Introduction

IR LED and IR Photodiode

 IR light is like visible light but it is invisible to our eyes, because of which they are suitable in
application of wireless communication.
 The band for IR (Infrared) in electromagnetic spectrum is 300GHz to 430 THz and wavelength
range of around 700nm to 1mm.
 Along with the IR LED some other sources like sun, light bulbs, human and animal bodies etc.
also emit infrared energy.
 IR communication is used for short and medium distance applications.
 

Principle of Working
 IR LEDs transmit digital (logical 1 and 0) data in the form of infrared light.
 Logical 1 is emitted by keeping IR LED ON and logical 0 by keeping it OFF.
 This ON and OFF sequence of data is collected by IR photodiode at receiver end.
 
Types of IR communication 

IR Communication Types
1) Point to point communication : In point to point communication, line of sight is required
between transmitter and receiver devices.
2) Diffuse communication : In diffuse communication, no need to keep transmitter and
receiver in straight line of sight. It can be done by reflecting or bouncing the transmitted
signal from surfaces like wall, ceilings etc. 

Simple IR Communication using IR Photodiode Receiver

 In simple IR communication, whatever data (1 or 0) present at transmitter end will be
transmitted as it is without any modulation technique.
 Receiver collects the transmitted data (1 or 0) as it is without any demodulation or filter
technique.

Basic IR Communication
 The only limitations of this basic communication are short distance and interference from IR
energy of the surroundings.
 
IR Communication using Modulation
In modulation type of IR communication, IR light is modulated with carrier frequencies to get
better distance available.
Also, it provides better immunity to surrounding IR
interferences. Generally, TSOP series receivers are
used to receive modulated IR light.
IR Transmitter
 For IR transmission, IR LED of wavelength 940 nm
to 950 nm are commonly used.
 When we transmit the data to the IR receiver, at
the same time the IR receiver also receives IR rays
from the surroundings. These IR rays from the
surroundings can distort the transmitted data.
 To avoid such surrounding interferences, IR signal
can be modulated with carrier frequencies. The commonly used carrier frequencies are
30kHz, 36kHz, 38kHz, 56kHz etc.
 In the IR communication, NEC code, Toshiba Micom Format, Sharp Code, RC5 Code, RC6 Code,
R–2000 Code, Sony Format (SIRCS) etc. protocols are used.
 Also, simple RS232 serial communication protocol can be used for IR communication. This
protocol uses one start bit, 8-bit data, one parity bit (optional) and one stop bit format. Now,
IR data is modulated to IR signal at 38kHz as shown in figure below.

Fig: Serial data modulating at 38kHz

IR Receiver
 At receiver end, IR receiver receives data at 38kHz of carrier frequency.
 For IR filter, epoxy package is designed.
 This module is designed in such a way that any unexpected output pulses due to noise or
disturbance signal are avoided.
  Generally, TSOP series Receiver are used which support reception of various transmitted
code.
 E.g. In TSOP1738, continuous data rate is possible up to 2400 bps.
 This demodulated output signal is received by microcontroller.
 The demodulated output data of TSOP is shown in figure below.

Fig: Output data of TSOP1738