Outage Analysis of Hybrid VLC/RF Networks with an Energy Harvesting Relay and Random Receiver Orientation

In this paper, we explore an indoor downlink cooperative hybrid visible light communication (VLC)/radio frequency (RF) scenario using a relay node to reduce system outage probability. In particular, information can be transmitted to the end user either directly through the VLC link or via the relay node. To re-transmit the decoded information to the end user through the RF link the relay utilizes harvested energy from the source light emitting diode (LED) at the ceiling. We derive the analytical expression for the outage probability of the relayaided hybrid VLC/RF system, considering the randomness of location and receiver orientation for both the relay and the end user. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of the direct current (DC) bias, data rate threshold, and different distributions for the location and orientation of the end user and relay on the outage probability of the system.