Toward practical integration of dual-use VLC within 5G networks

Visible light communication (VLC), a form of indoor optical wireless access, has the potential to be an integral part of 5G networks due to the massive available spectrum in the visible light band. VLC has desirable high bandwidth density (b/s/m2) stemming from the directionality of optical signals, and can exist as part of installed infrastructure in LED-based luminaires. In spite of these benefits, it is best paired with complementary RF technologies to overcome limitations of line of sight, glare in optical uplink, and use cases requiring darkness. The combination of VLC and RF shows promise to overcome limitations of each medium if successfully paired. In this article we describe motivating factors for VLC usage in environments with a high density of user devices, present models for VLC integration with RF technologies, define system components required for practical deployment, and evaluate scenarios where VLC integration is most beneficial. We show that by selecting appropriate operating conditions for each of the RF and VLC solutions, we can realize substantial improvement in the resulting heterogeneous network design.