What is LiFi ? 5 Things You Want To Know About LiFi

13th January 2017 dec21

What is LiFi?

LiFi stands for light fidelity, it is basically a wireless network technology which transfers the data over light waves. Li-Fi uses common household LED (light emitting diodes) light bulbs to enable data transfer. Light Fidelity or Li-Fi is a Visible Light Communications (VLC) system running wireless communications boasting speeds of up to 224 gigabits per second.

5 Things You Want To Know About LiFi

1.Who invented it

The man behind the LiFi technology is the German physicist Harald Haas. Haas, a professor of mobile communications at the University of Edinburgh coined the term LiFi during a Ted talk in 2011.After a year of Ted talk with a group of people he launched his company pureLiFi.The company has the vision to be the world leader in Visible Light Communications technology enabling ubiquitous, high-speed, secure data networks wherever there is illumination.

2.How it works

Li-Fi and Wi-Fi are quite similar as both transmit data electromagnetically. However, Wi-Fi uses radio waves while Li-Fi runs on visible light.

To get a clear understanding lets take an example,

Everyone does have a Television in their home, so we control our television using a remote controller.So the remote controller communicates with the television with the help of the infrared technology.

It works on a simple principle when the command is given i.e change channel or volume up and down.That input is converted into binary code(as television is an electronic device it does not understand the normal language so it only understands binary format i.e 0’s and 1’s).The code is transmitted via the infrared light waves through the remote sensors, and the light waves are received by your TVs Sensor

Similarly, Data is fed into a LED light bulb which is fitted with signal processing technology. The LED bulb pulses the data at a high non-visible rate to the photodetector. Then the photodetector(which is inside the receiving device for smartphones it will be placed inside the camera)receives the signals and convert it into the electrical signal which can convert the data into ‘Streamable “content.

With a single Led, multiple users can access the data.With multiple LEDs light, a user can move one light to another without affecting their access.

3.Advantages of LiFi

1.Speed-The real excitement surrounding around Li-Fi is because it has proven to have higher speeds than Wi-Fi. In the lab, Li-Fi has reached speeds of 224 gigabits per second. You can watch and download videos in no time. Browse new websites in a blink.

2.It is Virtually hack proof – LiFi does not work on the security mechanisms because it does not need any. Light cannot penetrate through walls to reach outside your room.So it can’t be accessed outside that room.So it won’t reach the third party in any way. Practically it is more secure than a Wifi because even a Wifi can be hacked, but a LiFi is not accessible at all outside, thereby barring the hackers from the root! Bye Bye Hackers!

3.It’s much, much faster than existing Wi-Fi speeds.

4.Downside of LiFi

1.Public wifi network– Where there is a lack of lightbulbs, there is a lack of Li-Fi internet so Li-Fi does take a hit when it comes to public Wi-Fi networks

2.Limited access– This means to have a Li-Fi network throughout your house, you will need these light bulbs in every room to have seamless connectivity.

3.Cannot Be accessed in Daylight(Li-Fi cannot be used in direct sunlight).Maybe it may work in ambient light

5.The Future Of LiFi

Li-Fi technology will enable faster, more reliable internet connections in future. It will not replace these technologies such as 4G, LTE, and Wi-Fi but will work seamlessly alongside them.

It will be widely used in the places where the wifi is not supported such as aircraft cabins, hospitals, and hazardous environments.

pureLiFi already have two products in the market: