A practical approach of VLC architecture for smart city

The purpose of this paper is to introduce maturing visible light communication (VLC) technology as a candidate bearer technology for supporting seamless high speed broadband connectivity in smart city architecture. A smart city is one which uses its resources as smart and efficient as possible. In a smart city, the structures of the various urban systems are made clear, simple, and responsive via contemporary technology and design. For a city to become smart and efficient, key challenges are to have seamless connectivity among its functional layers. There are layers of connectivity in smart city architecture and these are based on commercially available RF based bearer technologies. The high speed data services demand from the users are increasing continuously, but the limited availability of RF bandwidth has resulted in poor quality of services (QoS) to the users. However, now there is a growing trend in exploring alternative communication technologies that are capable of reducing RF bandwidth demand and improve the QoS for the user. Recent improvements in solid state lighting technology has resulted in attracting attention of optical wireless technologies such as Visible light communication. It can be used for easing the demand of the RF spectrum and migrating wireless connectivity to visible light region of the optical spectrum. The VLC has an infinite spectrum comparison to RF spectrum and can harmoniously integrate into the city lighting network architecture of a smart city. This paper introduces the novel architecture of obtaining high speed broadband connectivity by integrating VLC in Smart Cities. This approach is discussed with practical measurements, architectural designs, technological challenges and future development trends that are relevant to modern urban cities.