Table of Contents
Radio 4 Brainport Podcast - Prof Jean-Paul Linnartz Interviewed Prof Harald Haas on Where Do We Stand in 2022 on LiFi and Optical Wireless Communications
Jean-Paul Linnartz, Research Fellow at Signify, Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology and a Radio 4 Brainport reporter, interviewed Professor Harald Haas on where do we stand in 2022 on LiFi technology and Optical Wireless Communications.
Below are some of the Podcast conversations. Some of the conversations have been edited by Chuks from LiFi Tech News:
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “The internet is not always as fast as we would like it to be. But that may not be a problem on the internet, though it may be a problem in the wireless link towards the internet. We are used to doing that via radio communications. But it can be done much faster. And by reusing light, one of the pioneers in that field is none other than the person who launched the term LiFi is Professor Harald. He coined the term quite a couple of years ago. What have you learned since then?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “Thank you. Sure, Paul. And I'm very pleased for the interview. And thanks for that very important equation. So, really, what we wanted to do is with LiFi, we build a similar experience to an end user, like WiFi, or three GPP. But we are using the visible light spectrum and the infrared spectrum, to basically grade bigger data pipes, provide more data, higher data rates, and more secure communication. And, really unlocking the future of wireless communications because there's this spectrum crunch in RF that we're seeing, and there's no new spectrum that's required in the light spectrum, which is able to provide free and unlicensed spectrum to do that. And what we've learned is that LiFi is a technology that solves one major big problem in the area of security. So, LiFi is much more secure than radio communications from a physic layer perspective. That's where the technology at the moment takes up commercially. But what we have learned is that LiFi can really unlock the terabit per second data rates that we are now trying to achieve in 6G.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “We have seen very impressive bit rates. I even had a colleague of you say that possibly the wireless optical channel could be faster than the fibre channels. So, possibly the bit rates there are unlimited, you also reach very high bit rates. But I also sometimes think if I want to go through Mumbai congested or through London and a congested moment, I do not need a Ferrari. So, is it really the bitrate only or other other things that are very key and possibly also light is very attractive?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “I think data rate is one key performance indicator there. Obviously others as well, like user experience, you want to have your data in a reliable way and in a secure way, and you want to achieve the connectivity of many devices. So, we have an explosion of devices in a personal sphere, went from one smartphone to maybe now 10s and even 20 of different devices that are attached to a person so, that there's an explosion of devices. So, we need to have both we have higher data rate but also achieve higher density of devices and provide them with reliable data in RF, it has a problem because RF always spreads the signal out and that if you want to put in more transmitters or access points, you end up in a problem of interference. And that really reduces the lead area capacity in RF but visible light communication, if you imagine a laser pointer and when you're doing your presentations is a very tiny sport. And that idea of tiny sports and containing a signal is something we can leverage really to unlock the number of devices per area with LiFi. And that is an element that is often overlooked when looking at LiFi. If you're not looking on Yeti, it's probably coming from the old view of optical VR as being the sort of the modern, the TV remote control on steroids. But it is not the remote control on steroids. It's a network technology, providing coverage and providing mobility and providing all the things we know in WiFi and cellular. And that's a very important point to be aware of.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: So, interesting developments down the radio people also make huge progress, they believe they can steer a beam, but that requires a lot of signal processing and many antenna elements. So, the complexity of that technology is increasing a lot. You think of a very simple solution pointing a laser beam?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “We do think in the same vein, it's an inherent feature of using sort of what we call segmented ops. The optics are basically beans. But we are not thinking of steering a beam or putting very expensive optomechanical systems into smartphones. It's really building on the idea of a grid of beams. So, having multiple, multiple lasers if you want that point in slightly different directions. And then you just turn them on when you need an area to be covered and you turn all the others off. But it's done very simply with a simple lens systems in front of the device. So, we don't need a bank of patient a phase shifters, we don't need a bank of power amplifiers. It's the complexity for achieving exactly what Millimetre waves have less to do, and terahertz have to do. We achieve it with a less significant less technical complexity.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “And some of that technology is already already entering the smartphones, very tiny lasers to do all kinds of measurements, we see the same in autonomous driving with LIDAR systems. So, there are a number of technological drives that really make that alternative to radio communication mature.”
Prof.Harald Haas: “That's true, I think that's really one of the key points is we have already devices out there commercially deployed, you mentioned LIDAR, it's very important, but also mean every smartphone has face recognition inside every laptop has face recognition, these are lasers these are so called vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, which says that there are buildings that have already user experience. And then we will probably see that the light sensing functionality will enter the smartphone device. And if you ever if this device is there, why don't use it, to also do communications across these devices. Yes, these things are coming into that space. And we are now preparing the grounds to use them in a vise and sensible way to build the ultimate nervous system, plus the sensing capabilities. And if you put sensing capabilities in the nervous system together, you're exactly in a 6G space. And this is exactly where we drive this technology at the moment.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “We are very happy to have you here today in Veldhoven, the Metro centre, so we do not have to go to Edinburgh go to straight line. If you look around in this environment and listening to your presentation, you pointed out there is a difference between shooting laser beams between satellites at very impressive bit rates terabits per second. But that is not exactly the same technology as what you named LiFi. Where are the differences?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “And the difference really is the coverage. And like you said, we have free space optics, we have the laser pointer I've mentioned. It's a point to point link, it's very for fixed location, you can’t move the beams, you can’t move the transmitter, you can’t move the receiver, it has to be aligned. And so, in fact, Pima acquisition and tracking systems, very complex devices in these optical links, we want to cover an entire room, we want to cover maybe an entire city at some point, using street lamps and other other devices. And therefore we spread the photons out that means if we have a detector that is tasked to be fast and small, we need to somehow collect all these photons back into the receiver. And the way we do that is where some of the engineering challenges lie. But it is all doable with different opto electronic and optics than elements that exist at the moment. Yeah, it's just putting things together in the correct way.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “We don't have that in 4g, we do not have that in 5g. 6g is the opportunity which can go to optical communication. 6g is the moment that we need to go to optical?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “Absolutely, 6g is where optical wireless communications should be playing a major role. I know that many people do about terahertz communications and that's the good thing. The message is that a spectrum crunch really exists. We need more spectrum. And that's that's a given. Whether you do it in a space where there are no devices and where you need another 20 years or 10 or 20 years in order to build the ecosystem or whether you use existing devices. Now that is the big question. But I think it's a strong commercial and scientific argument to say this is now the time to get optic violets kind of communications out into the consumer world into the mass market into the cellular space. It is really where it should be in the building ubiquitous, sorts of nervous systems, in our homes, in our streets, in all our environments, and we are ready for that.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “We are ready for that. you're already pushing that you have been pushing that a lot from the UK, you also have many contacts internationally. With California. Now you're in the Brainport region, where are the strengths or the opportunities whereas your competition in the Brainport region?”
Prof.Harald Haas: “I think there is a lot going on. And that's a good sign because that signifies that many companies and many people think and realise the opportunities and it's an ecosystem that we need. And it's never if we build something big, like cellular it's never done by a single company or a single element especially if it's complex like this because you need a complete ecosystem with devices but with transmitters with systems with optics and it's good to see that that that is much do multiple great developments going on and you mentioned KSD, they are building now, laser lighting, which is the next sort of revolution in lighting pay basis based on on blue lasers rather than blue LEDs. But that comes with it again with a great advantage that these devices have a high bandwidth. And we've shown it at CES this year, 100 gigabit per second with a WDM system from these devices. I mean that there's many examples and that where people build parts of the ecosystem, and it comes together. And that's the very important aspect. And that's why I like this conference like this. It brings people together, building an ecosystem.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “I heard you talk, let's say 10 years ago about we will have LEDs everywhere, we can modulate the LEDs. But now we see that these LEDs have some limitations, you're moving to lasers. Coming also from a radio environment I sometimes tend to say but listening causes more effort than talking we may see the same in optical wireless communication that leads us are ultimately fast. Here in this presentation, you also said there is something in the detectors in the photodiode. So that is also part of that ecosystem, much more than having a faster laser.”
Prof.Harald Haas: “That is correct, we need to look at the end to end system and transmitters are important. And LEDs, as you say commercially, are designed for lighting and all the efficiencies, the cost of the drivers and so on. And that compromises bandwidth and data rates. That's understood. But the other part of the equation is the receivers have to be flat, because you want to integrate it into mobile devices, at the same time collecting a lot of energy. So, photonic energy around it. And building the architecture for that is but an area which basically has not been looked at that much or less, there's a lot of work in other around the world. But that's an element that has to grow and build practical receivers as well. But with the LEDs, I think you mentioned the limitations, but it's still an option that is providing an indoor connectivity, it is not all about data read, as you say if you look at secure communication in the company you're presenting signify and others and build these products that allow indoor navigation at that at fairly high speeds and also in a secure way.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “If I listen to you, as a university professor, and someone who is very active in companies who already do this, there is still a lot to do in terms of research, pure research from the academia Bucha results. So, the time is getting there to really make it happen.”
Prof.Harald Haas: “I think the time is getting there. And I think we are commercially at a stage where LiFi now has entered or moved away from the prototyping from the pilots. And there's been hundreds of pilots around the world where technology has been proven in various environments in an industrial setting, in a defense setting, and so on. But we now see the defence sectors, basically picking up the technology in buying these consumer devices that the company I represent pureLiFi they are selling and it's huge. So it's a commercial reality. Now, it's a question of how to move from this beachhead into the consumer. And that's where there is further development needed. But research is needed. But there's also product solutions for that space out there. At the moment.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “It sounds very futuristic, we will communicate via steerable laser beams. But if I remember correctly, there was a time that Philips and other companies launched a CD player, which in essence is a steerable laser beam that reached at very high speed. So, there is also if I continue that line of thought there is a possibility to make it a mass market and to really go down to ultimate cost down for these kinds of devices.”
Prof.Harald Haas: “That is absolutely correct. And that's one of the great examples where you have seen that with optical systems. And if you look at SFPs modules of fibre comes they're also in the sort of $10 region and so on . There are these existing devices out there, there's technologies that we can build steerable laser beams if we wanted, also for optical wireless communications at a low cost. So that's an advantage we should be leveraging.”
Jean-Paul Linnartz: “I still hear the same drive as when you started with pureLiFi modulating the LEDs and now it starts to become the time to really have it in a mass market for 6g and that is all coming up. Thank you very much.”
Prof.Harald Haas: “Thank you very much been delighted to speak to you. Thanks”
Podcast Recording
You can also listen to the podcast in full on the following link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rrEz3GnewPZNYv8PLDLYY
Radio 4 Brainport
Radio 4 Brainport is a community radio station for you and by you. We aim to bring topics that cover the experiences of the international community in the Brainport region
We broadcast 24 hours a day an English language program consisting of music, news and information about culture, science and technology for the international community in the Brainport region.
We have teamed up with several partners that help us provide you with international, national and local news, background information, interesting reports etc.
During rush hours we provide detailed traffic information for major routes in and around Eindhoven.
Jean-Paul Linnartz and Harald Haas
Professor Jean-Paul Linnartz
As stated on his LinkedIn profile, Professor Jean-Paul Linnartz focuses on LiFi research, sensor networks and personalised Human Centric Lighting. He holds more than 70 granted patents. His many scientific papers about electronic watermarks, anonymous biometrics, radio communications (e.g. MC-CDMA) and Optical Wireless Communication (LiFi) have been cited more than 12,000 times. His research results have also been commercialised in ventures, such as Intrinsic-ID, GenKey, and Civolution. He was a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley and at the Delft University of Technology. As a Senior Director at Philips Research, he has headed research groups on information security, wireless connectivity and on IC design.
PROFESSOR HARALD HAAS
Professor Harald Haas received a PhD degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2001. He currently holds the Chair of Mobile Communications at the University of Edinburgh, and is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of pureLiFi Ltd as well as the Director of the LiFi Research and Development Center at the University of Edinburgh. His main research interests are in optical wireless communications, hybrid optical wireless and RF communications, spatial modulation, and interference coordination in wireless networks. He first introduced and coined spatial modulation and LiFi. LiFi was listed among the 50 best inventions in TIME Magazine 2011.
Prof. Haas was an invited speaker at TED Global 2011, and his talk: "Wireless Data from Every Light Bulb" has been watched online more than 2.2 million times. He gave a second TED Global lecture in 2015 on the use of solar cells as LiFi data detectors and energy harvesters. This has been viewed online more than 1 million times. Professor Haas holds 31 patents and has more than 30 pending patent applications. He has published 300 conference and journal papers including a paper in Science. He co-authored a book entitled: "Principles of LED Light Communications Towards Networked Li-Fi" published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. Prof. Haas is the editor of IEEE Transactions on Communications and IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technologies. He was co-recipient of recent best paper awards at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall) in Las Vegas in 2013, and VTC-Spring in Glasgow in 2015. He was co-recipient of the EURASIP Best Paper Award for the Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking in 2015, and co-recipient of the Jack Neubauer Memorial Award of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. In 2012, he was the recipient of the prestigious Established Career Fellowship from the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) within Information and Communications Technology in the UK. Prof. Haas is recipient of the Tam Dalyell Prize 2013 awarded by the University of Edinburgh for excellence in engaging the public with science. In 2014, he was selected by EPSRC as one of ten RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) Leaders in the UK.
LiFi Research and Development Centre (LRDC) at The University of Strathclyde / Glasgow
The University of Strathclyde (UStrath) is a leading international technological university. It is one of the UK’s top 20 universities for research intensity according to the Times Higher Education (THE) and it is the first university to receive the THE’s ‘UK University of the Year Award’ twice (2012 and 2019). UStrath is a member of CESAER, the European association of leading specialised and comprehensive universities of science and technology, and it is internationally recognised for its standing in applied research, technological innovation and university-business partnerships.
The LiFi Research and Development Centre (The Centre) is dedicated to accelerating the development of LiFi as a major global industry, through creating a pipeline for innovative ideas, technologies, products and partnerships.
The LiFi R&D Centre conducts internationally leading research in collaboration with, and on behalf of industry. It aims to accelerate society’s adoption of LiFi and emerging wireless technology through engagement with major industrial partners, to fully harness the commercial and innovative potential of LiFi, and to help establish a major new £5 billion ($8.5 billion) LiFi industry by 2018.
The UK based research and development centre was formed in 2013, and stems from research into fundamental communications science begun in 2002 that has now received in excess of £8 million ($13.5 million) of competitively won funding.
By facilitating collaboration between industry, internationally renowned experts from the University of Strathclyde, and other key research institutes around the world, the Centre is taking emerging LiFi technologies through into mainstream applications that will soon begin to impact on many aspects of the modern world. The Centre, with its partners and collaborators, will foster the wide spread market adoption of LiFi technologies.
The Centre continues to drive all aspects of LiFi communication from novel devices, through to the integration of LiFi access points in agile heterogeneous 5G and 6G networks enabled by emerging software defined networking (SDN) infrastructures.
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, you can contact the OWNii Support team at info@ownii.net or use the contact form on the new OWNii website, ownii.net. If you are enquiring about LiFi devices such as the LiFiMax kits and the Trulifi kits, 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:
https://t.me/joinchat/FMzOmsEKyJFrU6Af