Resource Allocation in Co-Existing Optical Wireless HetNets

In multi-user optical wireless communication (OWC) systems interference between users and cells can significantly affect the quality of OWC links. Thus, in this paper, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to establish the optimum resource allocation in wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) optical wireless systems. Consideration is given to the optimum allocation of wavelengths and access points (APs) to each user to support multiple users in an environment where Micro, Pico and Atto Cells co-exist for downlink communication. The high directionality of light rays in small cells, such as Pico and Atto cells, can offer a very high signal to noise and interference ratio (SINR) at high data rates. Consideration is given in this work to visible light communication links which utilise four wavelengths per access point (red, green, yellow and blue) for Pico and Atto cells systems, while the Micro cell system uses an infrared (IR) transmitter. Two 10-user scenarios are considered in this work. All users in both scenarios achieve a high optical channel bandwidth beyond 7.8 GHz. In addition, all users in the two scenarios achieve high SINR beyond the threshold (15.6 dB) needed for 10 -9 on off keying (OOK) bit error rate at a data rate of 7.1 Gbps

Optimum resource allocation in optical wireless systems with energy-efficient fog and cloud architectures

Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a promising technology that can provide high data rates while supporting multiple users. The optical wireless (OW) physical layer has been researched extensively, however, less work was devoted to multiple access and how the OW front end is connected to the network. In this paper, an OWC system which employs a wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) scheme is studied, for the purpose of supporting multiple users. In addition, a cloud/fog architecture is proposed for the first time for OWC to provide processing capabilities. The cloud/fog-integrated architecture uses visible indoor light to create high data rate connections with potential mobile nodes. These OW nodes are further clustered and used as fog mini servers to provide processing services through the OW channel for other users. Additional fog-processing units are located in the room, the building, the campus and at the metro level. Further processing capabilities are provided by remote cloud sites. Two mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) models were proposed to numerically study networking and processing in OW systems. The first MILP model was developed and used to optimize resource allocation in the indoor OWC systems, in particular, the allocation of access points (APs) and wavelengths to users, while the second MILP model was developed to optimize the placement of processing tasks in the different fog and cloud nodes available. The optimization of tasks placement in the cloud/fog-integrated architecture was analysed using the MILP models. Multiple scenarios were considered where the mobile node locations were varied in the room and the amount of processing and data rate requested by each OW node was varied. The results help to identify the optimum colour and AP to use for communication for a given mobile node location and OWC system configuration, the optimum location to place processing and the impact of the network architecture

Effect of Receiver Orientation on Resource Allocation in Optical Wireless Systems

Optical wireless communication (OWC) systems have been the subject of a significant amount of interest as they can be used in sixth generation (6G) wireless communication to provide high data rates and support multiple users simultaneously. This paper investigates the impact of receiver orientation on resource allocation in optical wireless systems, using a wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) scheme. Three different systems that have different receiver orientations are examined in this work. Each of these systems considers 8 simultaneous users in two scenarios. WDMA is utilised to support multiple users and is based on four wavelengths offered by Red, Yellow, Green and Blue (RYGB) LDs for each AP. An angle diversity receiver (ADR) is used in each system with different orientations. The optimised resource allocations in terms of wavelengths and access point (AP) is obtained by using a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. The channel bandwidth and SINR are determined in the two scenarios in all systems. The results show that a change in the orientation of the receiver can affect the level of channel bandwidth and SINR. However, SINRs in both scenarios for all users are above the threshold (15.6 dB). The SINR obtained can support data rate of 5.7 Gbps in both scenarios in all systems

Impact of User Distribution on Optical Wireless Systems

In this paper, we investigate the impact of user distribution on resource allocation in visible light communication (VLC) systems, using a wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) scheme. Two different room layouts are examined in this study. Three 10-user scenarios are considered, while an optical angle diversity receiver (ADR) with four faces is used. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is utilized to identify the optimum wavelengths and access point (AP) allocation in each scenario. The results show that a change in user distribution can affect the level of channel bandwidth and SINR. However, a uniform distribution of users in the room can provide a higher channel bandwidth as well as high SINR above the threshold (15.6 dB) for all users compared to clustered users, which is a scenario that has the lowest SINR with supported data rate above 3.2 Gbps

Impact of Room Size on WDM Optical Wireless Links with Multiple Access Points and Angle Diversity Receivers

Optical wireless communication (OWC) systems have been the subject of attention as a promising wireless communication technology that can offer high data rates and support multiple users simultaneously. In this paper, the impact of room size is investigated when using wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) in conjunction with an angle diversity receiver (ADR). Four wavelengths (red, yellow, green and blue) can be provided in this work based on the RYGB LDs transmitter used. Three room sizes are considered with two 8-user scenarios. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is proposed for the purpose of optimising the resource allocation. The optical channel bandwidth, SINR and data rate have been calculated for each user in both scenarios in all rooms. Room A, which is the largest room, can provide a higher channel bandwidth and SINR compared to the other rooms. However, all rooms can provide a data rate above 5 Gbps in both scenarios

Optimum Resource Allocation in 6G Optical Wireless Communication Systems

Optical wireless communication (OWC) systems are a promising communication technology that can provide high data rates into the tens of Tb/s and can support multiple users at the same time. This paper investigates the optimum allocation of resources in wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) OWC systems to support multiple users. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to optimise the resource allocation. Two types of receivers are examined, an angle diversity receiver (ADR) and an imaging receiver (ImR). The ImR can support high data rates up to 14 Gbps for each user with a higher signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The ImR receiver provides a better result compared to the ADR in term of channel bandwidth, SINR and data rate. Given the highly directional nature of light, the space dimension can be exploited to enable the co-existence of multiple, spatially separated, links and thus aggregate data rates into the Tb/s. We have considered a visible light communication (VLC) setting with four wavelengths per access point (red, green, yellow and blue). In the infrared spectrum, commercial sources exist that can support up to 100 wavelengths, significantly increasing the system aggregate capacity. Other orthogonal domains can be exploited to lead to higher capacities in these future systems in 6G and beyond

Optimized Resource Allocation in Multi-user WDM VLC Systems

In this paper, we address the optimization of wavelength resource allocation in multi-user WDM Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model that maximizes the sum of Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR) for all users is utilized. The results show that optimizing the wavelength allocation in multi-user WDM VLC systems can reduce the impact of the interference and improve the system throughput in terms of the sum of data rates for up to 7 users

Resilience in Optical Wireless Systems

High reliability and availability of communication services is a key requirement that needs to be ensured by service providers. Since the direct line-of-sight (LOS) beam is prone to blockage in indoor optical wireless communication systems, a backup link needs to be at hand in case of blockage, and hence channel allocation algorithms should be blockage-aware. In this paper, the impact of beam blockage due to a disc with varying size and distance from the receiver is studied where blockage is quantitatively evaluated using percentage blockage for 512 room locations at 25 cm separation. It was found that assigning two links with maximum separation between the serving access points can reduce or eliminate blockage compared to the case when resilience is not implemented. Increasing the number of allocated access points per user further increases resilience

Beam Blockage in Optical Wireless Systems

In this paper, we use the percentage blockage as a metric when an opaque disc obstructs the Line-of-Sight link from the access point to the receiver in an optical wireless indoor communication system. The effect of the different parameters of the obstructing object are studied, these are the radius, the height, and the horizontal distance from the receiver in the positive y direction. The percentage of blocked room locations to the total number of room locations when varying the disc parameters is studied assuming a single serving link. It was found that depending on the dimensions of the obstructing object and the distance from the receiver in addition to which access point is serving the user, that blockage can vary between 0% up to 100%. Furthermore, the service received by a user, in terms of beam blockage depends on the access point they are connected to. The resulting fairness challenges will be addressed in resource allocation optimization in future work

Data Centre Optical Wireless Downlink with WDM and Multi-Access Point Support

The ability to provide very high data rates is a significant benefit of optical wireless communication (OWC) systems. In this paper, an optical wireless downlink in a data centre that uses wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) is designed. Red, yellow, green and blue (RYGB) laser diodes (LDs) are used as transmitters to provide a high modulation bandwidth. A WDMA scheme based on RYGB LDs is used to provide communication for multiple racks at the same time from the same light unit. Two types of optical receivers are examined in this study; an angle diversity receiver (ADR) with three branches and a 10 pixel imaging receiver (ImR). The proposed data centre achieves high data rates with a higher signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for each rack while using simple on-off-keying (OOK) modulation