Indoor Planning of Optical Wireless Networks for LoS Condition in Access and Backhauling

Optical wireless technology has the potential to complement the wireless access services provided so far over RF. Apart from the abundant unlicensed bandwidth available for ultra-dense deployments over optical wireless bands, optical wireless also has the potential to offer inexpensive, private, secure, and environmentally friendly communications. However, the main challenge of this technology is the inability to pass through obstacles, requiring a Line-of-Sight~(LoS) condition between transmitter and receiver. In addition, when LEDs are used to provide simultaneously wireless access and illumination, the range of the optical wireless links is notably limited. Since the typical size of Visible Light Communications~(VLC) cells is in the order of few meters, it is challenging to plan the detailed deployment of Access Points~(APs) to prevent coverage holes. This paper proposes a graph modeling approach for identifying the minimum number of APs (and their locations) for the given indoor floor plan. A connectivity tree is considered to ensure that each VLC AP can communicate with (an)other AP(s) through a LoS infrared wireless link for backhauling. The presented deployment procedure can also control the co-channel interference that is generated throughout the entire indoor environment, enhancing the data rate and illumination performance of VLC networks simultaneously.