A SDN-based WiFi-VLC Coupled System for Optimised Service Provision in 5G Networks Publisher: IEEE

Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a powerful supplement, which has gained tremendous attention recently and has become a favorable technology in short-range communication scenarios for the Fifth Generation (5G) networks. VLC possesses a number of prominent features to address the highly demanding 5G system requirements for high capacity, high data rate, high spectral efficiency, high energy efficiency, low battery consumption, and low latency. However, this prominent performance is limited by the imperfect reception, since line of sight channel condition may not always exist in practice. This paper presents and experimentally validates a SDN-assisted VLC system, which is coupled with WiFi access technology in order to improve the reliability of VLC system, reassuring zero packet loss reception quality due to misalignment or path obstructions or when the user is moving between two consecutive VLC transmitters and experience “dead coverage zones”.