Dual-Hop VLC/RF Transmission System with Energy Harvesting Relay under Delay Constraint

In this paper, we introduce a dual-hop visible light communication (VLC) / radio frequency (RF) transmission system to extend the coverage of indoor VLC systems. The relay between the two hops is able to harvest light energy from different artificial light sources and sunlight entering the room. The relay receives data packet over a VLC channel and uses the harvested energy to retransmit it to a mobile terminal over an RF channel. We develop a novel statistical model for the harvested electrical power and analyze the probability of data packet loss. We define a system design parameter (α ∈ [0, 1)) that controls the time dedicated for excess energy harvesting and data packet retransmission. It was found that the parameter has an optimal value which minimizes the packet loss probability. Further more, this optimal value is independent of the RF channel path loss. However, optimal showed inverse dependence on the packet size.