LiFi Technology

LiFi or Light Fidelity is considered a bidirectional wireless system, and its job is transmitting data through infrared or LED light. This was initially unveiled in the year 2011, and this is pretty different from Wi-Fi that utilises radiofrequency. LiFi technology requires a light source only with a chip that would broadcast an internet signal via light waves. 

If people don’t know What is LiFi Technology, then they must know that the invention of LiFi is acknowledged as a remarkable progression over countless wireless networks that are found today. LiFi multiplies the bandwidth and speed of 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. 3G and 4G have got only some capacity, and they tend to saturate when there is an escalation in the number of users. This causes them to crash. Additionally, their speeds reduce and end up interrupting the connection.

The band frequency of LiFi is 200,000 GHz vs. the maximum of five GHz of Wi-Fi. And so, it can be assumed that it is one hundred times faster. Again, it is also capable of transmitting more information every second. LiFi technology would permit people to get connected to the internet through the use of light from streetlights, lamps, or LED televisions. 

The advantages of LiFi are huge. Besides being safer, faster, and less expensive than Wi-Fi, LiFi does not require a router. For establishing a connection, you must point your tablet or mobile towards a light bulb. When you fulfil this requirement, you will be capable of surfing the web efficiently.

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Development of LiFi Over Years

In the year 2011, Professor Harald Hass coined the term “LiFi” at his TED Global Talk, and here, he made people familiar with the notion of getting wireless data from all types of lights. Haas is the Prof. of Mobile Communication at Edinburgh University. He is also the co-founder of pureLiFi, besides Dr. Mostafa Afgani. In September 2013, company of Haas released the first commercially obtainable LiFi technology in the world. 

• Li-1st – It is the first LiFi technology that was obtainable in the market.

• Li-Flame – Li-Flame was made familiar in February 2015, and it is considered the 1st LiFi product that permits mobile wireless communications.

• Lucibel and PureLiFi – These are the first industrialized LiFi solutions of the world, and a French lighting company launched them. They are installed in several locations that include the Paris headquarter of Microsoft.

• Lifi-XC system – LiFi-XC system was released in October 2017. This is viewed as a plug-and-play system that does its job with a USB device. However, you can integrate it into future smart appliances, tablets, or smartphones.

The Rolling Out of LiFi all Across the World

After the LiFi technology emerged, it became successful in reaching people’s homes in only some years. Currently, it is being examined with LED luminaires in different offices all across the world. Again, it is being used in the aeronautical industry too. It is working on different solutions for getting integrated into commercial aircraft.

Hospitals, city streets, and airports are important places where LiFi technology can become hugely popular. In the next 10 years, the escalating demand for high bandwidth systems and the advancements made in mobile devices is hoped to drive the growth of this social technology. The global market for LiFi technology would reach a value of close to $36 billion in the year 2028, and in the next ten years, the compound yearly rate of growth will escalate to 71.2 percent. The Asia-Pacific region would lead the global development in LiFi technology up to 2028, and it overtook Europe, which remained at the forefront in 2017.

What are the Applications of LiFi?

There are various LiFi applications because of their vital features, like energy efficiency, directional lighting, high data rate capacity, intrinsic security, signal blocking, and integrated networking capacity. This is how lifi works: 

• Security – When LiFi is used in a meeting room, then many users will be able to access it. The general net benefit that every user will get is up to one thousand times better speeds. So, security will fundamentally increase.

• Dense Urban Surroundings – With LiFi, every room will get higher speed wireless communication as the light waves will not propagate through walls.

• Cellular Communication – In an external urban environment, the utilisation of LiFi-enabled street lamps will propose a wide system of internet access points. 

• EMI Sensitive Environments – LiFi-enabled lighting on an aircraft will permit higher data rate connectivity, and it will reach every passenger. 

• Augmented Reality or AR – Exhibits in galleries and museums get illuminated with particular lighting, and LiFi-enabled lighting can propose localised information in that light. It means visitors’ mobile phones or cameras can be utilised without downloading further information related to the object that is being viewed.

• Underwater Communication – LiFi can allow communication from one drive to another diver, drilling rig to a diver, diver to mini-sub, etc.

• Safety Environments – The utilisation of LiFi for passing data would simplify the patterns of data networks in various environments. It can also enable novice systems to improve security in these surroundings.

• Connectivity – Nearly every home has got lighting installed widely, and the utilisation of LiFi-enabled lighting would change the applications which can be envisaged, and they include not only computers, televisions, and HiFi but also some domestic appliances, like washing machines, vacuum cleaners, fridges, and microwave ovens.

• Sensitive Data – LiFi in hospitals can improve the deployment of a secure networked medical instrument, patient record, etc.

Advantages of LiFi

There are several advantages of LiFi, and some of them are mentioned below:

• Faster Data Transfer – The rate of data transfer in LiFi technology for internet applications is impressively higher.

• More Amount of Security – LiFi technology proposes a higher amount of security because data communication happens to be a LOS (line of sight). Again, LiFi signals do cover lower regions too. This will help in averting undesired access to LiFi signals by unauthorised people.

• Less Consumption of Power – Every LiFi device consumes lower power for operation. And so, it is utilised in IoT (Internet of Things) applications.

• Use of the Optical Spectrum – LiFi technology utilises optical spectrum, averting the already-crowded RF spectrum.

• Easier to Install – LiFi technology can be installed easily.

• An Increased Amount of Energy Reduction – There can be a huge amount of reduction in energy in a lighting industry with the use of a LiFi-based device.

• No Health Hazards – As LiFi-based devices operate on an optical band, they do not emerge as harmful similar to the RF spectrum. So, there isn’t any health concern too in a LiFi-based system.

Some Unknown and Interesting Facts About LiFi Technology

• LiFi is the abbreviation of Light Fidelity, and this is acknowledged as wireless optical networking that utilises LEDs to transmit data.

• LiFi technology demands do vary according to different geographical regions. The market of LiFi technology holds a permanent share in different nations of Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and RoW (rest of the world).

• The emergence and growth of LiFi technology are making WiFi and various other wireless networks obsolete. And so, it is just a matter of some years when we will see street lights illuminating our streets and getting us internet connection.

• LiFi technology is formed on VLC (visible light communication) that utilises light as a medium for delivering data in place of radio waves that are utilised in WiFi.

• LiFi technology utilises an operating range that varies from 380nm-780 nm optical band.

• LiFi utilises LiFi modulation schemes, like CCK, OOK, VPPM, or Variable Pulse Position Modulation, for various rates.

The article covered all about what is lifi technology and related information.