WE all know of Wi-Fi – a system that uses antennas to transmit radio signals which are received by our mobile devices, enabling us to interact with the digital world from anywhere.
But instead of using radio waves, what if we could use something else to allow us to access the internet.
Something like light?
The idea of using a light bulb as a means to access the internet might sound like an ambitious concept, but it’s a concept that’s currently pushing the boundaries of technology.
Li-Fi, short for Light Fidelity, is a wireless internet connection standard that uses visible light waves instead of radio waves.
Professor Harald Haas at the University of Edinburgh first demonstrated Li-Fi back in 2010.
He said visible light waves far exceed radio waves on the electromagnetic spectrum.
‘It is generally accepted that by 2025 the radio spectrum will no longer be sufficient to keep up with wireless communications.
‘And that is where we come in with Li-Fi, and Li-Fi and light are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
‘It is one thousand times bigger than the entire three-hundred gigahertz of radio spectrum, and that’s the entire point about it, providing big, fat, data piles in the future, which are by the way also free because light spectrum is not licensed,’ said Haas.
He dismissed speculations that Li-Fi is a hundred times faster than Wi-Fi.
He said that while Li-Fi does have the potential to produce speeds far greater than that of Wi-Fi, the most advanced types of LED bulbs and lamps currently available will only allow Li-Fi to reach speeds two to four times faster than Wi-Fi.
‘If you take the LED bulbs and lamps that the industry is using at the moment, a hundred times faster than Wi-Fi is not possible.
‘And if we compare the fastest Wi-Fi which is seven gigabits per second, one-hundred times faster would be seven-hundred gigabits per second.
Li-Fi does have some setbacks in the sense that it all depends on your device being within range of the light being transmitted by your Li-Fi bulb.
You will actually have to see the source of light to connect to a wireless network.
Also, unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi cannot penetrate walls. This would of course then limit one’s access to the internet but also help for security purposes.
However, all this technology does come at a price.
‘The price point at a mass market uptake for Li-Fi will be in the region of below ten pounds. That would be for a Li-Fi dongle for example that you could stick into your iPhone, smart phone or laptop.
‘And then we have the light bulb as a transceiver. We would be expecting something sub one-hundred pounds for a unit like this in a case where we have mass market adoption,’ said Haas.
With the future of Li-Fi still in its development stages, it can only be a matter of time before switching on the lights means switching on the digital world.
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