Power allocation for maximizing energy efficiency of mixed RF/VLC wireless networks

Developing energy efficient wireless communication networks has become crucial due to the associated environmental and financial benefits. Visible light communication (VLC) has emerged as a promising candidate for achieving energy efficient wireless communication. Integrating VLC with heterogeneous wireless networks has improved the achievable data rates of mobile users. In this paper, we investigate the energy efficiency benefits of employing VLC in a heterogeneous wireless environment. We formulate the problem of power allocation for energy efficiency maximization of a heterogeneous network composed of a VLC system and a radio frequency (RF) communication system. Then, we investigate the impacts of the system parameters on the energy efficiency of the mixed RF/VLC heterogeneous network.