Bidirectional User Throughput Maximization Based on Feedback Reduction in LiFi Networks

Channel adaptive signalling, which is based on feedback, can result in almost any performance metric enhancement. Unlike the radio frequency (RF) channel, the optical wireless communications (OWCs) channel is fairly static. This feature enables a potential improvement of the bidirectional user throughput by reducing the amount of feedback. Light-Fidelity (LiFi) is a subset of OWCs, and it is a bidirectional, high-speed and fully networked wireless communication technology where visible light and infrared are used in downlink and uplink respectively. In this paper, two techniques for reducing the amount of feedback in LiFi cellular networks are proposed, i) Limited-content feedback (LCF) scheme based on reducing the content of feedback information and ii) Limited-frequency feedback (LFF) based on the update interval scheme that lets the receiver to transmit feedback information after some data frames transmission. Furthermore, based on the random waypoint (RWP) mobility model, the optimum update interval which provides maximum bidirectional user equipment (UE) throughput, has been derived. Results show that the proposed schemes can achieve better average overall throughput compared to the benchmark one-bit feedback and full-feedback mechanisms.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Communication

Load balancing in hybrid LiFi and RF networks

The increasing number of mobile devices challenges the current radio frequency (RF) networks. The conventional RF spectrum for wireless communications is saturating, motivating to develop other unexplored frequency bands. Light Fidelity (LiFi) which uses more than 300 THz of the visible light spectrum for high-speed wireless communications, is considered a promising complementary technology to its RF counterpart. LiFi enables daily lighting infrastructures, i.e. light emitting diode (LED) lamps to realise data transmission, and maintains the lighting functionality at the same time. Since LiFi mainly relies on line-of-sight (LoS) transmission, users in indoor environments may experience blockages which significantly affects users’ quality of service (QoS). Therefore, hybrid LiFi and RF networks (HLRNs) where LiFi supports high data rate transmission and RF offers reliable connectivity, can provide a potential solution to future indoor wireless communications. In HLRNs, efficient load balancing (LB) schemes are critical in improving the traffic performance and network utilisation. In this thesis, the optimisation-based scheme (OBS) and the evolutionary game theory (EGT) based scheme (EGTBS) are proposed for load balancing in HLRNs. Specifically, in OBS, two algorithms, the joint optimisation algorithm (JOA) and the separate optimisation algorithm (SOA) are proposed. Analysis and simulation results show that JOA can achieve the optimal performance in terms of user data rate while requiring high computational complexity. SOA reduces the computational complexity but achieves low user data rates. EGTBS is able to achieve a better performance/complexity trade-off than OBS and other conventional load balancing schemes. In addition, the effects of handover, blockages, orientation of LiFi receivers, and user data rate requirement on the throughput of HLRNs are investigated. Moreover, the packet latency in HLRNs is also studied in this thesis. The notion of LiFi service ratio is introduced, defined as the proportion of users served by LiFi in HLRNs. The optimal LiFi service ratio to minimise system delay is mathematically derived and a low-complexity packet flow assignment scheme based on this optimum ratio is proposed. Simulation results show that the theoretical optimum of the LiFi service ratio is very close to the practical solution. Also, the proposed packet flow assignment scheme can reduce at most 90% of packet delay compared to the conventional load balancing schemes at reduced computational complexity

Interference mitigation in LiFi networks

Due to the increasing demand for wireless data, the radio frequency (RF) spectrum has become a very limited resource. Alternative approaches are under investigation to support the future growth in data traffic and next-generation high-speed wireless communication systems. Techniques such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), millimeter wave (mmWave) communications and light-fidelity (LiFi) are being explored. Among these technologies, LiFi is a novel bi-directional, high-speed and fully networked wireless communication technology. However, inter-cell interference (ICI) can significantly restrict the system performance of LiFi attocell networks. This thesis focuses on interference mitigation in LiFi attocell networks. The angle diversity receiver (ADR) is one solution to address the issue of ICI as well as frequency reuse in LiFi attocell networks. With the property of high concentration gain and narrow field of view (FOV), the ADR is very beneficial for interference mitigation. However, the optimum structure of the ADR has not been investigated. This motivates us to propose the optimum structures for the ADRs in order to fully exploit the performance gain. The impact of random device orientation and diffuse link signal propagation are taken into consideration. The performance comparison between the select best combining (SBC) and maximum ratio combining (MRC) is carried out under different noise levels. In addition, the double source (DS) system, where each LiFi access point (AP) consists of two sources transmitting the same information signals but with opposite polarity, is proven to outperform the single source (SS) system under certain conditions. Then, to overcome issues around ICI, random device orientation and link blockage, hybrid LiFi/WiFi networks (HLWNs) are considered. In this thesis, dynamic load balancing (LB) considering handover in HLWNs is studied. The orientation-based random waypoint (ORWP) mobility model is considered to provide a more realistic framework to evaluate the performance of HLWNs. Based on the low-pass filtering effect of the LiFi channel, we firstly propose an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based resource allocation (RA) method in LiFi systems. Also, an enhanced evolutionary game theory (EGT)-based LB scheme with handover in HLWNs is proposed. Finally, due to the characteristic of high directivity and narrow beams, a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array transmission system has been proposed to mitigate ICI. In order to support mobile users, two beam activation methods are proposed. The beam activation based on the corner-cube retroreflector (CCR) can achieve low power consumption and almost-zero delay, allowing real-time beam activation for high-speed users. The mechanism based on the omnidirectional transmitter (ODTx) is suitable for low-speed users and very robust to random orientation

Light-Fidelity as Next Generation Network Technology: A Bibliometric Survey and Analysis

This paper delivers a systematic review and a bibliometric survey analysis of Light-Fidelity (Li-Fi) indoor implementation in Next Generation Network (NGN). The main objective of this study is to design a communication network based on NGN-Li-Fi for the indoor implementation which aims to increase user Quality of Service (QoS). The main merits and contributions of this study are the thorough and detailed analysis of the review, both in literature surveys and bibliometric analysis, as well as the discussion of the implementation model challenges of Li-Fi in both indoor and outdoor environments. The issue articulated in an indoor communication network is the possibility of intermittent connectivity due to barriers caused by line-of-sight (LOS) between the LED transmitter and receiver, handover due to channel overlap, and other network reliability issues. To realize the full potential and significant benefits of the Next Generation Network, challenges in indoor communication such as load-balancing and anticipating network congestion (traffic congestion) must be addressed. The main benefit of this study is the in-depth investigation of surveys in both selected critical literatures and bibliometric approach. This study seeks to comprehend the implications of Next Generation networks for indoor communication networks, particularly for visible light communication channels