Cooperative data download on the move in indoor hybrid (radio-optical) WLAN-VLC hotspot coverage

In this work, we study the performance of hybrid (radio-optical) wireless local area network (WLAN)-visible light communication (VLC) hotspot and compare its performance with stand-alone VLC-only or WLAN-only hotspot cases. We consider data download on move scenario in an indoor environment for single-user and for multi-user cases. Short-range spotlighting cell so-called VLC hotspot is considered for high data rate region. On the other hand, WLAN hotspot is used for providing reliable connectivity and moderate data rate support. Throughput-distance relationships are developed both for WLAN and VLC to evaluate the performance of indoor environment by taking into account the radio and optical channel characteristics. The impact of the velocity of mobile user(s) and the number of VLC hotspots present in the considered service area are also considered on the performance of hybrid WLAN-VLC hotspot. Simulations have been performed to evaluate the performance of such network for data downloading on move scenario by taking into account performance metrics such as file size, average connectivity and system throughput. Simulation results reveal that the considered hybrid WLAN-VLC performs always better than stand-alone VLC-only or WLAN-only hotspots both for single and multi-user cases. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.