New Li-Fi Internet is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi

The inventor of the light bulb hardly expected that one day his creation would be used not only to illuminate houses around the world, but also to transmit data of various volumes. For example, it will allow loading information from satellites in space using small hand-held devices. However, with the introduction of Li-Fi, home lighting can soon double as a form of data transfer, because this technology is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.

"Parent" of wireless communication: who is he?

The idea of a wireless Internet connection was implemented by Harold Haas, who works at the University of Edinburgh. This happened in 2011.

The scientist used visible communication light (VLC) to send data at extremely high speeds. In fact, it worked like an incredibly fast signal lamp, blinking and shutting down in order to retransmit the message in binary code (1 and 0). In other experiments on the same basis, the technology allowed only up to 224 gigabits per second. For comparison, Wi-Fi is able to develop a speed of about 600 megabits for the same period of time.

Improvements are evident

Thanks to the work of the Estonian company Velmenni, a more powerful data transmission technology has become possible. In the offices and industrial installations of the organization in Tallinn, a new type of wireless communication, called Li-Fi, has already begun to be tested. In these conditions, the development specialists were able to achieve a connection speed of about one gigabit per second.

In addition to surprisingly fast data transfer, Li-Fi also has a number of other advantages over its predecessor. For example, unlike Wi-Fi, the new technology has increased security. When it is used, the signal is transmitted using optical light, which means that it can not pass through the walls, thereby limiting the user's space from intrusions.

Of course, this will cause some inconvenience. It is only necessary for the user to leave the room, as he can no longer connect from the wireless network. However, if this barrier in the form of walls is overcome, then Li-Fi will open a lot of possibilities. For example, it will allow sending messages in a much wider range of frequencies than Wi-Fi, which operates between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

Prospects for the future

The developers assume that Li-Fi can become a worthy replacement for the usual wireless technology. It will avoid "traffic jams" in the network, which are caused by the fact that the Internet is increasingly spreading around the world.

According to preliminary estimates, the global monthly data usage should exceed 24.3 exabytes by 2019. While we can only say that this is the volume with which modern wireless connections are not able to cope. Therefore, in the next few years they need an improved, more powerful analog.

In a recent interview for TED, Haas assured that conventional household LED light bulbs can easily be converted to Li-Fi transmitters, providing Internet users with a more efficient connection.

"All we have to do is install a small microchip for each potential device. This will allow us to combine the two main functionalities of light bulbs: lighting and wireless data transmission, "he said.

It is also worth noting that the speed at which these LEDs flicker is too fast for the human eye to recognize the lights. So network users can not worry about annoying flashes.