Visible light communication and quadrant photodiode based vehicle positioning for enhanced road safety
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Aparna Tiwari
,
Seema Kedar
Abstract
The increasing demand for advanced safety features in autonomous and connected vehicles has spurred significant research into vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems. This paper presents a novel VLC-enabled vehicular safety framework that integrates visible light positioning (VLP) with angle-of-arrival (AoA) estimation to enhance spatial awareness and intervehicle distance tracking. The proposed system leverages existing vehicular lighting infrastructure, such as LED headlights and taillights, not only for illumination but also as a medium for optical communication and spatial localization. Photodiode-based receivers detect modulated light signals and extract angular information to estimate the relative positions of nearby vehicles. By analyzing angular displacement and using known geometric baselines between sensors, the system triangulates object locations and determines vehicle separation with high accuracy. Further analysis using time-to-collision (TTC) metrics demonstrated the strong impact of vehicle separation and relative speed on collision risk. For example, a separation of 5.51 m corresponds to a TTC of 2.75 s at a relative speed of 2 m/s, but this decreases sharply to 1.10 s at a relative speed of 5 m/s, underscoring how higher speeds significantly reduce available reaction time for drivers or automated systems. This approach provides a low-latency, GPS-independent solution for position estimation and situational awareness, particularly effective in constrained environments such as tunnels, underground parking structures, and dense urban areas.
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