LED layout optimization in visible light communication system by a hybrid immune clonal bat algorithm

To enhance the flatness of received optical power distribution, a hybrid immune clonal bat algorithm (ICBA) combining the bat algorithm (BA) with an immune clonal algorithm (ICA) has been proposed to optimize the light source layout of indoor visible-light communication (VLC) systems. Taking 16 light-emitting diode (LED) lamps under a rectangular layout as an example, the variance of the received light power on the receiving plane is set as the fitness function. Specifically, the fitness value is optimized by the variables of 18 elements consisting of the LED position parameters and their half-power angles. The results show that compared with the non-optimized case, BA, and ICA, the fitness value of ICBA decrease by 97.70%, 96.77% and 98.81%, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) variance optimized by the ICBA is the lowest, approximately 0.1037 dB, and the variance of illuminance optimized by ICBA is 62.99% lower than that optimized by ICA. Besides, compared with the non-optimized case, the BER performance of this VLC system has also been improved significantly after ICBA optimization. This study will benefit the research and development of indoor VLC systems. •A hybrid immune clonal bat algorithm (ICBA) combining the BA with ICA has been proposed.•The light source layout of indoor visible-light communication (VLC) systems has been optimized.•The flatness of optical power, SNR and illumination distribution has been improved.