Light transfer information, LED bulbs to create 5G era?

In 2011, University of Edinburgh professor Harald Haas published a lecture on Lifi technologies in TED, Lifi is a kind of communication technology based on visible light, to transfer the data through the LED light signal, which can be used in various manufacturing terminal network.

In addition to the University of Edinburgh, Germany's Fraunhof Institute of optoelectronics, another team in Europe in the operation of the ACEMIND project and the Fudan University Institute of computer science and technology laboratory have achieved similar technology. Currently, located in Edinburgh, pureLife is the first related venture company.

Recently, pureLifi announced a new round of investment, the amount of 15 million pounds (about 141 million yuan), led to the London & Scotland investment group (LSP), Old College Capital and the Scotland investment bank (SIB). The project's chief scientific officer (CSO) is Harald Haas, the financing will be used to support product development routes, as well as marketing and sales.

Bidirectional transmission of the company's first generation product Li-1st can achieve three meters, the speed can reach 5Mbps, and the LED lamp lighting function will not be affected in any way. In the 2014 quarter of fourth, the pureLife team on the line LiFi network products Li-Flame, the system can be achieved by turning off the light bulb into a LiFi access point, automatic two-way data transfer function. In other words, as long as you have Li-Flame, you can see the light bulb.

Li-Flame has two key parts. One is the ceiling kit, just through the standard Ethernet port to connect to the LED lamps, you can form a small range of multiple access switching network, while AP (AcessPoint access point) can be seamlessly switched between. The other is the desktop suite, through the USB interface to connect to the user's device, you can use infrared to the ceiling suite upload data, the speed can reach 10Mpbs. Li-Flame is chargeable, when the user moves from one AP to another (for example, into another room), which ensures constant connectivity and enhanced user mobility.

As for security issues, because the Lifi signal is mounted on a narrow beam of light, it is difficult to cross the wall. At the same time, because the upload and download channels are separated, if hackers attempt to attack a computer, in theory, he must crack the two-way channel. Then the most reliable way to achieve is to attack the computer with him in a room.

Li-Frame is currently in the sale, the main customer base for enterprise users. Prior to the formation of this technology, a lot of commercial vision perspective cut into the construction of public facilities (such as the street network into a hot spot) and enterprise network security, etc.. According to the official website said that the demand for the product in the first quarter of 2015 is still large. Marketandmarkets analysis of industry data, predicted in 2020 before the LiFi industry will grow at least $9 billion (about 55 billion 926 million yuan). Haas said he was very optimistic about this new technology, because it will promote the mobile Internet turned to cellular networks, creating a 5G era, but also promote the development of the Internet of things.

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