Remember being a kid and wondering how the remote control works? Well, remote controls work because of infrared communication.

This IR light is very similar to visible light, except that it has a slightly longer wavelength. This means IR is undetectable to the human eye - perfect for wireless communication.

This project help us visualise how IR communication works through the understanding of the three main parts of this interesting interaction: the transmitter which sends a coded signal through an IR photo sensor, the signal, which is transmitted by a binary code (packs of 1’s and 0’s) and is modulated following a pattern of 8 bits, and the receiver, which receives a signal through an IR receiver module and reacts according to the signal or message it receives.

When a button is pressed on the transmitter, an infrared signal, which is coded as a binary signal of 1s and 0s and is modulated following a pattern of 8 bits,  will be sent. The binary packed message is represented by blue and red lights. Blue lights represent the 1’s and red lights represent the 0’s.

Then, the receiver will get the signal through an IR receiver module and will react according to the message it receives.

LED lights were programmed using Arduino. To show the binary code, a LED strip was programmed to follow an 8 bit sequence. For the receiver, a Neopixel LED ring was programmed with 8 different settings. According to which button it is pressed, a different pattern of lights is shown as a metaphor of how changing channels look like.

The different messages will make the receiver change in color! Take a close look at the red and blue lights to reveal the binary code that produces each one of the different light patterns.