Hiding in Plain Light: Low-Cost, Covert Visible Light Communication in the Maritime Environment
Abstract:
Modern U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations in littoral and maritime environments increasingly require secure, non-radio-frequency (RF) communication links to maintain operational tempo under strict emissions control (EMCON). Visible light communication (VLC) offers an alternative to congested RF bands, but conventional intensity-modulated optical links can produce visible flicker and remain vulnerable to visual detection.
This seminar explores a steganographic approach that embeds data in the polarization state of visible white light. Because polarization—not optical intensity—is modulated, the communications link is imperceptible to human observers and standard intensity sensors. Standard shipboard, harbor, and industrial lighting can therefore provide ambient illumination while simultaneously transmitting a covert data stream.
The capability need not require specialized optical receivers. By exploiting boundary-reflection physics at the air-water interface through Fresnel’s equations, the boundary acts as a natural polarization filter. Tactical operators, maritime infrastructure, and unmanned platforms can recover embedded data using low-cost, unmodified commodity cameras, including off-the-shelf webcams and mobile devices.
The seminar will introduce VLC, review experimental validations of polarized optical signals through turbid and agitated water, and discuss low-cost hardware approaches for robust covert communications in maritime and industrial settings.
Date and Time
Location
Hosts
Registration
-
Add Event to Calendar
- 833 Dyer Road
- Monterey, California
- United States 93943
- Building: 232
Speakers
CDR Don Barber of United States Naval Academy
Hiding in Plain Light: Low-Cost, Covert Visible Light Communication in the Maritime Environment
Biography:
CDR Don Barber is an NPS ECE alumnus, receiving his M.S. in 2009 and Ph.D. in 2024, with research focused on geolocation and light-based communications. Following 18 years as a Fleet cryptologist supporting cyber and RF programs, he was selected as a permanent military professor. He currently teaches and serves as Associate Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.