PROVIDING SECURED MOBILE ACCESS SOLUTIONS THROUGH VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION

Project Information

LIGHTKEY

Grant agreement ID: 738928

DOI

10.3030/738928

Project closed

EC signature date 30 October 2016

Start date 1 November 2016

End date 30 June 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 1 275 342,50

EU contribution

€ 892 739,75

Coordinated by

LIGHTBEE SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LIGHTKEY (PROVIDING SECURED MOBILE ACCESS SOLUTIONS THROUGH VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION)

Reporting period: 2017-11-01 to 2019-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Mobile access is becoming commonplace: the user gets access to a facility by sending a request to an electronic lock. The lock ecognizes the request, verifies the provided access code and opens up. Current radio frequency-based communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, near-field communication (NFC), and Bluetooth are applied in a large variety of applications. However, they have serious security drawbacks: the data can be picked up by devices within a 10 metre radius, they are susceptible to hackers, consume large amounts of power, are not interoperable with all operators and platforms and usually require costly hardware.
With our Visible Light Communication solution LightKey, we can provide secure mobile access through photonics without any of the drawbacks of currently available mobile access solutions. It can be used on any mobile device as mobile phones already have the required hardware component (LED in the mobile ́s flashlight). There are three steps:
1) download and activate LightKey to mobile phone,
2) introduce personal code and
3) LightKey triggers the camera flash or screen light and modulates and optical custom code.
LightBee have the advantage that the global market for Visible Light Communication is about to explode: global annual revenues are predicted to increase from $268 Million in 2014 to $113 Billion by 2022 (CAGR of 126%), as a result of advances in the technology as well as the wide-spread and low-cost application potential.
Our revenue model is based on the sales of optical receivers for the receiving locks and doors at around €120 per unit (locks, health). The execution of the LightKey project will allow LightBee SME to enter the market faster. Our mission is to be supported by the H2020 SME instrument in order to reduce “time-to-market” as much as possible.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to increase the integration of the LightKey system, it is absolutely necessary to integrate the LightKey system with other lock systems existing in the market. In hotels or buildings where a security system is already in use, will be easier to integrate the LightKey system with the existing lock systems.
At this moment, LightKey has an agreement with SMINN, one company in electronic locking systems in Spain. This cooperation has allowed both SMINN and LightBee to interoperate with both identification technologies in a unique lock.
The objective of this work in this period is divided in two main objectives. First of all, to integrate LightBee solution into a commercial doorlock and the second objective is to modify the LightKey identification system to be able to interact with the electronic locking systems. It is important to have agreements with the electronic locking companies to speed up the developments and to have them as potential clients.
Other of the key elements to provide the LightKey customers with a complete security solution is a complete lock, not only with the LightKey identification system, but with other standard communication protocols. At the current stage of development, LightKey electronic lock can, now, connect to LightKey server and the code change is done automatically. The first objective of the work was therefore is to provide the LightKey Lock system with a communication ports and a WIFI connected doorlock. This complete lock will be useful to be used in places where new locks have to be installed, but where compatibility with the current electronic locking system must be kept.
One of the main problems of the LightKey system is the instability of the luminous pulses generated by the smartphones. Depending on the brand, model or even version of the software installed, the access to the flash is very different and produces a variation difficult to control in the duration of the generated pulses. This variation is a major impediment to make a generic APP for all mobile phones, which limits the market introduction of the system.
Therefore, the project has a particular task to improve this situation. This is one of the tasks that LightBee is working on, which for the moment is focused on changing the emission of the pulses from the camera flash to the Smartphone screen, using video generation as the mode of production of the light changes. For situations where customers do not have a Smartphone the stand-alone module consists of a device capable of emitting an optical signal that can be received by the LightKey opening system as well.
Once the hardware and the software part have been developed and tested individually, the whole system must be tested in a controlled environment. One of the most critical points is to monitor what happens when the electricity is out or when there are too much failed attempts to use a lock. To be able to perform these and other test scenarios, a pre-series of the prototype is going to be manufactured and installed for pilot trials. After all the trials the system has been promoted to other scenarios like car sharing or car rental markets. A video demo of the final solution can be seen in http://lightkey.es.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

• In the home security market, large companies, such as Amazon, are beginning to develop access control solutions as a need to improve services to their customers. This has forced Lightkey to improve significantly, incorporating features that clearly differentiate it from existing solutions, in aspects such as:
1. Security in the wireless transmission of the code through the LED light (VLC). The access codes generated by the mobile mean at this time one of the best solutions for the home security market in terms of usability / security / easy integration.
2. For access to community portals, a Lightkey can be included without an optical receiver that can be connected to an intercom, so that, without a Smart Lock being installed in said portal, and without any modification in common facilities, it can be managed remotely the access door, which would allow to offer a complete access solution for the neighbors who must access the common facilities in a building.
• In relation to the tourist facilities market, for security reasons, it is mandatory that guests identify themselves and that the tourist establishment notifies the National Police Corps. In the big hotels this is solved, but in the small ones they do not have it well implemented. In addition, this type of establishment also usually requires an automated billing solution, as they generally do not have a reception service.
Contacts have been established with a company that offers small tourist facilities the management of the police report of their guests, www. tourismonline.net with which it is intended to include a link in the Lightkey code administration platform so that an integral solution allowing the registration of the guest can be available at the same time that they report their identification to the Police.
• In the Access Control market, where high levels of security are essential, we have initiated conversations with a locks manufacturer interested in avoiding the use of traditional keys, or RFID cards, for accessing Data Racks, since they usually keep very sensitive data from banks, large corporations and governments. The interest shown in Lightkey is due to the reliability and security of VLC applied to mobile wireless applications.

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Lightkey Showroom