Massive Machine-Type Communications via Hybrid OWC/RF Networks in Finite Block-Length Regime

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the design and analysis of a novel hybrid optical wireless communication (OWC/radio frequency (RF) solution uitable for massive machine-type communications (mMTC). We consider a two-tier network architecture where a massive collection of indoor OWC-based small cells, each consisting of low-cost Internet of Things (loT) devices and an OWC access point, are connected to the network infrastructure via an outdoor low-power wide-area network (LP WAN). Both indoor OWC and outdoor LP WAN tiers of the mMTC system deploy the Slotted ALOHA (SA) random access protocol. For the proposed hybrid OWC/RF loT system, we are interested in the error probability in the finite block-length regime, i.e., the probability that a short block-length data packet originating from an OWC-based loT device is delivered at its nearest LP WAN base station. Based on the derived error probability expression, we present numerical results that indicate important insights into the design of an SA-based hybrid OWC/RF loT system.