After the emergence of Wi-Fi, Li-Fi has come as a network that has proven to be much more effective than the currently available, as it is 100 times faster.
While this wireless technology was released four years ago, it has been recently when the first tests had been done outside the laboratories, giving surprising results, as was demonstrated that the technology achieves a transmission rate one hundred times greater than Wi-Fi.
An Estonian tech startup called Velmenni has been responsible for testing the technology in its headquarters, in which they reported that the device has a transmission speed of 1GB of data per second. Even higher speeds are expected since experiments conducted in laboratories at the University of Oxford’s reached 22GB per second.
“We are doing a few pilot projects within different industries where we can utilize the VLC (visible light communication) technology,” Deepak Solanki, CEO of Velmenni, told IBTimes UK. “Currently we have designed a smart lighting solution for an industrial environment where the data communication is done through light. We are also doing a pilot project with a private client where we are setting up a Li-Fi network to access the Internet in their office space,” he added.
LiFi technology transmits data by using visible light communication, which sends data via flickering LED light fields at a speed between 400 and 800 terahertz in order to write and transmit things in a visual binary code. LiFi allows a lamp to have two functions, providing light and ensure connectivity to the router.
In 2011, the creator of this technology, the scientist at the University of Edinburgh, Harald Hass, showed that a single LED can transmit more data than a cellular tower.
A year later, in 2012, this technology was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, in which two smartphones were used to exchange data and varying the intensity of light from their screens, with a maximum distance of ten meters.
Furthermore, the LiFi is safer than WiFi since it doesn’t interfere with other systems, so it could be used without problems in an airplane; however, the technology has a major drawback, since the light can’t pass through walls.
Nevertheless, considering all the advantages it has, it is not likely to completely replace Wi-Fi technology in the near future, but it is possible that both technologies can be used together to create more secure and faster networks.
Researchers are working on the adaptation of existing devices to be compatible with Li-Fi.
According to Science Alert, PureLiFi, the company created by Haas and his team, is offering a plug-and-play application for secure Internet access with a capacity of 11.5 MB per second, which is comparable to the first generation Wi-Fi.
Another company that also works with this technology is Oldecomm, a French company who is installing the system in local hospitals.
If applications like this and the tests that are now carried out in Estonia Velmenni succeed, everyone could access the Internet via LED light bulbs in their home.
Source: Science Alert