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Pure LiFi transfers data using light
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BARCELONA, Spain — Transmitting wireless data using radio waves is so old fashioned — in the video above, you’ll see the technology that sends data via light, and could stream Internet video to your TV from a light in your ceiling.
The system works by attaching an Ethernet-wired ceiling-based device to a standard LED light. The data about to be beamed through the air is sent to that bulb, which is instructed to flicker millions of times per second to communicate a signal — kind of like an extremely speedy morse code.
The light signal — which looks identical to a normal light — is picked up by a receiver. We saw the technology streaming video to a TV, and were able to freeze the picture by holding our hand over the receiver, blocking the light’s path.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Pure LiFi has already built a ‘Li-1st’ device that’s able to both send and receive light data (perfect for the Internet), and at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was showing off the ‘Li-Flame’ prototype, which knows exactly which light source it should be receiving data from.
That’s a useful advance. With plenty of light sources in most rooms, this technology will need to be able to figure out which light source is the one it should be ‘listening’ to.
Pure LiFi believes this technology will become important when we reach the ‘spectrum crunch’ — the prophesied point at which we run out of spectrum, and may be forced to find an alternative method of beaming data from one device to another.
The tech is in its infancy, but is certainly interesting. Can you think of any potential benefits or downsides to using light to transmit data? Let me know in the comments below.
