{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:03:03Z","timestamp":1760234583782,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004055","name":"King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SB191038"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SB191038"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004055","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Visible light communications (VLC) is gaining interest as one of the enablers of short-distance, high-data-rate applications, in future beyond 5G networks. Moreover, non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA)-enabled schemes have recently emerged as a promising multiple-access scheme for these networks that would allow realization of the target spectral efficiency and user fairness requirements. The integration of NOMA in the widely adopted orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based VLC networks would require an optimal resource allocation for the pair or the cluster of users sharing the same subcarrier(s). In this paper, the max-min rate of a multi-cell indoor centralized VLC network is maximized through optimizing user pairing, subcarrier allocation, and power allocation. The joint complex optimization problem is tackled using a low-complexity solution. At first, the user pairing is assumed to follow the divide-and-next-largest-difference user-pairing algorithm (D-NLUPA) that can ensure fairness among the different clusters. Then, subcarrier allocation and power allocation are solved iteratively through both the Simulated Annealing (SA) meta-heuristic algorithm and the bisection method. The obtained results quantify the achievable max-min user rates for the different relevant variants of NOMA-enabled schemes and shed new light on both the performance and design of multi-user multi-carrier NOMA-enabled centralized VLC networks.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21113705","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T21:56:44Z","timestamp":1622066204000},"page":"3705","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["On the Achievable Max-Min User Rates in Multi-Carrier Centralized NOMA-VLC Networks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4520-2223","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Omar","family":"Maraqa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9594-8034","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Umair F.","family":"Siddiqi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Communications and IT Research, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4329-1448","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saad","family":"Al-Ahmadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4796-0581","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sadiq M.","family":"Sait","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Communications and IT Research, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70555","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2018.2879885","article-title":"Multi-User Visible Light Communications: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions","volume":"6","author":"Maraqa","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19703","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2017.2752208","article-title":"Centralized Light Access Network (C-LiAN): A Novel Paradigm for Next Generation Indoor VLC Networks","volume":"5","author":"Kizilirmak","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3204","DOI":"10.1109\/COMST.2019.2913348","article-title":"Visible Light Communication: Concepts, Applications and Challenges","volume":"21","author":"Matheus","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. 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