Scheduling Methods for Multi-User Optical Wireless Asymmetrically-Clipped OFDM

Diffuse optical wireless (DOW) systems have the advantage that they do not require point-to-point siting so one transmitter can communicate with several receivers. In this paper, we investigate multiple access scheduling methods for downlink orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in diffuse optical wireless networks. Unlike the radio frequency (RF) channel, the DOW channel has low-pass filter characteristics and so requires different scheduling methods than those developed for the RF channel. Multi-user diversity orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems nominate a cluster of subcarriers with the largest signal-to-noise-ratio for transmission. However, in a DOW channel, most users would choose the lowest frequency clusters of subcarriers. To remedy this problem, we make two proposals. The first is to use a variable cluster size across the subcarriers; the lower frequency clusters will have fewer subcarriers while the higher frequency clusters will have more subcarriers. This will equalize the capacity of the clusters. The second proposal is to randomize a user's cluster selection from a group of clusters satisfying a minimum threshold. Through simulation it is shown that combining these strategies can increase the throughput while ensuring a fair distribution of the available spectrum.