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Revisiting The Getac Podcast All Things Rugged with pureLiFi - Episode 006: The Internet at The Speed of Light - Part 1
Credit to Getac
A few months ago, Alistair Banham, CEO of pureLiFi, and Bill Galione, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at pureLiFi Ltd, were invited as guest speakers for a two-part episode on The Getac Podcast All Things Rugged. The Getac Podcast covers everything you need to know about rugged computing solutions in an enterprise environment. Each episode features industry thought leaders and rugged solution providers discussing industry challenges, mobile computing, vertical use cases, and comprehensive rugged computing solutions.
In this podcast episode, they discussed what they consider LiFi technology as a game changer in wireless connectivity. pureLiFi is one of the companies that are bringing this next generation of wireless communications to the market.
Below are some of the conversations of the podcast about LiFi technology. Some of the conversations have been edited by LiFi Tech News:
Alistair Banham: “Okay, so it's really great to be here with you today. So, what is LiFi? LiFi is a wireless communication that uses light, the light spectrum. So, it's complementary in addition to RF technologies. But as I said, it uses the light spectrum to transmit and receive data. It's fully mobile and fully networked, so you can move from one access point to another. And you can access, download, and upload information through the internet. I think one of the key messages I want to get is that LiFi helped solve some of the biggest challenges that we face today with RF.”
“The more downloads and uploads that are being actioned using the RF technology, the poorer the quality of service and the quality of experience for the user. And that is because bandwidth is being stolen by the device that is pulling down the largest data file. So, if you're working, if you're trying to download a, you know, Netflix, film, or project, everyone else in the house will suffer as a result of you pulling that down. Why? Because you're stealing the bandwidth away from those other users and their quality of service goes down. Therefore, the reliability is intermittent. It's not consistent in using RF technologies, but LiFi solves those problems.”
Alistair Banham: “So, the access point will deliver what it's designed to deliver. So, you can design them for, you know, low data rates, median data rates and high data rates. And that's the beauty of LiFi solutions. So, today, we have access points that run at 250 megabits per second, and we have some that run at lower megabits per second. So, it's all about the design. So, you can design it to support different data rates.”
Alistair Banham: “So, think what it is light is turned into data via super-fast pulses. So, you know, when you take the LED light, we put a, you know, a, an electrical current through that, it will pulse and that will transmit the data that we pick up and receive with our devices. But the most important thing there is, these are not perceivable to the human eye, you know, the light used can be visible light, you know, it's the same as the LED lights we use in our homes, or it can be invisible lights, such as infrared. And what it does is LiFi turns light sources into access points, or APs, as we call them, which don't have to be traditional lighting. So, it could be in the ceiling, it could be a box on the wall, it could be you know something on your desk. I think very importantly, it's fully mobile. So, you can move from one access point to another and stay connected.”
Alistair Banham: “So, then if you're under an access point, and remember the access point will have a cone, a cone in which the data is being transmitted. So, for example, some of our products have a 60-degree cone. So, the 60 delegate-degree cone comes from the access point. And then if you are sitting within that cone, then you can access and transmit and receive data through that access point. So, if you're one of my colleagues, and we're under that cone, yes, we can both access the internet via that access point. If you are someone who is not part of the family or the team, I can say hey, what are you doing in my cone, therefore I know that you're trying to access data within my zone.”
Alistair Banham: “You know, you can set the protocols so that you know using different wavelengths, for example, you know, red or blue or green. You can set one of these to be accessible to different types of individuals. So, a good example would be If an employee of a company could be accessing their internet data via the green wavelength, guests who come into the company could be accessing data through the green, and you know, you could have the emergency services could be accessing data through the red. So, you can programme the technology and use different wavelengths to enable different people to, you know, access data through, you know, light into the internet.”
Bill Galione: “Really, it's really hard to imagine an industry that wouldn't benefit from LiFi, you know, in particular, those that are concerned with secure reliable communications, as Alistair mentioned. And we're kind of on a very exciting journey right now. And it's kind of a typical adoption journey where a new disruptive, innovative technology starts out in Government and Defence where we have a very strong relationship.”
“And then, we see another interesting industry that might be ripe to adapt LiFi technology. And that's the energy industry in general, and in particular, oil and gas. They're also RF averse, these are very congested, noisy environments, which would benefit from LiFi.”
Bill Galione: “So, the point that I was making, is that this is public information that the US Army is using it in a tactical environment. So, you know, that would be in a tent, for instance, you know, for warfighters, potentially, in a tent that they would just hang up an access point, a LiFi access point, and have connectivity within that tactical Operation Centre. So yeah, that is indoors, technically, because it's in a tent.”
Bill Galione: “That's the exit point, right? So, you know what we provide our access points. And what we call stations or dongles, the dongle would plug into the GETAC PC or a tablet and the access point is sort of just like an access point that you have in your house for LiFi. In this case, using visible light doesn't have to be visible light. As Alistair said IR is also an option but uses visible light spectrum downlink, and IR uplink currently.”
Host: “How does an organisation start or start thinking about deploying LiFi technology within your organisation?”
Alistair Banham: “So, we've got within pureLiFi, we've got a kind of a fanatical focus on keeping things simple. You know, we want to keep it very simple. LiFi is a simple technology to pull it and deploy. And we have to keep it simple because guess what, you know, LiFi is ubiquitous. Technology has a ubiquitous presence. Everybody's familiar with LiFi, everybody uses it and likes it. But it doesn't do everything, as we keep saying. So, we have to keep the experience. Very, very simple.”
Host: “Can LiFi work in unison with, for example, a traditional WiFi connection, can I use both simultaneously? Do they peacefully coexist?”
Bill Galione: “They coexist, and you're not going to have a coexistence problem or interference problem between the two because it's a very different, very different spectrum, light spectrum RF spectrum.”
Host: “In regard to, you know, connectivity, is there anything that could possibly interfere with a LiFi connection, say Sunlight?”
Alistair Banham: “We've done a lot of testing and sunlight is not a problem. So, now there are ways to mitigate that with multiple access points, and, you know, maybe a wider field of view, there are knobs that we can play with to mitigate that issue. But yeah, you know, if you block the light, you'll temporarily lose signal.”
Host: “So, in regard to security, again, what objections do you typically encounter from an IT manager? And have you been able to successfully overcome those I'm sure that the IT managers are very concerned about anything being transmitted on their network.”
Alistair Banham: “In terms of security, I mean, again, back to the journey, we're on starting out with The Defence and the Government, these guys try to break things, they try to prove that it's not secure, it's not reliable. You know, it's a very good way to begin your business and rent things out the defence does a good job of that. So, we have not gotten pushback that I'm aware of on any security aspect, these systems go through a very rigorous accreditation process within the defence community. So, that gives us tremendous credibility, with non-defence customers as well.”
Podcast Recording
You can also listen to and download the podcast on the following:
https://getac.podbean.com/e/the-internet-at-the-speed-of-light-part-1/
Getac
Since 1989, Getac has been manufacturing rugged computers for some of the most demanding users in some of the most demanding environments. As one of the leading rugged computer manufacturers, Getac offers the most extensive rugged computing product lines including notebooks, tablets and handheld computers. As one of the leading rugged computer providers, Getac offers extensive rugged computing product lines including laptops and tablet computers. Getac serves a wide range of vertical markets including military & defence, law enforcement, public safety, emergency services, utility, natural resources, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation and industrial manufacturing.
You can read an article when Getac first announced the Integration of Li-Fi Technology into the Rugged Mobile Computing Market here
Li-Fi Conference 2022
The Li-Fi Conference 2022 Edition was a great success. Li Fi Tech News will very soon write articles on the topics treated at the Conference.
What is LiFi?
LiFi, 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 LiFi 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 LiFi work?
LiFi is a high speed, bidirectional, and fully networked wireless communication of data using light. LiFi 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 that 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.
LiFi Benefits
The primary benefits of LiFi 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 the small coverage area of LiFi 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
LiFi Applications
LiFi can be used for so many applications and the list is increasing every year. You can read our updated list of Li-Fi applications at the following link:
Credit to pureLiFi
LiFi Systems Reviews by LiFi Tech News
OLEDCOMM LIFIMAX KIT REVIEW - ONE YEAR IN
We reviewed the LiFiMax kit produced by the leading French LiFi company Oledcomm. We bought this LiFi kit system at the end of 2020. After over a year of use, we decided to write a review of this LiFi system. We looked briefly at the profile of Oledcomm, a brief history of the LiFiMax system, the Kit box contents, some testing and performance results of this LiFi system, the customer experience and our own verdict (the good and the bad points) of the LiFiMax kit.
You can read the review on this link:
https://www.lifitn.com/blog/lifimaxreview
SIGNIFY TRULIFI 6002.1 STARTER KIT SYSTEM REVIEW
We also reviewed the Trulifi 6002.1 starter kit produced by Signify, the world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. We got this LiFi kit system with the help of PCDSI and Signify around August 2021. In a similar fashion done with our previous review of the LiFiMax kit a few months ago, we will look briefly at the profile of Signify, a brief history of the Trulifi 6002.1 kit, the Kit box contents, some testing and performance results of this LiFi system, the customer experience and our own verdict (the good points and the bad points) of the Trulifi 6002.1 kit.
You can read the review on this link:
https://www.lifitn.com/blog/trulifi6002review
In conclusion, if you are also interested to hear more information about the OWNII Coin or enquire about LiFi devices such as the LiFiMax and Trulifi, you can contact us through our chatbot or by sending an email through our contact us form. If you enjoyed this post and would like to hear more updates about LiFi technology, subscribe to our newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe to our social media accounts. You can also join our Telegram group about LiFi technology on this link:
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