Optical Camera Communications in Healthcare: A Wearable LED Transmitter Evaluation during Indoor Physical Exercise

Area of Science:

• Optical Camera Communications (OCC)
• Wearable Technology
• Image Processing Algorithms

Background:

• Optical Camera Communications (OCC) systems offer potential for high-speed wireless data transmission.
• Integrating wearable transmitters into OCC systems presents challenges due to user movement.
• Existing methods may struggle to maintain reliable signal detection during dynamic physical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally evaluate a wearable light-emitting diode (LED) transmitter within an OCC system.
• To assess system performance under controlled indoor physical exercise conditions (mild and intense).
• To develop and validate an image processing algorithm for robust signal detection amidst user motion.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a wearable LED transmitter as the signal source in an OCC setup.
• Implemented controlled indoor physical exercise to simulate real-world user movement.
• Developed an image processing algorithm to detect the LED signal and employed motion dynamics to refine tracking.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated the feasibility of detecting the transmitting LED source within image frames.
• The image processing algorithm significantly reduced the region of interest for signal tracking.
• Achieved a reduction of 87.3% in tracking region for mild exercise and 79.0% for intense exercise.

Conclusions:

• Wearable LED transmitters are feasible for OCC systems, even during physical activity.
• The proposed image processing algorithm effectively enhances tracking efficiency by leveraging exercise-induced motion.
• This approach shows promise for robust and efficient OCC systems in dynamic environments.