Made-In-China 'Li-Fi' May Be Your Cheapest Wi-Fi Alternative - Lightbulbs At Work

Chinese researchers have finally made a breakthrough in the wireless internet segment with Li-Fi technology, where wireless signals get transmitted via lightbulbs. These brilliantly awesome Chinese folks proposed that four computers under a 1 Watt LED lightbulb may connect to the web, principle being that light can act as a carrier instead of conventional radio frequencies. Chi Nan, an IT professor at Shanghai-based Fudan University expanded that a lightbulb having embedded microchips can produce data uploading/downloading speeds of nearly 150 Mbps (Wooot!), and this is way higher that what the average broadband connection in China currently delivers. Also, where Li-fi scores over the traditional Wi-Fi is that it's way to cheaper than the existing wireless signal transmission equipment and offers a much greater efficiency.

slide

Chi added that as far as cell phones are concerned, millions of base stations across the world contribute to strengthen the signals, but a major part of the energy is juiced up in their cooling systems. She even added that the energy utilization rate was just a mere 5%. Having said that, Chi was quick enough to point out the commercial impracticality of Li-Fi as of now, as when the light will be blocked, it's cut off the signal then and there. A few developments remain to make Li-Fi a commercial success, and the team is currently running experiments for light communication controls, microchip design and manufacturing, among other segments.

Haral Hass from Edinburgh University is the man who bestowed upon this technology the name Li-Fi back in 2011, which stands for 'light-fidelity' and simply refers to a light communication technology that offers high-speed wireless transmissions, somewhat like our very own Wi-fi. Once this tech comes to life, it opens up the Pandora's box to limitless applications, with each and every light source being employed as a data transmitter. Edison would've been proud.

Replies

  • Saandeep Sreerambatla
    Saandeep Sreerambatla
    So switching on the light bulb means the internet is ON and switching it off equals to internet being OFF?

    This is a great invention, my questions so having a bulb alone is sufficient? how do we connect the cable from dataprovider as we do for normal routers at home?

    My assumption is , the bulb alone is sufficient, and we need to connect the cable somehow to the bulb as we connect it to power socket?
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Amazing post! As has been mentioned, Li-fi is definitely more energy-efficient than existing wireless radio systems - as we already have a huge set of LED bulbs and the lighting infrastructure is already in place. So, we are cutting costs right from the beginning.

    Security wise - I think this technology would be better!
    Light cannot penetrate walls as radio signals can, therefore hacking of wireless internet signals would be far more difficult, if not impossible.
  • anupbadru
    anupbadru
    Here Light is the carrier,so what about the range ??? so where the light of bulb doesn't reach ..Data flow will be there or not ??signal will flow or not ??
  • madhu27
    madhu27
    Really amazing invention. What would be the range of data flow?
  • Vinodhini.V
    Vinodhini.V
    Really Amazing Post, Do the speed depends upon the watts of the LED bulb we use ??
  • Jeffrey Arulraj
    Jeffrey Arulraj
    Vinodhini.V
    Really Amazing Post, Do the speed depends upon the watts of the LED bulb we use ??
    Watts can play a role

    But more than that the amount of light exposed to the Li-Fi connected device plays a major role

    If your device is exposed to more light more connectivity and vise versa
  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    If light acts like a carrier and data was transmitted through the light waves, I want to know the following.
    consider a squared room in which the LI-FI is fixed at the one corner and lifi is actuated.So as posted by the informaion,I can download ata speed of 150mbps but if the dppr was closed and I was sitting at the next room what will happen(If the wall can block the passage of light) can still LIFI transmitts the data?
  • Jeffrey Arulraj
    Jeffrey Arulraj
    Not exactly you will have no data connectivity in the other room as you are out of the range of the lifi system
    SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
    I was sitting at the next room what will happen(If the wall can block the passage of light) can still LIFI transmitts the data?
  • durga ch
    durga ch
    ..and interference??

You are reading an archived discussion.

Related Posts

Tapping into the smartphone and tablet market, Microsoft has today released a Remote Desktop App for Android, iOS (iPad and iPhone) and Mac which allows users to remotely access their...
Facebook iOS app update is here. With the update version 6.6, Facebook has taken a step closer to bringing all the functionality that the Facebook desktop mode offers. The latest...
Can any one tell what are algorithms?
Simmtronics Semiconductor Ltd., an Indian multinational computer technology company that is known best for manufacturing economical 3G Tablets with calling function and G-Sensor as well as for bringing India's First...
I shall try out this when (and a BIG IF) I graduate to a smart phone. So far have been too smart to be conned into getting one. https://www.instructables.com/id/10-Smartphone-to-digital-microscope-conversion/?ALLSTEPS