Imagine the table-lamp on your reading table or the LED bulb which you use to light-up your
room can also be used for another important purpose, to get access to the Internet, at a speed of
250 times faster than superfast broadband! Yes, it is now proven to be possible! The name of this
emerging amazing technology is Li-Fi, Light Fidelity. Li-Fi is 5G visible light communication systems using light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as
a medium to deliver networked, mobile, high-speed communication in a similar manner as Wi-Fi
and Optical fiber. Li-Fi is a new paradigm for optical wireless communication to provide
unprecendented connectivity within a localized data-centric environment.
All data (files, music, videos etc.) are only series of ordered ‘0’ and ‘1’. This is the era of Digital
world. To transmit data, you only have to transmit series of ‘0’ and ‘1’ from one point to the
other one. Hence, by combining ‘0’ to a state where the LED light is switch off and a '1' to a state
where the LED light is switch on, by switching on and off the light according the series you can
send information all around you by the lighting networks. That means during transmission of
data, you need LEDs at the sending end and sensors or photodetectors with high light sensitivity
at the receiving end. Here is a diagram showing the steps how Li-Fi works:
UK researchers say that they have achieved data transmission speeds of 10Gbits/s via Li-Fi!Li-Fi promises to be cheaper and more energy-efficient than existing wireless radio systems
given the ubiquity of LED bulbs and the fact that lighting infrastructure is already in place.
Visible light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and its bandwidth is 10,000 times bigger
than the radio frequency sprectum. Most of its bandwidth remains unused. So Li-Fi comes here
to take advantage of this and utilize this great bandwidth.
Here some pictures showing how life will be in future where Li-Fi will rule:
Some devices for visible light communication have already been developed through which Li-Fi
can be used but in a confine mode. For greater purpose, researches are going on.
