Oledcomm, a French startup, has designed a system based on LiFi, part of IEEE 802.15 standard, that quickly modulates your existing LED lights and deliver wireless networks in a similar manner as Wi-Fi, and delivers up to 1Gbit/s bandwidth. The modulation is fast enough so that it’s invisible to the human eye, and all your need is a LiFi enabled router that will power and transmit data to your LED lights, as well as device with a LiFi receiver, such as a LiFi enabled smartphone. Transmission is somehow bidirectional.
Charbax filmed a demo by the company at CES 2014, and he seems to be in a state of disbelief during the interview, just as I did. The company did not want to provide technical details, as they are still looking for investors, but this appears to be real.
In the video, they mention up to 10MB/s throughput, lower than the 1Gbit/s claim in their website. This is still very cool, but I’m not quite sure about the applications, and how it can replace or complement Wi-Fi in our homes, offices, and public places. The main selling points are Wi-Fi saturation, potential health issues due to Wi-Fi high frequency radio waves, and electromagnetic sensible areas. In some ways, it’s also more secure, as it won’t go through walls.
The Lifi phone shown at CES 2014 transmits and receives data without draining the battery thanks to Wysips Connect transparent photo-voltaic film from Sunpartner Technologies, which handles both solar power and data transmission.
Check out Oledcomm LiFi page for a few more details.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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April 1st ?
“Somehow bidirectional” ? Is that a citation ?
@Manuel Dejonghe
“At the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas, Sunpartner Technologies will introduce, along with its partner Oledcomm, a pioneer in the LiFi market, the first mobile device equipped with Wysips® Connect: this smartphone can receive and transmit data by light (music, video, photos, etc.) while generating its own electricity.”
So yes, the phone can receive and transmit data, although I’d guess the data rate from the phone to the router would be lower.
Mildly interesting for some cases, though the required element size is very critical whether it can be an accessory, case, or must be part of the original device design. Transmission could be either by producing photons or modulation of absorbed (thus reflected) photons. Worth it just so you can say “move over (to another light), you’re hogging my bandwidth”.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/wysips-connect-lifi-downloads-data
Sounds like they were doing a lot of overselling. They ARE French.
@deets
On Website: Up 1Gbps
In Video: Up to 10MB/s, but probably language mistake, and he meant 10Mbps.
The phone manufacturer says currently 24 Kbps, up to 1 Mbps, but that’s for the phone only.
With Oledcomm LiFi receiver connected to a laptop, they can reach up to 10Mbps.