Where Li Fi Technology Is Used

Call up of scenes in movies where you meet a character turning a flashlight on and off in bursts to relay a bulletin to someone else in morse code. Li-Fi is a technology that works like that, only a lot, lot faster. And information technology's your smartphone talking to a lamp with its calorie-free pulses. Dislocated? Intrigued?

What is Li-Fi Engineering ?

As the tagline of a leading Li-Fi company PureLiFi goes, Li-Fi is where

"Light becomes data."

Li-Fi stands for Light Fidelity. It is a applied science for wireless communication that utilizes light, in the infrared and visible spectrum, for the manual of information at loftier speeds. Li-Fi has been described as fifth-generation (5G) communication technology.

Li-Fi can be characterized as falling under the broad category of Visible Low-cal Communication (VLC). The fact that Li-Fi allows bi-directional transmission of information, ie; information can be communicated from a light source to a device and back, is one feature that sets it apart from other subsets of VLC.

History of Li-Fi

The origins of VLC, and past extension Li-Fi, tin can be traced way back in history to Graham Bell's Photophone invented in 1880. The photophone was a wireless communication device that used a beam of light to transmit speech. It is idea to be the predecessor to fibre optic communication, and now to Li-Fi.

Li-Fi technology was pioneered by Professor Harald Haas and the term was beginning introduced to the world in his talk at TED Global 2011, "Wireless Data from Every Calorie-free Seedling." Haas was even dubbed "Father of Li-Fi" for his work.

Although numerous companies are now working on experimenting on and commercializing Li-Fi, Haas and his team are responsible for most of the enquiry that went into this engineering.

In 2012, Haas co-founded a Li-Fi visitor chosen pureVLC Ltd., which was later on rebranded as PureLiFi. They released Li-1st, the world'due south start commercial form of Li-Fi technology the next year. In 2015, Li-Flame was released for mobile wireless communications, and in 2016 saw the commencement industrialized form of Li-Fi.

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How Does Li-Fi Work ?

Li-Fi is a form of VLC, so by definition, it has a transmitter and a receiver and uses light for the manual of data.

Li-Fi networks are bi-directional, which means that an uplink and a downlink tin both be formed simultaneously between the transmitter and receiver. This is what makes it so suitable for internet advice. It is to be noted that Li-Fi isn't a different style of getting internet, information technology's a different way for deploying internet.

Working and Components of a Li-Fi Arrangement (Source: https://lifi.co/)

The 2 chief components of a Li-Fi network are-

LED Light Source

Low-cal sources, including light fixtures already existence used for illumination, as well as special light sources particularly fabricated for the purpose, are used for the transmission of data in Li-Fi. LED lights are most suited for data transmission because of their reliability and efficiency.

Infrared detectors to observe signals from devices are likewise present to make both uplink and downlink possible. The low-cal fixtures deed as an admission indicate for data and can exist powered and supplied with information through methods like Power over Ethernet (POE) or Power-Line Communication (PLC).

The light source emits pulses of calorie-free for transmitting data, which can then exist captured and decoded by a receiver. And so wouldn't it be creepy having flickering lamps all over the identify? Non really. The matter is, the pulses would be emitted at a frequency of more than than a 1000000 times per second, which is but too quick for our eyes to detect.

The lights don't necessarily need to be excessively bright either. In fact, they tin exist dimmed so low that they autumn below the visible spectrum, and still serve their purpose. And so just because you turn out the light in your bedroom to sleep, doesn't hateful you demand to cut off your net connection too.

Li-Fi Enabled Devices

A Li-Fi enabled device has a receiver, which is a photodiode for detecting the bespeak contained within the lite emitted by the transmitter. The detector captures the modulated pulses and converts them into data much like translating morse lawmaking.

To enable the flow of data in both directions, the devices are also equipped with infrared transmitters for sending information back up to the light source.

Li-Fi vs Wi-Fi

When many hear near Li-Fi for wireless advice, they may get dislocated and go, "Wait, don't you hateful Wi-Fi?" Li-Fi is like Wi-Fi's smarter, younger, and less famous cousin of sorts.

While Li-Fi withal remains a niche technology with limited applications, Wi-Fi is a household term. It is what we all rely on every day for our life-sustaining internet connections.

The difference between the both is that Li-Fi uses light where Wi-Fi uses radiofrequency. Ultimately, Wi-Fi and Li-Fi serve the aforementioned purpose. Li-Fi may even supercede Wi-Fi one day.

Li-Fi is faster, more than secure, encounters little or no interference bug even in loftier-density areas, and could potentially be bachelor anywhere where in that location is a lite fixture.

Here's a comprehensive comparing between the two-

Li-Fi vs Wi-Fi

In that location are disadvantages to Li-Fi, 1 beingness that since low-cal cannot pass through walls or opaque structures, connectivity is limited to devices that are directly within the line of sight of a light fixture. Or more accurately, devices that are directly or indirectly illuminated by the fixture, since reflected light tin also transmit data.

Also, if nosotros're using existing light fixtures, and not lights with the capability to be dimmed across human being visibility, the signal gets cutting when the light gets turned off. And so there'southward also the matter of a huge infrastructural disruption that would need to take place for mass scale setting up of Li-Fi.

Advantages of Li-Fi

Li-Fi technology is however in its infant phase, with research existence done on how to overcome its deficiencies. And so information technology would be more than illuminating for u.s. to focus on its benefits, to understand why Li-Fi technology is so important.

Overcoming Spectrum Crunch

You would be hard-pressed to find a habitation without internet access these days, and the corporeality of wireless traffic is increasing drastically each year. Since all of this operates on the radio frequency spectrum, at that place is the take a chance of just not having enough of the spectrum left to allocate whatsoever more.

This is called the spectrum crunch, a miracle that describes a possible condition where the radio frequency spectrum becomes oversaturated. The closer nosotros get to this, more and more than interference occurs in our wireless communications, and our internet speeds would suffer.

So Wi-Fi simply cannot back up the growing data demand, and that'southward where Li-Fi comes in. The infrared and visible calorie-free spectrum, where Li-Fi operates, is around 2600x the size of the radio frequency spectrum.

You tin can operate in areas with a high density of transmissions without your connectedness speed suffering. This means a Li-Fi dependent time to come would be improve suited to bargain with the ever-growing amounts of data transmission that we are dealing with.

High Speed

Tests have shown that Li-Fi can offer a data transmission speed of upto 224 GBps, though devices currently in use offer lower, but still impressive speeds. The loftier speed is as well owing to the size of the calorie-free spectrum used in Li-Fi. Such widespread access to fast cyberspace would be revolutionary.

Multipurpose and Sustainable

LiFi engineering uses devices that hit two birds with ane stone- information technology combines the functions of illumination and information communication into the same device. The aforementioned light fixture tin both provide light and transmit data.

Li-Fi technology can too utilise existing light fixtures and infrastructure for the most role. Even where other types of calorie-free fixtures are used, replacing them with LED lights for Li-Fi is not a waste, every bit LED is more efficient anyway.

Li-Fi would also salve a lot of energy and cost. This is because maintaining a Wi-Fi network over an expanse requires several devices including routers, modems, and signal repeaters to be kept powered all the time. Li-Fi uses lighting which nosotros are already keeping on a lot of the time.

This also means Li-Fi could exist used as a tool to bridge the digital split past helping ensure that cyberspace access is bachelor to everyone regardless of their financial constraints. Setting up LiFi in public spaces similar parks would be much more economical and practical than setting up free WiFi hotspots.

Secure

Light doesn't travel through walls and other opaque objects. That means your data transmissions stay inside the rooms that yous desire them to stay in. Although the inability of Li-Fi to permeate physical barriers is a drawback in some ways, it also means that absolute security of your connection is ensured.

For some hacker to fifty-fifty try to penetrate your network, they would demand to be in a place illuminated by your LED transmitters, and not just anywhere inside a radius of several meters, as is the case with Wi-Fi.

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Applications of Li-Fi

Our hereafter may be Li-Fi suffused, where there is data flowing through every street lamp on the road and fifty-fifty the lite in your bathrooms. But right now Li-Fi is existence employed more for detail applications, where the item features of Li-Fi have proven advantageous.

Let's look at some of the applications of Li-Fi that merit attending-

Hospitals and Aviation

Li-Fi is immune to electromagnetic interference. This makes information technology ideal for applications in hospitals, equally Li-Fi does not interfere with devices that operate using radio frequencies. The speed and ubiquitousness of Li-Fi too aid in real-time patient monitoring, seamless advice, etc.

Similarly, in aircrafts, the employ of Li-Fi for communication is benign as there will be no interference to the radar arrangement or other devices operating on radiofrequency. Providing internet connectivity in flights is besides something that is greatly encouraging to passengers.

Defense force, R&D, and Finance Sectors

Li-Fi provides a level of security that is crucial for these sectors and hence is beingness increasingly employed in them.

Schools and Offices

The ability of Li-Fi to provide high speeds even in loftier-density areas makes it optimal for places like universities and office buildings, where everyone is using wireless communication all the fourth dimension.

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Smart Homes

The fully automated smart homes of the future would take internet connectivity in every nook and cranny, connecting devices all over the house, forming a complete ecosystem inside four walls. The utilise of Li-Fi can assist in ensuring security, interconnectedness, and ubiquitous accessibility within the smart homes of the future.

Other applications of LI-Fi technology include augmented reality, retail, factory automation, driverless cars, etc.

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Future of Li-Fi Technology

Companies working on Li-Fi engineering include-

PureLifi
Lucibel
Oledcomm
Signify
Wipro

and others.

Examples of some of the interesting Li-Fi products commercially available on the market at present are-

Lifi-90: A Li-Fi dongle from PureLifi.
Kitefin: A armed forces-grade, deployable Li-Fi for defense applications, also from PureLifi.
MyLiFi Pro: A Li-Fi supported desk lamp from Oledcomm.

The list is growing consistently. Still as of at present, Li-Fi remains a niche technology, not popular among the masses. But that is bound to modify soon.

Since its introduction, Li-Fi has been popularized every bit the technology that would one day supervene upon Wi-Fi and bring forth a new 5G era. This paradigm shift in wireless communication that Haas envisioned in his 2018 paper is very much a possibility, it just has not arrived nevertheless.