCEIVER LOGIC
To walk-through the setup and logic of the transmission,
the reader is encouraged to refer to Fig. 7 in order to visualize
the data flow. All codes are available publicly at [27].
The transceiver logic is responsible for accurately
transferring over the laser any data received through the serial
connection at rates of 0.7 kB/s, as well as receiving any
incoming messages through laser and making them available
over the serial connection. The back-end also detects timeouts
which usually occur when a laser transmission is interrupted.
Synchronization is required in communication networks
with coupled nodes [28]. Our system design is loosely based
on that of UART devices where each node acts as both a
receiver and transmitter. A UART is a part of an integrated
circuit used for serial communications. The UART hardware
initiates a start bit, shifts the required number of data bits out
of the line and adds the stop bits, as soon as data is deposited
in the shift register [29]. However, there are some significant
differences in that there is no single stop or start bit but rather
a start byte and a stop byte used to ensure stability at both the
start and end of transmissions, which, if accurately received
gives a high degree of certainty that the sent message was
received properly. UART signals are traditionally held high by
default, which would not make sense for laser communication
and hence the default idle state is low for this setup.
The message sent from Meteor across the serial connection
first lands in a 64-byte First-In First-Out (FIFO) serial buffer
on the Arduino. It is not possible to read this buffer all at one
time due to the fact that the photodiode signal needs to
continuously be sampled to ensure that no incoming laser bits
are missed. For our setup, characters are read one-by-one from
the FIFO buffer and stored in a character array on the Arduino
until a carriage return is read at which point we know that a
full message was received. It is also important to note that
serial connections by default do not terminate on a termination
character in the Arduino environment but rely on a timeout to
signal the end of transmission. This timeout had to be
removed completely to ensure reliable communication.
Once a message is ready to be transferred through the laser
and there is no queued incoming message, a start signature is
sent. Then, the character array will be iterated for the length of
the message and each character is split into its 8-bit ASCII
sequence which then shifts across the port register to transfer
the message with the fewest clock cycles. A modified delay
function is used to ensure accurate delays between signals.
Finally, to end the data transmission another stop sequence is
sent.
Fig. 7 Transceiver logic diagram
 The line to the photodiode is continuously sampled at a database and the serial connection. A snapshot of the chat
rate that is significantly higher than the transmission rate over interface is shown in Fig. 9.
the laser. This ensures that there is no way in which an
incoming bit can be missed. If a high bit is received at any
point, this indicates the likely beginning of the start sequence.
The logic measures the time delay between signal changes and
then calculates how many signals of that type were received
using the known baud rate. This is called the multiplier. Note
that due to the stray capacitance in the photodiode shown in
Fig. 1 a HIGH signal will be received for longer than a LOW
signal. To ensure accurate calculation of how many bits were
received, the incoming signal length is rounded to the nearest
period integer multiple before the bit multiplier is calculated.
Once the multiplier is known, the received bit is shifted
onto a byte in memory (from now on referred to as received
byte) that keeps track of the last eight bits received. This is
repeated as many times as determined by the multiplier. A
separate counter keeps track of how many times the received
byte was shifted and every time this counter reaches eight, a
full character is received and the byte is casted to a char and Fig. 8 Front-end logic diagram
appended to a received string. Afterwards the counter is reset
and the cycle repeats. If at any time the stop sequence is
received, the process terminates.
Once a full string has been received, the string is sent over
the serial port to the Meteor front-end on the receiving end. If
at any point the duration of a signal exceeds a timeout value, it
is likely that the signal was in some way interrupted or less
likely that the equipment failed, in which case this is indicated
to the Meteor front-end through a serial message.

V. CHAT INTERFACE
To follow the walk-through of the logic and data flow of
the web interface, the reader is encouraged to refer to Fig. 8.
Meteor is an open-source JavaScript web framework for
making reactive web pages. Meteor facilitates the creation of
real-time web applications where the interactions between
client and server take place at such a speed that users
experience direct feedback on their interactions with the
application and other users. Meteor offers a free hosting
service that allows developers to deploy their application in a
minute with only one command [30].
Each computer runs its own local Meteor server with its
own database, MongoDB in this case [31]-[32]. As a message
is submitted on one device, the local database is updated, the
message is then transmitted and the database on the other
computer is updated. This means that the databases are not
synchronized. If a message is sent while there is no
connection, that message would only ever exist in one
database.
Our Meteor application consists of three main parts, an
HTML file which contains the design of our website which
Meteor serves locally, a CSS file that gives more flair to our
website, and a JavaScript file. This JavaScript file contains all
the logic to support the website enabling it to interact with the
Fig. 9 Meteor chat interface
Meteor monitors the website for submitted messages and
when a message is sent it is added to the local database along
with the username in JSON format. This JSON file is checked
to ensure it doesn’t exceed the maximum character
transmission count, then it is “stringified” and sent over the
serial connection to the Arduino. The logic on the receiving
side is similar but reversed, except that the JSON is verified to
ensure its integrity before adding the message to the database.
VI. RESULTS
A practical local Meteor web-based application to manage
communication through Arduino microcontrollers was
successfully built. This application is a chat page served on a
local server with a clean design and useful features including
user account, ability to scroll to new messages when they are
received, and supporting emojis and clickable links.
The Arduinos have been uploaded with a very efficient
program that allows users of the local Meteor web page to
communicate with each other. This program is sophisticated in
that it has taken many scenarios and potential occurrences into
account and is very robust. One of the main features of this
program is that there are protocols for when both of the users [9]
attempt to send messages at the same time. Neither of the
messages will be lost, in fact both of them will go through
without being affected at all. Another important feature is how [10]
our program deals with a broken message. If the transmission [11]
is broken for longer than an allotted time a system error is
triggered and the user receives this error instead of the original [12]
message. The implementation of such features allows the
continued transmission of data even after broken messages.
[13]
VII. CONCLUSION
[14]
One of the ways to connect two mobile terminals is
through a point-to-point free-space laser communication [33].
Laser communications systems can be easily deployed [15]
because of their small size, low cost, and no requirement for
radio interference studies. In this project, a low-cost [16]
microcontroller-based web chat link was engineered that [17]
allows for fully-stable communication over laser at transfer
speeds of 0.7 kB/s. The limiting factor was determined to be
the response time of the photodiodes. This project has a [18]
potential for larger-scale implementation. By using a more
powerful laser and a photodiode with a faster response time, [19]
the rate and distance at which data could be successfully
transferred would be immensely increased. Furthermore, a [20]
focusing lens, amplifiers, or fiber optic cables could be added
to the transceiver design to compensate for small
misalignments in the laser. [21]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [22]
This paper is based on the final design project completed
at Langara College, Engineering-Transfer program. The
authors would like to thank Dr. Todd J. Stuckless and Mr. [23]
Henry Lei for their valuable help and support.
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