This paper presents an easy-to-use sensor aimed for traffic safety applications using visible lightcommunications. A central problem in this area is the design of a suitable sensor able to enhance the conditioning of the signal and to avoid disturbances due to the environmental conditions. The visible light communication sensor proposed in this paper addresses these issues and enables a robustcommunication for short to medium distances. The presentation is focused on hardware aspects and low-level coding techniques.
The experimental validation of the proposed sensor has been conducted by analyzing communication performances between a commercial traffic light and the sensor, for distances up to 50 m. The measurements exhibit bit error ratio lower than $10^{-7}$ in an outdoor configuration , using two well-known codes (Manchester and Miller) without any error-correcting codes or complex signal processing. The prototype is aimed for automotive applications but other outdoor configurations can also be addressed by slight changes in the system design.