Illuminance Constrained Emission Pattern Optimization in Indoor VLC Networks

We investigate the problem of visible light communication (VLC) network deployment considering a novel optimization that jointly observes access point (AP) emission pattern and transmit power. This is achieved while maintaining illuminance within the standard 300-500 lux range, with a predefined probability at the working surface of an office space while considering first-order reflections. The proposed technique is flexible, allowing illuminance to be tuned according to the needs of lighting design and provisioning. We study the constrained dual-variable optimization problem and how illuminance limits the feasible set of optimal emission pattern and transmitted power solutions. We also describe how the problem differs when infrared sources are used. Finally, we simulate different environments to show the optimal minimum received power and the resultant illuminance cumulative distribution function (CDF). Results indicate that the minimum received power can decrease to 55-72% of the optimal value if the illuminance constraint is not considered during the design and provisioning phase.