Resource Allocation and Interference Management in OFDMA-based VLC Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel resource allocation scheme for multi-user OFDMA-based VLC networks that effectively manages inter-cell interference by dividing coverage into zones and optimizing resource distribution, enhancing spectral efficiency and fairness.

Contribution

It proposes a two-step resource allocation method dividing the cell into zones, addressing interference and illumination constraints in VLC systems, with performance evaluation through simulations.

Findings

Performance improves with optimal zone and resource parameter settings.

Enhanced spectral efficiency and fairness achieved in simulations.

System performance validated in realistic transmission scenarios.

Abstract

Resource allocation and interference management are two main issues that need to be carefully addressed in visible light communication (VLC) systems. In this paper, we propose a resource allocation scheme that can also handle the inter-cell interference in a multi-user VLC system that employs orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). Particularly, we suggest dividing the cell coverage into two non-overlapping zones and performing a two-step resource allocation process, in which each step corresponds to a different level of allocating resources, i.e., zone and user levels. We initially define both zones in terms of the physical area and the amount of allocated resources and we investigate the impact of illumination requirements on defining both zones. Through simulations, we evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of the area spectral efficiency and the fairness level between the two zones. We show that both performance measures can be potentially enhanced by carefully setting a certain design parameter that reflects the priority level of the users located in the region around the cell center, denoted as Zone 0, in terms of the achievable rate. We further eventuate the system performance in a realistic transmission scenario using a simulation tool.