Optical Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for Visible Light Communication

The proliferation of mobile Internet and connected devices, offering a variety of services at different levels of performance, represents a major challenge for the fifth generation wireless networks and beyond. This requires a paradigm shift towards the development of key enabling techniques for the next generation wireless networks. In this respect, visible light communication (VLC) has recently emerged as a new communication paradigm that is capable of providing ubiquitous connectivity by complementing radio frequency communications. One of the main challenges of VLC systems, however, is the low modulation bandwidth of the light-emitting-diodes, which is in the megahertz range. This article presents a promising technology, referred to as "optical- non-orthogonal multiple access (O-NOMA)", which is envisioned to address the key challenges in the next generation of wireless networks. We provide a detailed overview and analysis of the state-of-the-art integration of O-NOMA in VLC networks. Furthermore, we provide insights on the potential opportunities and challenges as well as some open research problems that are envisioned to pave the way for the future design and implementation of O-NOMA in VLC systems

Physical Layer Security for Visible Light Communication Systems:A Survey

Due to the dramatic increase in high data rate services and in order to meet the demands of the fifth-generation (5G) networks, researchers from both academia and industry are exploring advanced transmission techniques, new network architectures and new frequency spectrum such as the visible light spectra. Visible light communication (VLC) particularly is an emerging technology that has been introduced as a promising solution for 5G and beyond. Although VLC systems are more immune against interference and less susceptible to security vulnerabilities since light does not penetrate through walls, security issues arise naturally in VLC channels due to their open and broadcasting nature, compared to fiber-optic systems. In addition, since VLC is considered to be an enabling technology for 5G, and security is one of the 5G fundamental requirements, security issues should be carefully addressed and resolved in the VLC context. On the other hand, due to the success of physical layer security (PLS) in improving the security of radio-frequency (RF) wireless networks, extending such PLS techniques to VLC systems has been of great interest. Only two survey papers on security in VLC have been published in the literature. However, a comparative and unified survey on PLS for VLC from information theoretic and signal processing point of views is still missing. This paper covers almost all aspects of PLS for VLC, including different channel models, input distributions, network configurations, precoding/signaling strategies, and secrecy capacity and information rates. Furthermore, we propose a number of timely and open research directions for PLS-VLC systems, including the application of measurement-based indoor and outdoor channel models, incorporating user mobility and device orientation into the channel model, and combining VLC and RF systems to realize the potential of such technologies

VLC-Based Networking: Feasibility and Challenges

VLC has emerged as a prominent technology to address the radio spectrum shortage. It is characterized by the unlicensed and unexploited high bandwidth, and provides the system with cost-effective advantages because of the dual-use of light bulbs for illumination and communication and the low complexity design. It is considered to be utilized in various telecommunication systems, including 5G, and represents the key technology for light-fidelity. To this end, VLC has to be integrated into the existing telecommunication networks. Therefore, its analysis as a network technology is momentous. In this article, we consider the feasibility of using VLC as a network technology and discuss the challenges related to the implementation of a VLC-based network, as well as the integration of VLC into existing conventional networks and its inclusion in standards

Superimposed training-based channel estimation for miso optical-OFDM vlc

In this paper, we investigate a novel channel estimation (CE)method for multiple-input and single-output (MISO) systems in visible lightcommunication (VLC). Direct current biased optical orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) is commonly used in VLC where halfof the available subcarriers are spent to guarantee a real-valued outputafter the inverse fast Fourier transform operation. Besides, dedicated subcarriers are typically used for CE, thus, many resources are wasted andthe spectral efficiency is degraded. We propose a superimposed trainingapproach for CE in MISO DCO-OFDM VLC scenarios. Analytical expressions of mean squared error (MSE) and spectral efficiency are derived whenthe least squares estimator is considered. This analysis is valid for outdoorand indoor scenarios. For the CE error, simulation results of MSE showa perfect match with analytical expressions. Moreover, results prove thatthis technique guarantees a larger spectral efficiency than previous schemeswhere dedicated pilots were used. Finally, the optimal data power allocationfactor is also analytically derived.This work was supported in part by the National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (SENESCYT) in Ecuador and in part by the Spanish National Project TERESA-ADA (TEC2017-90093-C3-2-R) (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE). The work of B. G. Guzmán was supported by the Spanish MECD FPU Fellowship Program

Resource Allocation for Cooperative Transmission in Optical Wireless Cellular Networks With Illumination Requirements

This work has been partially funded by the Spanish MECD FPU fellowship program granted to the author Borja Genovés Guzmán, the Catalan Government under Grant 2017-SGR-1479, and the Spanish Government under the national project ’TERESA-ADA’ with ID no. TEC2017-90093-C3-2-R and TEC2017-90093-C3-1-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE)