Li-Fi is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi. LED lights could be used for delivering data
Li-Fi is a new method of delivering data. It uses the visible spectrum rather than radio waves. For the first time, this new technology has been tested in a working office. Li-Fi is a wireless technology that transmits high-speed data using visible light communication. The Li-Fi system uses standard light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transmit electronic data signals, which will enable users to access the internet through the ordinary lighting systems in schools, workplaces and homes.
With scientists achieving speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab using Li-Fi earlier this year, the potential for this technology is huge. And now, scientists have taken Li-Fi out of the lab for the first time, trialling it in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn, Estonia, reporting that they can achieve data transmission at 1 GB per second - that's 100 times faster than current average Wi-Fi speeds.
The technology uses Visible Light Communication (VLC), a medium that uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz). It works basically like an incredibly advanced form of Morse code - just like switching a torch on and off according to a certain pattern can relay a secret message, flicking an LED on and off at extreme speeds can be used to write and transmit things in binary code. The flickering of light is too fast for humans to notice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34942685
With scientists achieving speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab using Li-Fi earlier this year, the potential for this technology is huge. And now, scientists have taken Li-Fi out of the lab for the first time, trialling it in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn, Estonia, reporting that they can achieve data transmission at 1 GB per second - that's 100 times faster than current average Wi-Fi speeds.
The technology uses Visible Light Communication (VLC), a medium that uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz). It works basically like an incredibly advanced form of Morse code - just like switching a torch on and off according to a certain pattern can relay a secret message, flicking an LED on and off at extreme speeds can be used to write and transmit things in binary code. The flickering of light is too fast for humans to notice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34942685
While WiFi is relatively slow, much faster WiDi/Miracast/WiGig has been around in niche applications for a few years. The high frequencies used have some of the same limitations as visible light communications, which has limited adoption thus far. Since people will continue to want WiFi, WiGig will integrate much better with it.
Li-Fi has some serious limitation... Significant expense to upgrade your lights, or at least their controllers. And only one-way communications at those speeds... Your computers, laptops and smartphones will need some way to send information back. That would mean lights in your devices, and optical pickups all over the building.