Heterogeneous Wi-Fi and VLC (RF-optical) wireless access architecture

Visible light communication (VLC) is rapidly emerging as a compelling technology for supplementing traditional radio frequency communication, enabling energy-efficient data transmission and offering high downlink speeds. On the other side, traditional Wi-Fi radio access can be used as an uplink solution. In this paper, one such heterogeneous based solution for wireless access is presented. In the proposed model, the users estimate their location from position information broadcasted by VLC lamps, and Wi-Fi access point (AP) is used to effectively manage and allocate resources of VLC enabled lamps, based on this info. As part of the model, two scenarios of association of user's to the AP are proposed.