Wireless data from every light bulb | Harald Haas

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www.ted.com What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a cellular tower -- and do it in a way that's more efficient, secure and widespread.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate.

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1 авг 2011

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Комментарии : 655

@NdifrekeEkim 8 лет назад

To everyone saying how impractical and inconvenient this will be, What is worse than living on a hill country and not getting good reception, or having to bring your Wifi router into your room to get a good connection? Yes at this time, it sounds inconvenient, but with more research.. Like the man said, the light can be made to look so dim that it appears to be off and you can still use it. I don't think you will need to be pointing your device to the direction of light just to get a connection as most of us knows the properties of light already. So give the man some credit and support him with good words of encouragement,

@JohnChrysostom101 Месяц назад

What would you know we invented this over 100 years ago iirc you never invented the wheel lol

@MrLiamovich 8 лет назад

for everyone who's saying this will never go mainstream just remember that people sayd exactly that when the internet was first anounced to the public

@blackxthink 8 лет назад

+MrLiamovich But think about it... You'd need a light always facing your device and the moment you put your hand (or something else) in front of it... no more data. It seems impossible to make it possible other than having a light at home pointing on a sensor like he did there and then A router or something similar that will transmit without the use of light.

@eugeniovincenzo1621 7 лет назад

How come I cant buy this thing its been 5 years...

@mogi99999 5 лет назад

because the masses are hypnotized

@EC-VyshnavMR 3 года назад

Don't worry we will develop it soon

@stormXviper 8 лет назад

This is perfect! I don't need to see email downloading mails, docs or photos while I'm not using it and stored in my pocket anyway. As soon as you open to see your smartphone, the transmission is quick to view them immediately.

@MdIftekherIslam 8 лет назад

what a fantastic innovation.... using light for transmitting data... wonderful idea... and its working already! wow!

@Truthiness231 13 лет назад

One of the more important TED talks this year, finally something that will certainly change how the world works some day soon.

@Neojhun 12 лет назад

I think this is the holy grale to internet connection. I played with light transmission in Uni from a friends project. He was transmiting sound in PCM @ CD 1.411Mbs quality over multiple colour led just as a visual demonstration of Channel / Bands. It worked very nice, but i never thought of using it as broadcasting. That idea of using it to broad cast is genius.

@varunnegi7202 8 лет назад

The enthusiasm which he has for the subject is clearly visible!! ( pun intended) Panting through the entire video!! great idea. Hope to use it soon.

@shashiprakash4ever 8 лет назад

he deserved that ovation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

@wurakeem 11 лет назад

Very powerful idea with one major flaw: The data transfer is one-way only. In most examples shown in the video, there is one transmitter that acts as a data streaming source to any nearby receivers. The receivers themselves don't send any data (i.e. send light at the light source) and are therefore only consuming and not interacting with the transmitting light source. Compare that to a wifi network.

@ardakarabocek4484 10 лет назад

why is this not avaible yet!! it sounds awsome!

@21EC 8 лет назад

that tech is so futuristic! incredible! hes a genius for sure!

@marcellocapone4925 9 лет назад

Reading the news today, I sense this could be the next big thing. 10Gbit/second could lead to a new era of websites, it could solve the data discrepancy to the already existing 4k/8k panels, fewer wires, reduced energy consumption... and the list goes on. Imagine: Solar panel + LED + Li-Fi

@masonrios4713 11 лет назад

That was worth standing up at the end for :) Amazing well done

@ratholin 13 лет назад

I don't see this becoming popular for a long while but the concept is so intriguing.

@Dixavd 13 лет назад

I don't think this is the ultimate answer to things like this - but I am impressed with the idea that since visible light cannot go through opaque objects, one cna create a secure network that is impossible for someone else to get to unless they are in the room itself. We could also make systems in the reciever to unscramble messages so even people who the light hits are unable to read it (on an airplane for instance, paying for internet could give you a timed app that unscrambles the signal)

@MrC0MPUT3R 8 лет назад

I don't see this going mainstream. Sure it can be used in some special cases, but there are too many short comings and inconveniences for ordinary people to use it.

@MrC0MPUT3R 8 лет назад

hub23 Customer: "It's not working" Support: "Is your finger over the light sensor?" Customer: "I don't know it just isn't working" Support: "Is there a small child around that I can talk to?"

@folamialamudun1915 8 лет назад

+MrC0MPUT3R Remember that every single technology that is mainstream today, has had to go through impossible odds. And we have had to adapt our lives just to make it work. It will only take time and a diverse set of scientists and engineers tackling the challenges one at a time. This directly applies that saying about the simplest solution being the most obvious. Didn't people once say the same thing about solar power?

@MrC0MPUT3R 8 лет назад

Folami Alamudun Solar power is a bad example. There were technical limitations in getting solar cells more efficient. This is something completely different. We can make the technology work. We are already using light to transmit high amounts of data through fiber cables. For me the biggest limiter is that you have to have line of sight to the broadcast source. If people using wifi today had to be able to physically see their router and make sure the sensors on their device were never covered the technology wouldn't have worked. I think back to when Apple had issues with the iPhone dropping it signal because people touched the antenna. That's a huge issue.

@folamialamudun1915 8 лет назад

+MrC0MPUT3R "Solar power is a bad example. There were technical limitations in getting solar cells more efficient." "I think back to when Apple had issues with iphone dropping a signal because people dropped the antenna." So line of sight is not a technical issue/limitation that can be addressed? You are projecting this technology into the future without at the same time factoring in advances and potential solutions to these problems. Some of the innovations with current technology (WiFi) had to solve far more complex problems, which the average person is completely unaware of. This is perhaps the problem of presenting anything half cooked to the public.

@MrC0MPUT3R 8 лет назад

Folami Alamudun Solar power needed to be made more efficient. LiFi needs visible light to pass through solid objects in order for line of sight not to be an issue. You can't break the laws of physics. There are good reasons fiber optics and laser beams are currently used to transmit data using light. You need it to get to the sensor on the other end. Maybe this could be used in conjunction with WiFi to improve signal throughput in crowded areas, but it's a hard sell. As others have also pointed out, you're going to run into bigger problems if you want data to travel both ways over a light based system.

@Radjehuty 12 лет назад

@ShawnTheTouched I'm glad someone finally mentioned this...I thought I was going crazy because I was pretty sure visible light is just a sliver of the EM spectrum compared to the longer radio waves...

@AlimKhakimov 8 лет назад

Great solution. One thing he didn't address is how do you transmit data back from your device?

@xtremegamer4696 8 лет назад

+Darie H Even if you have to buy a 20 $ light bulb just to get insane speeds in certain areas of the house where the network is needed, I could put one in my bedroom and in my office, and still see massive impacts where I need it the most.

@xtremegamer4696 8 лет назад

+Alim Khakimov For the most part we all do WAYYYY more download than upload, So if I send a request via Wi-Fi and the request is delivered via li-fi I would still experience a lot more benefits from this technology. (note comcast in my area provides about 130 mb/s download speeds and 10-15 mb/s upload speeds. But I hardly ever cap out the upload speed unless using it for cloud syncing or uploading a youtube video. And if that is something you use on a frequent basis I would suggest going Hardwire over any wireless technology)

@Krim04 8 лет назад

+Alim Khakimov It's really simple actually, granted most devices would have to become compatible with this new tech, which would render time for said tech to be implemented, but most device screens are back-lit LED... you could just transmit back via your device screen.

@JazneoGaming 8 лет назад

+Alim Khakimov It call Li-fi

@q009q009 8 лет назад

+Simon WoodburyForget You can send data through your power grid just fine. You can already get devices that do exactly that.

@MrC0MPUT3R 13 лет назад

I did this for a class in University. Only I was using analog sound data. I think it's a good idea. However, there are A LOT of drawbacks that need to be addressed. I don't see this ever replacing radio wave communications. It would be a nice supplement though

@joeguitargod 13 лет назад

No matter how you slice it, the implications AND applications of this technology is simply incredible! Certainly enough so to make the patent holder very rich indeed!!

@2661960 13 лет назад

Harald Haas appears to be extremely excited about this topic and probably with lots of reason. There is always a new idea that shines through and his definitely catches one's attention. I just hope I live long enough to see something like this working. Kind of gives a person a reason to want to live a long life!

@majesticmewtwo7386 2 года назад

Heyy

@cheetah219 13 лет назад

i think this needs a lot of fine tuning. such as your phone would need to be in the lights path and stuff. BUT its a fantastic idea, and this is definitely a good idea to bring us to the future. What probably makes this the most unique idea is that its SO easy to implement since lights bulbs ARE everywhere.

@recsund 13 лет назад

what beautiful way of communicating data, through light.

@Xcerptshow 7 лет назад

I can see this being useful for certain situations mainly commercial(sensitive areas, large scale wifi replacement, ect). If they want to provide reliable high speed data then instead of wifi then lifi would be nice. I see a hybrid system being more effective. The bandwidth is the amazing part.

@gdutt67 9 лет назад

That was simply brilliant

@vivifyer 13 лет назад

I found this TED video extremely ..illuminating.

@robertkodra8599 10 лет назад

I like that idea. You have make a good job. We have need to see something different from old technology!

@thissitesuxxx 13 лет назад

i like the idea. very simple and useful. this has to come out soon!

@quentinxavier 12 лет назад

simply brilliant idea... one additional point is that this new data transmission illumination technology is not to replace existing data communications infrastructure, but to complement what we already have to expand on potential applications.

@tiddlewink101 8 лет назад

Maybe light has already been transmitting information or has been used to do so in the past, and we were just not aware...Does make you wonder about the potential of the Universe :)

@VeriousSmithIII 8 лет назад

+Steve Burt that and much more. Did you know light will transmit electricity as well? www.surrey.ac.uk/features/could-light-beams-transmit-electric-power

@Patrick-jj5nh 8 лет назад

+Steve Burt yes sunlight probably transmits the information: warning - too much of me gives you cancer ;)

@devonseamoor 5 лет назад

I think you're very close to what's actually happening each moment of our lives. When you consider the possibility that the Sun is a portal, a lens, transmitting data = info that is originating from the centre of our Galaxy. Light is life and consciousness related. What's at the beginning of Genesis? "Let there be light?"

@ADLNNEO 11 лет назад

I agree, all these technologies complement each, Wi-Fi for deplacement, Li-Fi for speed connection and specific places, standard cable connection, ...etc. the mean is that you'll be connected all time , with the best way!

@mog89 13 лет назад

@GTpoot Attatching a small led-light to whatever application your wish and voilà. You have yourself a device that can upload. The tricky part is really to place receivers so that it can track the light source and won't be blocked. I'm SO EXCITED!

@niau1538 9 лет назад

It is an OLD technology since I believe it is nothing else different than IR transmission (that can be used in darkness) which was used in every old mobile phones before Bluetooth, and still being used in every remote controls

@MariusB86 8 лет назад

+Ni Au the data transmission speed is much higher on Li-Fi

@timoffex 12 лет назад

This is a great idea, but how would the whole system look? Does it work over very long distances, and would a connection be interrupted if something moves through it?

@ilostmypie 10 лет назад

upload tends to be much less data (excluding phone calls). you could use traditional means to upload data and this method to download (you arent limited by speed download)

@Dms12444 10 лет назад

Hmm, an interesting concept. It will be interesting to see how they integrate the technology with existing systems. For example, when a phone is in your pocket, would it revert back to conventional RF communication? That said, this technology has enormous potential, and it's incredible to see things like Li-Fi already coming out only three years after this demonstration. Truly fantastic! #li-fi #technology #lightbulbs #led #communication

@AngerAndScience 13 лет назад

@Eleandorwins 1 Directionality isn't a problem when if you use lights that are in the ceiling, it only becomes an issue when using a lamp. A room bathed in light from ceiling lights has lights aimed at every point in the room. 2 Interference isn't an issue either. How does wifi work with multiple networks available? You see we already have this problem solved in the radio band, it is a matter of frequency, and there are a lot of frequencies in visible light.

@sangeetaraisane2141 3 года назад

No words to speak..... I will only say that 'He is amazing'.

@roidroid 12 лет назад

the cool thing about it, is that you can focus it - to just look at one light (and therefore data) source. If you stand on a hill you look down and can possibly see tens of thousands of street-lights. If each of those carried a separate data signal, you could "tune in" to which ever one you wanted by simply using a telescope You could erect a tall tower covered in millions of separate little lights (each a different data stream), and the whole city could aim their telescope at it to "tune in"

@AngerAndScience 13 лет назад

@Eleandorwins 1 The demo was of a lamp less than a meter away from the receiver, I'm sure things would be different if the light was three of four meters from the receiver. I could be wrong. And of course a hand over either the receiver or the bulb would always block the signal. 2 All I was saying there is that we already have solutions for multiple EM signals. These solutions apparently have problems, but we have workarounds.

@Nardypants 13 лет назад

@MrAMColes Light sources can be omnidirectional (a regular light bulb is, for instance). As long as your sensor gets a little light, it could interpret a signal.

@florencioortiz180 11 лет назад

Amazing idea. Here in Bujumbura I have tough problem with wi-fi connectivity and hot-spot. This one would solve a lot of problems

@aStaircase 13 лет назад

@beriukay TED doesn't run on RU-vid. If you want to reach them with something, go to their main site.

@marzsolt 13 лет назад

@AngerAndScience if you'd put the LED on your device it would mean that the same kind of receiver is needed at the side of the bulb...so basically you would need more tech than just a bulb in order for it to work. not to mention that the data transfer would only work when the emitter and receiver have nothing between them + when you have multiple devices it would mean a different bulb for every device.

@kzh910 13 лет назад

One of the largest drawbacks I can see with this is that you have to have a direct line of sight with the light source... like he demonstrated, a simple flick of the hand between the source and receiver stopped the stream. Furthermore, every light bulb would have to have a connection to the data, so that is an additional wire for every light? I like the idea though.

@gulllars 13 лет назад

This is a great concept, but it has a few downsides not mentioned or reflected on here. You need line of sight to establish a connection, and hold that line of sight for as long as you need the connection. If you're not going for a one way information channel (broadcast or reciever) you need both a light source and a photodetector coupled. All "accesspoints" (lightbulbs with a photosensor) also needs a connection to the back end infrastructure. One alternative there is the power cables/grid.

@kovacskovacs3465 7 лет назад

You can transmit data using this tech in an enclosed environment, too. Inside a given device, you can house a receiver. Using IR light, which already boasts 1 gb/s, you can transfer data to the device. So, if a smartphone is in your pocket, it would easily receive the info. Also, using visible light may work just fine, too. However, you'd have to connect a light source to the data transmitting unit, or hard wire or wirelessly connect the computer to your primary source of light. The former poses an issue with light pollution, while the latter requires additional hardware.

@micsimus 13 лет назад

The standing ovation never really took off.

@robvh2 13 лет назад

One problem not addressed in this talk is the uni-directionality of the communication. Information is being transmitted to a receiver, but how does the device (a smartphone, for example) interact and communicate back? All of a sudden, bandwidth and security are issues again. As it stands, this would be good for broadcasting information, advertising (ugh), etcetera, but not for bi-directional applications.

@roidroid 12 лет назад

@drche420 the technology in this video is visible light, and possibly IR. Not radiowaves (that's what we call "wifi", it's not really new and worth making a TED video about). it doesn't work if you stand between the lamp and the object you want data streamed to. it's exactly like a TV remote. it cannot send data through solid objects. So i'm not sure what you are talking about.

@zeffii 13 лет назад

Harald Haas. you are an inspiration!

@madkvideo 7 лет назад

Great presentation!

@Nardypants 13 лет назад

People seem to forget that you could have the equivalent of cell phone towers communicating with each other through directed light beams. Furthermore, light waves function roughly like radio waves in the air (with some distortion, but what can't be compensated for?) so you could have an omnidirectional light source being received without having to be directly underneath.

@mxxmvi 8 лет назад

i literally have no words. this is just magic...

@Nardypants 13 лет назад

@MrAMColes Still, when you're in hilly terrain at night, you can see the safety lights on top of towers miles away right? Radio waves have their flaws the same as light. I do lots of hiking and when I'm in a deep valley or on the other side of a hill cutting me off from radio tower coverage, I lose connection! In town, we're always surrounded by light. And as the speaker said, you only need minute amounts of light for it to work. I actually can see this being really effective.

@Thimmet 13 лет назад

We want TED in HD!

@JanKoci 8 лет назад

So if I have my phone in a pocket I won't receive an email?

@essentialdang 8 лет назад

+Jan Koci I guess it could be used in combination with existing tech. So when your phones in your pocket it's using radio, but when you take it out it's using "li-fi"

@JanKoci 8 лет назад

***** You are right - I don't care about billions of junk mails, I care about those important ones and usually as soon as they come. This thing is good for streaming movies or gaming or for servers but it can't replace wifi completely.

@tetragrammaton111 8 лет назад

+Jan Koci I have worked with sales people enough to be able to tell the ones selling bullshit from a mile away. The way he phrases it: "The downside of radio waves is that they can go through walls and be intercepted", the way he talks only negatively about radio waves, without ever mentioning any of the very relevant reasons why they are one of our our main methods of distance communication, tells me all I need to know. Beware the snake oil. I can imagine small-scale local network implementations of what he is proposing. Hopefully we'll see some "Li-Fi" routers from this company, instead of chasing grandiose pipe dreams of replacing cell towers with a network whose nodes your device ALWAYS has to be in direct view of in order to send and receive data.

@ryan17954 8 лет назад

+invalidusername So all the saving spectrum, energy and such means nothing, because WiFi is still the primary. Which means there is no need to switch to it for such a short intermittent use under one light beam.

@mikescannell4575 8 лет назад

+Jan Koci you would if they built light adapters in your phone...

@snehalhalkare 8 лет назад

so is it like one LED per person? if I and my friend are sitting under same light but both want to see different videos is that possible?

@JohnJackson66 13 лет назад

@ShawnTheTouched Those diagrams also use a logarithmic scale to make it easier to see the whole em spectrum. Visible light has a frequency which is 100,000 times higher than microwaves, which is where the extra bandwidth is coming from.

@ShaunYoung 13 лет назад

@GTpoot considering if you're streaming video, the ratio of upload/download would require very low speed transmission on the receiver's part. Probably over a bluetooth type connection. (low range low data rate)

@ananyashetty3080 6 лет назад

This is just so good idea... I mean if this is made for commercial purpose it would be a huge hit!

@kerzeen 13 лет назад

This is a really interesting concept. It could complement our radio wave communication, but not replace it. PS: I hoped at the end he would pick that guitar and start jamming.

@andy4an 10 лет назад

wonderful. I love outside-the-box thinkers like this guy.

@TheThorns 9 лет назад

line of sight would be an issue, however this would be perfect for transmuting in a classroom, and I agree with the traffic application.

@GopinathKaruppasamy 8 лет назад

amazing technology needs more research on it for the commercial daily use products.

@cwash08 8 лет назад

I just disagree with people saying this can't work. The only limitations I see is that people need LED bulbs, and they have to be "on". I don't think line of sight is a problem if they are always above us. This doubles as security. Light can bend too. If that still isn't convincing, then fine its your opinion but there are clever people who think of things you might have never thought of. There's no reason we shouldn't try it. IMO wifi could be replaced but not sure of other RF communication.

@silvercoin1111 13 лет назад

beautiful, smart idea....when can I use it?

@mubie3455 4 года назад

2011?! it's been 8 years... whoaaaaa.... i just found out about this...

@zangetsujoo 13 лет назад

Sounds like the biggest problem they'd have would be line of sight. That and he glossed over how big the equipment needed to translate between data and light and vice versa would have to be.

@aixaazqadri 8 лет назад

you could setup a network connection with this, maybe even more than that but how would you connect to the internet. the connection to the router maybe lighning fast but what about the connection from the router to the internet?

@ross817 12 лет назад

But what about transmitting the data back again for a two-way connection? How would you differentiate between multiple people using the same Li-Fi? Or differentiate between both of their signals?

@DigitizedSelf 13 лет назад

@bweazel Hey man, just a quick question since you seem like you know this stuff fairly well: Given that the LED signal is sent at specific wavelengths refraction becomes a major problem (I agree on this) but if the frequency interval in which you were looking for variations (1s and 0s) was wider you'd be more likely to be able to piece it together - right? Granted, this would limit the number of channels but perhaps make the signal more resiliant?

12 лет назад

@majsbullen Not visible to humans, but it has the same limitations, like walls and obstacles that are in a room. In order to communicate across multiple rooms this kind of communication device would have to be installed in every single room. There is also a plausibility of unwanted access through windows.

@StopFear 13 лет назад

Exactly what another poster asked, how does the data get into the light bulb circuit? And how does it get the data back to it. I understand if this worked to show tv where no feedback is required, but otherwise every device would need a led flasher to give data back.

@martincoton6623 7 лет назад

There are a number of problems with this, but one is definitely controlling signalling issues where you have two or more emitters in the same room. There was no mention of how they would ensure all emitters are synchronised.

@roidroid 12 лет назад

@Neojhun video is whatever frame per second you want to record it at.

@Longuncattr 11 лет назад

Hmm. I wonder if this technique would work with a receiver that has, say, an integrating sphere or hemisphere over it to diffuse the light and give the receiver a wider reception angle.

@P00P0STER0US 13 лет назад

While not being the answer to everything, I can see how this might be a huge advantage in the right situations. If he gets much higher bandwidth with visible light from a system that can still transmit data below our visual threshold, that alone might be enough to sell the idea to a blue-sky thinker.

@ThankYouESM 8 лет назад

Since 2005, I've predicted this type of Data-By-Light-Transmission would soon come about... but then when I learned much about quantum physics and how EEC can quite clearly image map the human brain, exchanging signals from a isolated charged atom via extreme vacuumed pressure seems to require very little power for the it to travel across and through vast distances. Basically... atoms in such a state, even as water, can detect a burst from solar flares in a near instant, way before it reaches just like an entanglement. Also, since atoms have an XYZ field of rotation, of over 100'000 bytes can become pre-assigned to what I suspect will be much faster than binary processing.

@jofx 13 лет назад

@GTpoot a sensor on the lamp? just like the one reciving the infromation from the light?

@Pianofy 13 лет назад

Line of sight is indeed a problem, but can also be used to an advantage. A bigger problem to seems to be: What if you shine two lights at the same receiver? If the receiver tries to detect the differences in light intensity, you can screw with it by adding another light source that is not constant. He did not mention any of this as a potential problem but I wonder if they left that out of the speech intentionally or have a solution for it. Also, TED, lower the volume of your intro and outtro.

@goodhardlife 13 лет назад

Ok you can transmit data from the light to your phone or laptop(lets say your downloading) but how will you transmit data (lets say upload) from your phone or laptop to the light source?

@AngerAndScience 13 лет назад

@marzsolt I was trying to be pithy, but yes you're right there will need to be receivers as well. And there will need to be get Internet signals to the light bulbs as well, which could be done using this technology in a daisy chain fashion, or more reasonably using a wired connection. And when installing the wired connection, one could easily install receivers. My point was simply that this was not unidirectional, that it could easily be made bidirectional.

@StevenFitzGerald 10 лет назад

does it have to be in direct light? will ti work with angles of undirect illumination, say like a thing in the way somewhere but sill illuminate by the undirectr light.

@ManlyHanley 8 лет назад

Is that a PRS guitar in the back (just noticed the vox too)? I was ready for him to start playing that but alas...

@slimlogic 12 лет назад

My ISP in the boondocks of Alabama sucks. I am in envy of this setup.

@dasraiser 12 лет назад

@chhabrakadabra where do you think the term Bluetooth comes from, it was a blue LED modulated at 2.4Ghz.

@AngerAndScience 13 лет назад

@marzsolt Well that's only a problem until you get the bright idea of putting an LED on your phone or laptop.

@slx 8 лет назад

if priced right this is a viable solution for data centers. Less heat in server rooms = less ac, lowering operation costs.

@syedsarhan 8 лет назад

This guy is passionate about what he's doing. I'm gonna trust him :D

@99maxa63 6 лет назад

This will probably never happen, at least not in public places since there are too many elements that can change the properties of a channel. There is a phenomenon called multipath fading (usually unwanted property of EM-wave propagation due to multiple reflections, scattering etc) and its pretty hard to control, so even if you make a system that keeps these effects under control, just some random person turning on a light source (like a flashlight) will mess up the data-stream and cause false data to be transferred. So, yeah... I don't see this happening

@divdac 8 лет назад

If only you commenters had a clue as to how many hundreds of pounds of copper every single office in every single building uses for data communication you'd understand how big of a deal this is.

@geyoda64 8 лет назад

+davdavc Looks like you will still need those copper wores with li-fi. I dont see how the signal should move through different rooms.

@divdac 8 лет назад

German Engineer maybe a transmitter at every desk? or maybe less pairs of copper per cable? Ethernet cables usaully have 4 twisted pairs. either way... saaavvviiiinnnngggssss

@ashimiho 8 лет назад

+German Engineer maybe using a mirror. even a dim light can transfer the data. as long as a receiver gets the illumination, it does.

@gowaps 8 лет назад

+German Engineer Well, you got light on every room, and almost every desk. You connect these lights to the network via PLC and it's done. Harsch part is to let the device connected when moving through space and changing of light (then data connector) A bit like GSM, when you move from a zone, you have a little disconection

@JohnSmith-xf1zu 7 лет назад

davdavc - If only you had any clue as to the backbone of the office network. Most of the copper is used to travel through the walls. The few cables that are visible are just the end of much longer cables. Sure, one could use a switch to put an entire room of computers onto one cable, however it is often the case that cables are run to the switch room first. Bottle necks and what not. Also, Gb Ethernet uses all four twisted pairs for maximum speed, two for transmitting and two for receiving. Reducing the number of twisted pairs just reduces the speed capability. Also, removing the pairs for single wires makes each wire much more susceptible to interference as the twisting and pairing allow interference to cancel out at the ends of the wires. Perhaps one could use this for backbone hiding the light sources in the wall, but fiber-optics would be more reliable if these kinds of speeds are absolutely necessary. Not to mention that Li-Fi has the same drawback as infrared: obstruction equals no signal. Perhaps this could be mitigated on a stationary desktop rig, but it would still not be practical for a laptop or phone which needs mobility and flexibility of position. Even so, if anything passes over the light stream, instant connection loss.

@MartianStories 13 лет назад

This is brilliant!

@moorthyUT 12 лет назад

using the light scattering concept (like sunlight scattering free space and sense the light using solar photocell) to avoid the data transmission and receiving in all place at the day time, other session may use the Radio Signal to reduce the health problem.

@HackerL96 8 лет назад

You also need to equip every light with a reciever to use the light as a network...

@sheldoncooper723 11 лет назад

now we need a visionary and business man like steve jobbs to promote this and get it big

@TedPavlic 13 лет назад

I'm confused. VLC ("visual light communication") showed up in the research literature decades ago and has been implemented time and time again. How can you really use the word "first" in the description of the device mentioned here?

@DigitizedSelf 13 лет назад

So... when he says that the infrastructure is already there, he means if we replace most of the bulbs and hook the circuit up to a signal processing unit? Can you even use the normal wiring or do you need to replace that too? (I'd expect you could indeed use the ordinary wires since the different fourier modes don't interact but perhaps not the whole of the wiring due to the effects of the different components). Safety might be better, but you still need the signal from outside for internet :-/.

@WayoffTv 13 лет назад

it is pretty good. But like in a house you wouldn't have direct light all the time... you'll most likely have it a bit on the side or even something in between. it is very sensitive and it doesn't go through anything, just like he showed with his hand