Abstract
We characterize the line-of-sight (LOS) link availability in indoor visible light communication (VLC) networks based on the behavior of human users. The VLC link availability is impacted by humans in three distinct ways: (1) Users turn the lights on or off in each room. (2) Users may carry mobile devices. (3) Users constitute mobile obstacles that block or shadow the channel between the transmitter and the receiver. First, we develop a mathematical framework for VLC link availability and a probabilistic model of the VLC network with respect to human behavior in indoor environments. Second, we design a realistic multi-user, indoor VLC system simulation with static and mobile VLC devices that are expected to be found in smart home environments. We present the following four sets of results: (1) We report statistics on the blockage durations of VLC links and categorize the links with respect to these statistics. (2) We demonstrate the performance of Selection Diversity versus Maximal Ratio Combining for mobile VLC devices carried by humans in a smart home setting. (3) We show that optimal LED resource allocation policies for multiple users are impacted by the VLC link blockage events caused by humans. (4) We demonstrate that the link blockage events in different rooms become dependent due to humans who transition between rooms. Based on our results, we provide new directions for the design of network architectures for indoor VLC systems.
Highlights
Visible Light Communication (VLC) refers to the transmission of data via light on the 430-770 THz visible spectrum from a Light Emitting Diode (LED), whose emitted light is modulated by data, to a photodiode that serves as the visible light communication (VLC) receiver
(2) We demonstrate the performance of Selection Diversity versus Maximal Ratio Combining for mobile VLC devices carried by humans in a smart home setting
Our results demonstrate the performance of two policies (Max-Sum Data Rate Policy and the Max-Min Data Rate Policy) under the effects of human blockage of VLC links to static devices and the device mobility due to the motion of the human user
Summary
Visible Light Communication (VLC) refers to the transmission of data via light on the 430-770 THz visible spectrum from a Light Emitting Diode (LED), whose emitted light is modulated by data, to a photodiode that serves as the VLC receiver. A key challenge to overcome is the fact that the behavior of humans in indoor settings affects the availability of VLC links. Not intermittently turned off by humans, the VLC transmitter may present frequent interruptions in its data service that is determined completely exogenously to the goals of data transmission by the behavior of humans. A human may carry a mobile VLC device. In this case, the availability of the VLC link to the device will be affected by the mobility pattern of the human who carries the device. Humans constitute mobile obstacles that may block the VLC link or partially shadow the VLC signal, degrading the Signalto-Interference-Plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) considerably
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