Coverage Performance Analysis for Visible Light Communication Network

As a candidate wireless communication technology for future indoor scenarios, visible light communication (VLC) not only has the function of green illumination, but also can transmit data at high speed without occupying licensed spectrum resources. Therefore, it can offload the data traffic from the existing radio-frequency (RF) network. However, due to the rectilinear propagation of the visible light, the VLC coverage cannot always satisfy the traffic service. Several factors such as transmitted power, number of users, transmitted/received angle, and multiple access schemes affect the VLC coverage probability. In this paper, we utilize the user quality of experience (QoE) as the evaluation metric, and further, propose a new coverage model named as QoE probability coverage model which is defined as the LED coverage area projecting on the ground that the user can achieve a satisfying QoE with a certain probability. We investigate how the factors including non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme, number of user, user density etc. affect the QoE probability coverage area. The research results may guide the design of the VLC network deployment, multiple access protocol and handover schemes.