Li Fi Rewind 2020
2020 was yet another year of great developments and advancements for Li-Fi industry. The technology is getting cheaper and better every year. The following timeline displays the main events that took place in regards to Li-Fi.
SLD Laser
SLD Laser, the Santa Barbara, CA company co-founded by LED hero Shuji Nakamura, headed to CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas to show off laser-based Li-Fi that it says can operate at a blistering 20 Gbit/s, which it noted is 20 times faster than 5G, assuming a 5G speed of 1 Gbit/s.
Oledcomm
Oledcomm introduced a Li Fi system rated at close to 1 Gbit/s, or around 10 times as fast as LiFiMAX. It is positioning the LiFiMAX1G for machine-to-machine, robotic, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) communications in factory-type settings, where it can work at distances of up to 5m. It planned to make the product commercially available in the second half of this year and hoped to sign up pilot users before that.
Fraunhofer HHI
The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, Berlin, Germany, (HHI) was first to succeed in developing a USB-operated "Li-Fi" system with low power consumption, achieving the highest data rate transmission for a mobile LiFi end device of up to 1 Gbit/s.
Academics From UCL
Academics from UCL, Northumbria University and Newcastle University are developing a new type of organic Li Fi LED (light-emitting diode) which will communicate with smart devices such as tablets and phones to download and upload huge amounts of data.
Signify
The number of project orders for the installation of systems that communicate data via LiFi is skyrocketing, according to Head of Business Development Ed Huibers of Eindhoven-based tech company Signify (formerly Philips Lighting). With LiFi, communication is via light instead of radio frequencies. Signify started work on around one hundred LiFi installations in office buildings, hotels, trains, warehouses, and electronics companies. There, the robots communicate with each other via LiFi from a ceiling-mounted lamp like at Wieland Electronics in Germany.
EpiPix Ltd
The company, named EpiPix Ltd, is developing and commercialising game-changing micro-LED technology for photonics applications, such as micro-displays for portable smart devices, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D sensing and visible light communications (Li-Fi).
Fraunhofer HHI
The researchers set up multiple Li-Fi transmitters and receivers in a neurosurgery operating room at Motol University Hospital in Prague. In a series of tests, the Li-Fi system managed to transfer data quickly and without complete signal loss. They achieved data rates of up to 600 megabits per second—better than most Wi-Fi connections and cellular networks.
pureLiFi
THE Scottish company behind a new ultrafast wireless technology that uses LED lightbulbs to connect to the internet says it is only a matter of time before its chip is integrated into every device.
Aura Light Italia
Aura Light Italia includes Oledcomm's innovative LiFi in its lighting projects to offer even more complete and performing projects, with the aim of improving the well-being of the individual. This type of technology guarantees fast, secure and safe data transmission.
PeroCUBE
An ambitious European project is aiming to combine a photovoltaic solar cell with a low power LiFi light-based communications system for wearable designs and LED lighting panels all using the same low cost, flexible perovskite semiconductor materials. The €5.6m PeroCUBE project will use perokskite materials to produce both the flexible PV solar cell and flexible high-speed LEDs and sensors for the LiFi in a wearable gadget such as wristband. The project will also produce large LED lighting panels that incorporate the LiFi sensors to communicate with the wristband.
CEA-Leti
Researchers at CEA-Leti, a technology research institute based in Grenoble, France, say they have broken the throughput world record of 5.1 Gbps in visible light communications (VLC – also known as Li-Fi) using a single GaN blue micro- light-emitting diode (LED).
OWNII Coin
Due to the current Corona virus pandemic, the public launch is being delayed. However, Global Greenology is currently planning the launch of OWNII Coin in 2 phases. The first phase being a private sell of the token in which you can pledge to purchase your amount but will not have to pay for it until the market stabilised. The second phase will be a public purchase just before going live on the exchange. A website specifically for the OWNII coin is also being developed by Global Greenology. Li Fi Tech News will keep you updated on the progress of the OWNII Coin.
SMIMER
Nav Wireless Technology, an R&D initiative in wireless technologies, is currently developing a Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) technology-based communication facility at SMIMER (Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education & Research). The company has extended its expertise to provide faster and safer light-based communication for COVID-19 patients and all the medical professionals.
OPPO
The patent, spotted by LetsGoDigital, shows images of the sensor placed on the Oppo smartphones. Unlike Wi-Fi, a Li-Fi module (a photodetector) is quite visible on the outside of the phone. This is required because the light photons need to be converted into currents. The images show the possible placements of the module. It is to be noted that this is just a patent at the time and, as with all patents, could never see the light of the day.
EDZCOM
Signify announced Li-Fi Partnership with Edzcom for quickening the adoption of Li-Fi Technology. EDZCOM, a Finnish 4G and 5G networking company that will use Signify’s LED-based Trulifi system as part of wireless connectivity schemes in industrial settings.
Fraunhofer HHI
The LiFi market is growing with the help of the ITU G.9991, the first standard for Gigabit indoor wireless connectivity using visible and infrared light. The long-term research of Fraunhofer HHI made a key contribution in helping the wireless community to reach the exciting point we see today in LiFi adoption and prospects for market growth.
Signify
TU’s standard for indoor Visible Light Communication (VLC), also known as ‘LiFi’ – ITU G.9991 – is the world’s first standard for high-speed wireless communications with visible light and infrared. LiFi provides network connectivity within a premises, similar to Wi-Fi, but using light rather than radio signals. When Philips Lighting introduced Signify as its new company name in 2018, the choice was motivated by light’s value as ‘an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning’. Signify is part of “Enhance Lighting for the Internet of Things” (ELIOT), an EU Horizon 2020 project participating in the standardization of lighting and telecom infrastructures in IEC, IEEE, IETF and ITU.
Hydromea
Hydromea, a spinoff of École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), has developed a miniature optical modem that can operate down to 6,000 meters below the ocean’s surface. It is sensitive enough to collect data at very high speeds from sources more than 50 meters away. Hydromea is using light to transmit data below the ocean or lake surface. They have developed an underwater modem called LUMA that communicates through a rapidly blinking blue light. The modem converts data into light pulses that it sends out, or inversely, converts light pulses that it receives into data – all in the blink of an eye. “Our optical modem gives you a fast wireless underwater connection,” says Alexander Bahr, Hydromea’s COO.
Light Rider
Light Rider Inc, a US-based quantum Li-Fi company, recently announced the unveiling of their quantum Li-Fi products coming up next year in 2021. Light Rider states that they are a quantum Li-Fi company leveraging the supernatural behaviour of quantum physics for the creation of secure and unparalleled encryption products with their patented technology.
Getac
Getac has announced that it is bringing integrated Li-Fi technology powered by pureLiFi to the rugged market for the first time. This means customers across a wide range of professional sectors will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of fully rugged reliability and innovative Li-Fi connectivity in a single device, unlocking a host of powerful new applications and use cases. In 2019, Getac made the announcement of its partnership with Li Fi leading company pureLiFi.
OLEDCOMM
Spie ICS, a digital services subsidiary of the SPIE Group, an independent European leader in multi-technical services in the fields of energy and communications, and the French start-up Oledcomm, a world leader in Li-Fi technology, have been selected by the Centre-Val de Loire region to set up, within a pilot high school, LiFi technology permitting students to connect to the Internet using light. More secure and more environmentally friendly, Li-Fi is a reliable and promising alternative to Wi-Fi.
Infratel Italia
The Ministry of Economic Development made the announcement of a successful Li-Fi trial at the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto. National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (Marta) is the first museum in Italy to use Li-Fi technology that allows fast and secure data transmission through LED light. A national record made possible thanks to the experimentation launched by Infratel Italia in collaboration with the start-up To Be and the Italian Videogames Academy (Aiv).
Fraunhofer HHI
The Fraunhofer HHI team deployed the LiFi system in a classroom at a vocational school in the State of Hesse to test the technology in a real-life application scenario. In this process, user experience will be analysed and reviewed to further improve the system. The Main-Kinzig district wants to take on a pioneering role in the evaluation of LiFi and research about the practical advantages of the new technology compared with conventional wireless solutions. They also want to play an active role in advancing the digitisation of schools. LiFi can enable fast data transmission and communication with peak data rates of up to 1Gbit/s. The LiFi modules come with an USB interface and are therefore compatible with common end-user devices. "This project is an important milestone for us to demonstrate the great potential of this unique technology for mobile communication,” said Dr.-Ing. Dominic Schulz, project manager at Fraunhofer HHI. “It will also help us to further increase the degree of technological maturity."
Li Fi Tech
Li Fi Tech N has carried out a Li Fi deployment with Oledcomm in a house in London. A LiFiMax kit was purchased and used in this Li Fi project. From this Li Fi project, results showed that internet data transmission speeds were slightly greater with the use of the LiFiMax compared to the use of a Wi Fi network adapter commonly used in consumer households. An article will be written by Li Fi Tech about this successful Li Fi project
What is Li-Fi?
Li-Fi, also known as "Light Fidelity" is a wireless optical networking technology, which uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transmit data. In 2011, professor Harald Haas made a Li-Fi demonstration at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global Talk on Visible Light Communication (VLC):
VLC uses light as a medium to deliver high-speed communication like Wi-Fi and complies with the IEEE standard IEEE 802.15.7. The IEEE 802.15.7 is a high-speed, bidirectional, and fully networked wireless communication technology-based standard similar to Wi-Fi's IEEE 802.11.
How does Li-Fi work?
Li-Fi is a high speed, bidirectional, and fully networked wireless communication of data using light. Li-Fi constitutes of several light bulbs that form a wireless network.
When an electrical current goes through to a LED light bulb, a stream of light (photons) emits from the lamp. LED bulbs are semiconductor devices, which means that the brightness of the light flowing through them can change at extremely high speeds. The signal is sent by modulating the light at different rates. The signal can then be received by a detector which interprets the changes in light intensity (the signal) as data. Also when the LED is ON, you transmit a digital 1, and when it is OFF, you transmit a 0.
Li-Fi Benefits
The primary benefits of Li Fi are as follows:
• Security: Provides entirely secure access. Where there is no light there is no data.
• Safety: Does not produce electromagnetic radiation and does not interfere with existing electronic systems.
• Localisation: Allows localisation due to small coverage area of Li-Fi access point - localisation can be used for very precise asset tracking.
• Data density: Provides ubiquitous high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater data density (data rate per unit area) than RF through high bandwidth reuse.
Credit to Oledcomm
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