Multi-cell VLC system design under illumination and communication constraints

Visible Light Communication (VLC) uses lamps light to convey information. As such, lamps in VLC systems work not only as illumination devices, but as VLC Access Points (VAPs) as well. This makes the choice of the lamps’ specifications and positions vital to satisfy the illumination and communication requirements. It is important that an indoor environment has the best possible VLC performance and the lowest possible power consumption while maintaining satisfactory illumination conditions. Designing multi-VAP systems is challenging due to the conflicting requirements of illumination and communication. For example, closely installed lamps give more consistent illumination but more inter-VAP interference, and vice versa. In this paper, we propose an optimal strategy to design multi-VAP systems. We consider the general design problem that aims to maximize the VLC performance while minimizing the total power consumption. This should be achieved while keeping satisfactory illumination conditions represented by the average illumination level and the degree of illumination consistency. The multi-VAP system design is formulated as a two objective design problem with constraints on illumination. The interplay between the system design parameters and the constraints and objectives is then studied. Finally, the algorithm to optimize multi-VAP design strategies is proposed.