Optimization of Surface Configuration in IRS-Aided MIMO-VLC: A BER Minimization Approach

Due to its ability to reconfigure the optical channel, intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) has revealed its great potential for enhancing the performance of visible light communication (VLC) systems. In this paper, we apply a mirror array-based IRS in typical multiple-input multiple-output based VLC (MIMO-VLC) systems and optimize the IRS configuration to minimize the system bit error rate (BER). By utilizing the tight analytical BER upper bound, a BER minimization problem is formulated subject to the IRS configuration constraints. To solve this problem, an optimization algorithm is proposed which decomposes the original problem into three sub-problems, and the complexity of the algorithm is analyzed. The superiority of the obtained optimal IRS configuration scheme over the baseline scheme in terms of BER performance has been successfully verified through simulations in an indoor IRS-aided <tex-math notation="LaTeX">4× 4</tex-math> MIMO-VLC system applying different MIMO techniques.