Li-Fi System - No slow Wi-Fi anymore !!

Transferring data in short ranges has now become faster than ever. Radio waves were used to transfer data in the form of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but now researchers from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), have developed a wireless technology that transmits data in visible light emitted from LED lamps, while lighting the room at the same time. And the best part is that it speeds upto 3.5 Gbps, which means we could download an HD Movie from the Internet within the blink of an eye.

The system is called Li-Fi, which is short for light fidelity; the technology is what is known as Visible Light Communication (VLC). Unlike infrared-based systems, VLC involves transmitting data using light visible to the human eye. In this case it is transmitted as intermittent, imperceptible flickers of light emitted by LEDs. For the wireless internet transmission, a receptor device is designed to be placed above a router. The router incorporates an LED lamp to transmit data so anyone falling within the halo of light emitted will be in range. However, only those with a receptor/transmitter device will be able to send and receive the signal. The Sisoft team says it has used the technology to transmit audio, video and internet at rates of up to 10 gigabits per second. This is an improvement over similar Li-Fi systems developed at Siemens and Pennsylvania State University that achieved transfer rates of 500 Mbps and 1.6 Gbps, respectively. Li-Fi also has the advantage of being useful in electromagnetic sensitive areas such as in aircraft cabins, hospitals and nuclear power plants without causing electromagnetic interference. It is expected to be ten times cheaper than Wi-Fi.

PureLiFi demonstrated the first commercially available Li-Fi system, the Li-1st, at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With it’s marvelous advantages there come negative points too. The US Federal Communications Commission has warned of a potential spectrum crisis because Wi-Fi is close to full capacity, Li-Fi has almost no limitations on capacity. The visible light spectrum is 10,000 times larger than the entire radio frequency spectrum. Researchers have reached data rates of over 10 Gbit/s, which is more than 250 times faster than superfast broadband. Short range, low reliability and high installation costs are the potential downsides.

Source: SiSoft