Hybrid NOMA-based ACO-FBMC/OQAM for next-generation indoor optical wireless communications using LiFi technology

Light fidelity (LiFi) has successfully achieved high data transfer rates, high security, great availability, and low interference. In this paper, we propose a LiFi system consisting of a combination of non-orthogonal multi-access (NOMA), asymmetrically-clipped optical (ACO), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) techniques combined with offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM). The paper also applies a μ-law companding approach for a high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) reduction of the FBMC/OQAM scheme. The combination of NOMA, ACO-FBMC/OQAM, and μ-law companding allows a significant increase in throughput and a significant reduction in unserved users. Considering two scenarios, an appropriate algorithm is developed to maximize the throughput and minimize the number of blocked (unserved) users. The results show that the overall system throughput could be increased by 1.8 compared to FBMC, OFDM, and OFDM-NOMA. Furthermore, the proposed system reduces the number of unserved users below 10 % , while the system can provide 30 or 60 % in case only OFDM-NOMA, FBMC, or OFDM is applied. © 2022, The Author(s).