It wasn’t that long ago that we wrote about Li-Fi, a light-based data transmission technology that might one day unseat Wi-Fi.
More information about how exciting this new technology could be is starting to trickle out, following successful Li-Fi tests at an Estonian start-up.
Researchers tested Li-Fi under “realistic settings” in offices in Tallinn, Estonia and achieved data transmission of 1 GB/second. That’s about 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.
VLC: The next step in fast, secure communication
The technology behind Li-Fi is called visible light communication (VLC). As the name suggests, VLC transmits via visible light (between 400 and 800 THz). The exciting thing is that it uses ordinary lamps—primarily LEDs, but fluorescent lights can work as well—to send digital information.
And you can see why this is getting people excited. Given the ubiquity of LEDs (and other lights for that matter), this technology has the potential to create connectivity anywhere and everywhere we go.
VLC vs Infrared
VLC vs RF
Source: Technavio, 2015
There are limitations, of course—direct sunlight hampers transmission, and the signal can’t pass through walls, so it is relatively limited. But these limitations aren’t enough to hamper growth of the global visible light communication market, which is expected to grow at a cumulative average growth rate of 63.77% from 2015-2019, eventually topping a market value of $8 billion.
Three Reasons to Get Excited About VLC
Availability of high bandwidth
With everything going wireless, we’ve been hurtling towards a wireless crunch, where available bandwidth just won’t be able to keep up with user demand. And while VLC certainly won’t stop this from happening, it will buy us time.
The bandwidth frequency spectrum of visible light is larger than that of RF bandwidth. VLC bandwidth ranges from 430 THz to 750 THz, and RF frequency offers a bandwidth range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz.
Operating on different bandwidths will also open up the possibility of using VLC in environments like airplanes and hospitals, where traditional data transmission would have interfered with communication.
Efficiency and security
VLC could be a boon for secure communications.
Since light can’t travel through solid objects, information transmitted via VLC can only be accessed if the receiver is in the same room. This has some very obvious security benefits, and this is expected to drive the development of the technology over the forecast period.
And on top of being secure, using LEDs for both data transmission and lighting is pretty efficient. That being said we’re still ways away from exclusive Li-Fi. Most buildings are already Wi-Fi enabled, and hybrid systems are a much more realistic situation for the near future. However, LEDs are relatively cheap, consume negligible power, and are already present almost everywhere, which would make a (hypothetical) transition to Li-Fi achievable.
Unlicensed use, high data density, and data rates
Visible light communication uses a spectrum that is abundant, free and has no regulations (so far) when compared to the radio spectrum. This allows a user to choose any frequency to transfer information, thus eliminating licensing issues. Moreover, Li-Fi achieves a much higher data density than Wi-Fi, since light can be contained in a specific area. Additionally, low interference, along with high-intensity optical output help achieve high data transfer rates.
All of this translates to quicker, easier communication.
Learn more about the visible light communication market from Technavio’s new report.
