This advance in LED technology is greatly
welcomed by many scientists, as LED lights
are far brighter and more efficient than conventional bulbs or energy saving lights, and
Li-Fi brings the global change to LEDs far
closer.
While it is still in the development stage,
there are no complete drawbacks to the Li-Fi
system. As the data is transferred solely
through light radiation, it is not possible for
the system to transfer data through walls.
Professor Harald Haas at his 2011 TED talk on Li-Fi This can be seen as a downside for some,
but at least you won’t get people piggybackcope with the demand of wireless data trans- ing on your internet.
missions and the number of bytes and data
which are transmitted every month .”
The ability to transfer data through light radiation has a wide range of effects. The
transferring device can be easily fitted into
existing lighting units, potentially meaning
that a single light bulb could be used to not
only provide light, but also internet speeds
250 times faster than those of current fibre
As can be expected, shadows will unfortuoptic wireless systems.
nately cut the connection. This appears to be
one of the major technical difficulties holding back Li-Fi.
The Li-Fi system shows strong potential for
underwater and space communications,
since the light can still be detected by a device.
So all this sounds great in theory, but how
does it work? “All we would need to do,”
states Prof. Haas, “is to fit a small microIn early tests of the Li-Fi system, four com- chip to every potential illumination device .“
puters could be connected to the internet
So what is next for Li-Fi? Well, scientists are
potentially at a speed of 150 gigabits per
still working on it. Prof. Haas says that it
second, through a single, one watt LED bulb.
would “combine two basic functionaliThis ability to quickly and cheaply access the
ties: illumination and wireless data transmisinternet opens the doors for previously uns