Visible light identification system for smart door lock application with small area outdoor interface

Visible light identification (VLID) is a user identification system for a door lock application using smartphone that adopts visible light communication (VLC) technology with the objective of high security, small form factor, and cost effectiveness. The user is verified by the identification application program of a smartphone via fingerprint recognition or password entry. If the authentication succeeds, the corresponding encoded visible light signals are transmitted by a light emitting diode (LED) camera flash. Then, only a small size and low cost photodiode as an outdoor interface converts the light signal to the digital data along with a comparator, and runs the authentication process, and releases the lock. VLID can utilize powerful state-of-the-art hardware and software of smartphones. Furthermore, the door lock system is allowed to be easily upgraded with advanced technologies without its modification and replacement. It can be upgraded by just update the software of smartphone application or replacing the smartphone with the latest one. Additionally, wireless connection between a smartphone and a smart home hub is established automatically via Bluetooth for updating the password and controlling the home devices. In this paper, we demonstrate a prototype VLID door lock system that is built up with LEGO blocks, a photodiode, a comparator circuit, Bluetooth module, and FPGA board.