To put this in practical terms, future smartphones (opens in new tab) and laptops (opens in new tab) will have these multiple connectivity methods built-in, giving users the ability to seamlessly switch among LiFi, WiFi and 5G to take advantage of the best signal available at the time. The devices could even combine signals from, for example, LiFi and WiFi for the greatest possible speed and bandwidth.
The impact LiFi will have on technology
Within this connectivity ecosystem, LiFi will be able to compensate for the security limitations that RF technologies frequently suffer from. These include the vulnerability to electronic eavesdropping as well as both emission of and susceptibility to interference. As LiFi cannot pass through walls, LiFi signals are not accessible to a nearby resident, business or passing member of the public, which offers much superior privacy in the home and enterprise office settings. This is especially important for sectors such as finance, legal, pharmaceutical, intelligence and defense industries that have very robust wireless security policies where maintaining Wi-Fi networks can become very challenging.
In this paper we argue that the optical spectrum could transform wireless network in a similar way and why it has transformed wired communication networks with the advent of fiberoptical communication. Peak transmission speeds with off-the-shelf light emitting diodes (LEDs) of 15.7 Gbps have recently been demonstrated. We will explain how these advances will be used to build full wireless networks which support user mobility. We discuss numerous misconceptions and use cases. Lastly, we illustrate the potential impact this technology may have on new and emerging industries.
However, further reductions in cell sizes are more difficult to achieve due to the high infrastructure cost for the backhaul and fronthaul data links which connect these distributed access points to the core network. Moreover, with a smaller cell size the likelihood of line-of-sight between an interfering base station and a user terminal increase. The resulting interference can significantly diminish data rates and may cause a major problem in cellular networks [4]. Therefore, WiFi access points have been mounted under the seats in stadia to use the human body as an attenuator for the RF signals and to avoid line-of-sight interference links. Clearly, this is not a viable solution for office and home deployments. For these reasons, it is conceivable that the contributions for the future mobile data traffic growth will stem from more spectrum rather than spatial reuse. In particular, the optical resources are very attractive as they are plentiful as shown in figure 2 and they are license-free.
Unlike RF communication systems, LiFi will also work underwater as shown in figure. This will allow new ways to connect remote operated vehicles, and it also will allow divers to communicate with each other. This will enhance safety in difficult underwater missions. Transmission distances of up to 100 m have been demonstrated. New detector technology such as single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) are currently being investigated to achieve much higher distances.
LiFi is a disruptive technology that is poised to impact a large number of industries. LiFi is a fundamental 5G technology. It can unlock the IoT, drive Industry 4.0 applications, light-as-a-service (LaaS) in the lighting industry, enable new intelligent transport systems, enhance road safety when there are more and more driver-less cars, create new cyber-secure wireless networks, enable new ways of health monitoring in aging societies, offer new solutions to close the digital divide and enable very high-speed wireless connectivity in future data centers.
In 25 years from now, we moot that the LED lightbulb will serve thousands of applications and will be an integral part of the emerging smart cities, smart homes and the IoT. LaaS will be a dominating theme in the lighting industry, which will drive the required new business models when LED lamps last 20 years or more. LaaS in combination with LiFi will, therefore, provide a business model driven 'pull' for the lighting industry to enter what has traditionally been a wireless communications market. In the wireless industry, LiFi has the potential to create a paradigm shift by moving from cm-wave communication to nm-wave communication. It is, therefore, conceivable that the wireless industry and the lighting industry will merge into one. An important prerequisite for the large-scale adoption of LiFi technology is the availability of standards. In this context, efforts have started in IEEE 802.15.7, IEEE 802.11 as well as ITU-R to standardize LiFi technology. Notably, there is now a Task Group on Light Communication within 802.11bb.
The visible light spectrum and infrared spectrum together, offer 2600 times more bandwidth than the entire RF spectrum. LiFi harnesses the abundance of bandwidth to achieve new wireless networks which augment existing RF-based wireless networks. These networks increasingly suffer from bandwidth shortages. With current commercially available optical devices it is possible to achieve multi-gigabit bi-directional data links. LiFi integrates these links into a full wireless network which is augmented with functions such as multiuser access, handover and CCI mitigation. This paper has attempted to clarify a number of misconceptions about LiFi. A few selected use cases have been discussed. It has been shown that LiFi has the potential to lead to a merger of the lighting and the wireless communication industries. Therefore, LiFi has become a reality and this technology is here to stay for a long time.
A LiFi enabled LED bulb will function like a normal one and LiFi will not shorten its lifespan. Generally, LEDs have a life expectancy of 50, 000 hours. If used 10 hours a day, they would last up to 13.7 years.
Critics have claimed that LiFi has excellent downlink speeds but poor when it comes to its uplink performance. This claim have been proven to be false by the companies developing LiFi and have proven that the technology can be used for transmission in either direction. pureLiFi defines LiFi as a bidirectional wireless communications technology that allow high-speed transmission in both uplink and downlink simultaneously.
LEDs that have specialized characteristics for LiFi would be great but the bulbs that are currently available in the market are sold for illumination purposes only and communications performance is not even a consideration. That means that the lighting industry is unlikely to manufacture LED lights that are specially made for LiFi technology. However, LiFi still performs excellently using regular LED bulbs. When LiFi becomes a significant proponent of the lighting industry, it is only then that we can expect specifications for these devices.
Line of sight is a type of propagation that can transmit and receive data only where transmit and receive stations are in view of each other without any sort of an obstacle between them. Since light bounces off of surfaces, this means that LiFi is not strictly a line-of-sight technology. Of course, being in direct light is a definite advantage because the signal will be stronger but the light will also bounce off of walls and other objects and that reflection can also be used in data transmission.
First off, let us examine what a disruptive technology is. A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry. For example, social networking has had a major impact on the way we communicate and has disrupted telephone, email, instant messaging and event planning. Another example is cloud computing, which is considered to be a hugely disruptive technology in the business world, displacing many resources that would conventionally have been located in-house. LiFi is considered to be a disruptive technology relative to Wi-Fi but this is not the case. LiFi is complementary to Wi-Fi, in the same way as Wi-Fi is seen as complementary to cellular data. It can work in conjunction with existing Wi-Fi networks to provide faster and more secure internet connections.
At the Li-Fi Centre in Edinburgh, data transmission speeds of 3.5 Gbit/s at 2 m distance, and real-time video streaming at 1.1 Gbit/s at 10 m distance have been demonstrated. The team has also demonstrated that it is possible to reach 100 Gbit/s when using different colour laser LEDs as illumination devices. While laser LEDs are not yet considered for the mass market lighting, there are niche applications such as in the most advanced car headlights where these devices are currently being used. Moreover, in 2014, researchers at the Li-Fi R&D Centre demonstrated the highest data rate received by an off-the-shelf solar cell of 15 Mbit/s. In the latest research in 2015, the use of single photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) in Li-Fi was first demonstrated and achieved highest receiver sensitivities, and this sensitivity will enable new applications to be developed for low-light situations, such as oil downhole monitoring.
Li-Fi could have a huge impact on our everyday lives, and independent market research forecasts that Li-Fi will be a $9 billion global industry by 2018. There is a desire for new lighting services and a demand for more data, and in the future lighting systems will provide functions and services in addition to simple room or building illumination.
The global light fidelity (Li-Fi) market will register a CAGR of 63.99% during the period. To find things and communicate with other devices, Li-Fi wireless technology makes use of light. It uses LED bulbs as the source and delivers data more quickly than Wi-Fi.
Li-Fi is a wireless communication technology that uses the visible light or infrared spectrum for high-speed data communication. It offers significantly greater security, safety, and ultra-fast data transmission rates to deliver unprecedented low latency and reliability. Li-Fi is a form of green communication method which salvages the existing lighting infrastructure for communication. The data is transmitted by varying the light intensity invisible to the human eye. For the study, we have considered the revenue accrued from the sales of various optical components that offer the best platform for Li-Fi capability and wireless innovation. 2ff7e9595c
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