Title: Visual sensor for identification and optical communication between moving objects: from images to events In this doctoral thesis, we present the results of five years of research, design and production work on an active optical identification sensor comprising a near-infrared transmitter and a high-frequency receiver camera. This sensor locates and identifies a moving object in the visual scene by transmitting optical data. It is thus possible either to transmit data purely optically between moving objects in their respective fields of view, or to combine optical identification with conventional telecommunication means, with the aim of precisely locating the data transmitters, without recourse to or in the absence of GPS or other localization techniques. This technique, which we first explored in 2005, is known as Optical Camera Communication (OCC). Initially, between 2005 and 2008, we implemented the receiver with a CCD camera clocked at 595Hz, achieving a communication rate of 250 bits per second and an average identification time of 76ms (for a 16-bit identifier) over a maximum range of 378m. In a second study phase in 2022-2023, we used an event-driven camera, achieving a communication rate of 2,500 bits per second with a decoding rate of 94%, i.e. an average decoding time equal to the theoretical time of 6.4ms for 11 bits. So, we've gained an order of magnitude. Our sensor differs from the state-of-the-art in two ways. Its first version arrived very early and contributed to the emergence of the concept of optical camera communication. A French patent protects the invention. Its second version outperforms the state of the art in terms of throughput, while adding robustness for tracking moving objects. The use case we chose was initially the localization of road objects for inter-vehicular and vehicle-infrastructure communication. In our more recent work, we've chosen the surveillance and tracking of objects by drone. Our sensor has many applications, particularly where other means of communication or identification are either unavailable or undesirable. These include industrial and military sites, confidential visual communications, the precise tracking of emergency vehicles by drone, and so on. Applications of similar technologies in sports prove the usefulness and economic viability of the sensor. This thesis also presents the whole of a research career, from the role of research engineer to that of researcher, then research project manager, and finally research director in a research institute. The areas of research application have varied greatly, from driver assistance to neuromorphic AI, but have always followed the common thread of robotics, in its various implementations. We hope to convince the reader of the scientific innovation brought about by our work, and more generally of our contribution to research, its management and its direction. Keywords: optical camera communication, OCC, image processing, signal processing, telecommunications, event-driven vision, identification, tracking