Optimized Power Allocation in IRS-Aided Cooperative Uplink VLC System

The challenging issue of managing human eye irradiance from a light source poses a critical hurdle in uplink data transmission within visible light communication (VLC) systems. Eye irradiance and the data rate are influenced by the transmit power. Therefore, the transmit power must be optimized to achieve the maximum data rate while preventing the irradiance of the eye. To tackle this, multiple transmitters and receivers with partitioned intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) units cooperative VLC system is proposed in this work. Further, the formulation of an optimization problem is done in order to minimize the total transmit power requirements by putting constraints on achievable data rates. Furthermore, the optimization problem is addressed analytically and verified through simulations by employing the proposed evolutionary power minimization algorithm (EPMA). Our study shows that optimization and IRS make the system energy efficient. In addition, extensive numerical findings indicate that an IRS with optimization substantially reduces the transmit power requirements and improves the data rate.