End-to-End Performance Optimization of a Dual-Hop Hybrid VLC/RF IoT System Based on SLIPT

Abstract

In order to enhance the service provisioning to users in the indoor environment, a hybrid visible light communication (VLC)/radio-frequency (RF) Internet of Things (IoT) system is proposed based on simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer (SLIPT). A mobile user equipment, which serves as an off-the-grid relay, is able to extract information from the light-emitting diode source and then forward the processed information to the destination far away, thus dividing the signal transmission into two hops. Specifically, the optical signal received at the relay is separated into alternating current and direct current components for information decoding and energy harvesting, respectively, in the first hop. Then, the energy harvested is used to forward the processed source information to the destination by using RF in the second hop. Subject to the constraints imposed on both the average and the peak powers of the source, the end-to-end outage probability of the system is analytically derived in a closed form. On this basis, the minimization of the end-to-end outage probability is formulated as an optimization problem. This problem is then solved with a joint design of the peak amplitude and the direct current bias of the source transmitter, by trading-off between the performance of two successive hops. Simulation results demonstrate that by using the proposed optimal solution, the information flow and energy flow can be dynamically balanced, resulting in significant performance gains in terms of outage probability and throughput.