Li-Fi is a Wi-Fi-like, high-speed, two-way wireless communication technology. The term was coined by Harald Haas and is a form of visible light communication and a subset of optical wireless communications (OWC) and could be a complement to RF communication (Wi-Fi or cellular networks), or even a replacement in contexts broadcast data.
It is the communication of visible light by wire and UV or infrared and almost ultraviolet rather than radio frequency spectrum, part of the wireless optical communications technology, which carries much more information and has been proposed as a solution to the limitations of width RF bandwidth. This OWC technology uses light-emitting diode (LED) light as a means to deliver high-speed, mobile and high-speed communication in a manner similar to Wi-Fi. It is expected that the Li-Fi market will have a compound annual growth rate of 82% from 2013 to 2018 and will be worth more than $ 6 billion per year by 2018.
Visible light communications (VLC) operate by switching the current to the on and off LEDs at a very high speed, too fast to be noticed by the human eye. Although Li-Fi LEDs would have to be kept lit to transmit data, they could dim below human visibility while still emitting sufficient light to carry data. Light waves can not penetrate the walls, which makes the range much shorter, but more secure against hacking, compared to the Wi-Fi line. The direct line of sight is not necessary for Li-Fi to transmit a signal; reflected light from the walls can reach 70 Mbit / s.
Li-Fi has the advantage of being useful in sensitive electromagnetic areas such as in aircraft cabins, hospitals and nuclear power plants without causing electromagnetic interference. Both Wi-Fi and Li-Fi transmit data on the electromagnetic spectrum, but while Wi-Fi uses radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light. While the US Federal Communications Commission warned of a potential spectrum crisis because Wi-Fi is close to full capacity, Li-Fi has almost no capacity limitations. The visible light spectrum is 10,000 times greater than the full spectrum of radiofrequency. Researchers have achieved data rates of more than 224 Gbit / s, which is much faster than typical fast broadband in 2013. Li-Fi is expected to be ten times cheaper than Wi-Fi. The short range, the low reliability and the high installation costs are the possible disadvantages.
PureLiFi demonstrated the first commercially available Li-Fi system, the Li-1st, at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Bg-Fi is a Li-Fi system that consists of an application for a mobile device, and a simple consumer product, such as an IoT (Internet of Things) device, with color sensor, microcontroller and embedded software. The light on the display of the mobile device communicates with the color sensor of the consumer product, which converts light into digital information. The light emitting diodes allow the consumer product to communicate synchronously with the mobile device.