Visible Light Communication: A potential 5G and beyond Communication Technology

The fifth-generation (5G) mobile network is the next paradigm shift in the revolutionary era of the wireless communication technologies that will break the backward compatibility of today's communication systems. Visible Light Communication (VLC) and Light Fidelity (LiFi) technologies are among the potential candidates that are expected to be utilized in the future 5G networks due to their indoor energy-efficient communications. Realized by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), VLC and LiFi possesses a number of prominent features to meet the highly demanding requirements of ultrahigh-speed, massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) device connectivity, ultra-low-latency, ultra-high reliable and low energy consumption for 5G networks. This paper provides an overview contributions of VLC and LiFi towards 5G networks. Furthermore, we explain how VLC and LiFi can successfully provide effective solutions for the emerging 5G networks.