Optimal Visible Light Communication Access Point Placement Under Stationary Distribution of Users’ Mobility

Abstract

Visible light communication (VLC) uses LED lights for simultaneous illumination and data transmission. The throughput of a VLC network is highly dependent on the location of VLC access points (AP). In this paper, we propose a novel optimization framework for approximately optimal VLC AP placement which takes into account the stationary distribution of users for the first time. This distribution is the result of the mobility pattern of users in an indoor environment. The proposed method is independent of the resource allocation algorithm and eliminates the need for exhaustive simulations to find the optimal location for VLC APs. Simulation results show a significant improvement in the throughput of the system when the access point locations are chosen according to the proposed method. A Gaussian approximation is also given which shows the variations of average throughput with respect to the AP location. This approximation gives a better understanding of the effect of different system parameters on the average throughput and illustrates the effect of optimal Lambertian order design. Results show that in the optimal placement, more confined LED light should be placed nearer to more dense parts of the room.