Arise of Li-Fi in internet communication- a great step in wireless communication

Chinese have successfully developed Li-Fi technology to be used as a cheaper way of getting connected to internet. A group of scientists from Fudan University, Shanghai is behind this major development. Under this new development a light bulb with embedded microchips which can produce data rates of 150 mbs per sec is used. This speed is much more higher when compared to the average broad band communication in China.

What is LiFi technology?

LiFi is transmission of data through illumination by taking the fiber out of fiber optics by sending data through a LED light bulb that varies in intensity faster than human eye can follow. In fact we can say it has the cheaper optical version of WiFi. The term was first used by Herald Hass (University of Edinburgh, UK) in his TED Global talk on visible light Communication. He explained, "very simple, if the LED is on, you transmit a digital 1, if its off you transmit a 0. The LEDs can be switched on and off very quickly, which gives nice oppurtunity to transmit data".

So what we need is some LEDs and a controller that code data into those LEDs. we have to just vary the rate at which the LED's flicker depending upon the data we want to encode. We can also improvise using an array of LEDs for parallel data transmission or using different mixtures of red, green, blue lights to alter the lights frequency with each frequency encoding a different data channel. Can you imagine the speed of such techniques? In theory its about 10 Gbps- meaning you can download a full high-definition video in just 30 seconds. Really awesome. These are not only the reason why LiFi gets the upper hand. Since this technology uses light, it can be used safely in aircraft and hospitals that are prone to interference from radio waves. This can even work underwater where WiFi completely fails. Hence this technique can be a major breakthrough in defence research.

The possibilities of LiFi technology are numerous and can be explored further. Now a days, its atttracting a deal of interest not least because it may offer a genuine and very efficient alternative to radio-based wireless.