The lightbulb is an amazing invention to light homes and businesses. It is about to get more awesome. LiFi technologies may soon upgrade the lights of your homes and businesses to project internet at 100 times the speed of WiFi.
Disney is already developing uses for this technology. It includes a magic wand to turn on lights on a Princess Dress. It is pretty KOOL stuff.
Li-Fi, which was first invented by Harold Haas of the University of Edinburgh in 2011, usesvisible light communication (VLC) to send data at extremely high speeds. Essentially, this works like an incredibly fast signal lamp, flashing on and off in order to relay messages in binary code (1s and 0s). In previous lab-based experiments, the technology was able to transmit up to 224 gigabits per second. To put this in perspective, Wi-Fi is capable of reaching speeds of around 600 megabits per second.
Aside from its superior speed, Li-Fi also boasts a number of other benefits over Wi-Fi. For instance, the fact that the signal is carried by optical light means that it cannot travel through walls, therefore enhancing the security of local networks. Obviously, this produces a number of limitations as well, since it suggests that connection will be lost if a user leaves the room, representing a major hurdle that must be overcome if the technology is to be successfully implemented. However, if this barrier can be surmounted, then the use of the visible spectrum could allow Li-Fi to send messages across a much wider range of frequencies than Wi-Fi, which operates between the frequencies of 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz. (iflscience.com)
Check out more details on this awesome technogoly at iflscience.com.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
