Mobile Payment Using Smartphone Flashlight

Over the last decade, mobile payments rapidly developed and became essential for business activities in our daily life, especially when using internet banking. Magnetic card data has thus far been transmitted using RF technologies such as near field communications, which poses security issues and data theft threats. This study experimentally transmits the required magnetic card information from a smartphone to the ATM or card readers over a visible light communication channel at high data rates through encoding the camera flashlight. This requires no additional hardware on the receiver end and adds only a small sized, non-expensive module to ATMs and card readers to detect and decode the received data. Data transmission is tested using both Xenon and LED flashlights. Adapted modulation techniques were used for both flashlights in order to maximize synchronization and therefore optimize transmission. Error-free transmission has been achieved employing the proposed unidirectional light-shielded optical link with speeds up to 15 bps and 500 bps for Xenon and LED flashlights respectively.