Fed up with Wi-fi? Li-fi technology turns light bulbs into smart devices that transmit data – and it is in homes already
The idea of using LED bulbs to provide a broadband internet connection through light waves was floated in 2011; now companies are coming up with different ways to harness this power
Thomas Edison illuminated the world when he patented the first electric light globe in 1879. In the digital era, another bright spark had a new idea: what if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data?
During a TED Talk in 2011, University of Edinburgh Professor Harald Haas floated the idea of a technology that enabled LED lighting to provide a broadband internet connection through light waves. He called it Light Fidelity, or Li-fi. Today, his company pureLiFi is one of the pioneers rolling out this technology to customers.
Olivia Qiu, chief innovation officer at Signify (the new company name of Philips Lighting), compares Li-fi, a two-way, high-speed wireless technology, to Wi-fi, but says it uses light waves instead of radio waves to transmit data. Within the stream of light from the overhead luminaire, a broadband connection is highly secure, and provides a connection with a speed of 30Mb per second without compromising lighting quality.
“While radio frequencies are becoming congested, the visible light spectrum is an untapped resource with a large bandwidth suitable for the stable simultaneous connection of a vast array of Internet of Things devices,” she says.
Icade, a French real estate investment company, is piloting Signify’s technology in its smart office in Paris’ La Defense business district.
“In just two years, 30 per cent of the growing data demand will go unmet by radio frequency technologies such as Wi-fi and cellular,” said Alistair Banham, CEO of pureLiFi.
