Li-Fi promises 100-fold speed boost over Wi-Fi

An Estonian start-up has started trialling the first commercial application for Li-Fi, an alternative to Wi-Fi promising a hundred times greater speeds.

The start-up, Velmenni, has developed a prototype involving using Li-Fi, which transmits data using light instead of radio waves, in smart LED bulbs.

Under the prototype, dubbed Jungu, the bulbs are able to transmit data to other bulbs, to mobile phones and to the internet. Velmenni is also working on an Android app that would be capable of receiving data from the smart bulbs and transmitting it back.

“We transferred serial data synchronously from a PC/Laptop screen to a microcontroller board using visible light. A GUI was developed in MATLAB and a receiver circuit was made using Arduino and photodiodes,” states the description of the Jungu prototype on the company’s website.

“We successfully transferred a text file using this method. We only had to keep your microcontrol board in front of the laptop screen (GUI) and the data was transferred wirelessly using visible light communication.”

But the company also acknowledges that the use of light to transmit data can be limited in comparison to radio waves.

“We are doing a few pilot projects within different industries where we can utilise the VLC (visible light communication) technology,” Velmenni CEO Deepak Solanki told IBTimes UK.

He said the smart lighting prototype is designed for an industrial environment, but the company is also involved in a pilot project for a private client involving setting up a Li-Fi network within an office complex.

The CSIRO played a key role in the creation of Wi-Fi and had been reaping the rewards in terms of patent royalties. But the last of these patents expired in late 2013 so the potential replacement of Wi-Fi with Li-Fi will not have financial repercussions for the organisation.

Image courtesy of Syntropy under CC