Last July, Dr. Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering gave a TED Talk about what he called Light Fidelity, or LiFi. Haas said that the new technology, still in its infant stage, would revolutionize communications, replacing broadband-based WiFi with ultra-high speed over-the-air data transmission through LED lights. This wasn’t just a pipe dream; according to Dr. Haas, his team had already produced data rates of over 500 megabytes per second in the lab. You can read more about it and watch Dr. Haas’s LiFi demonstration here.
Just one year later, Japanese company Outstanding Technology says LiFi is ready for prime time. Via DigInfo:
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The Commulight System consists of a receiver that plugs into a smartphone or tablet, and LED lights with a built-in transmitter. The receiving device obtains IDs emitted by the LED lights, enabling it to download content relevant to the user’s location. The receiver is available in two types, one that connects via USB, and one that connects via the headphone jack.
While Outstanding Technology seems to be aiming a bit low, the decision is a good one. LiFi is extremely young technology, and although it could be world-changing when it matures, limiting its first commercial exposure to controlled environments like museums and art galleries is a good way to run the training wheels stage outside of the lab. We’re a long way from cars talking to each other through their headlights, but Commulight brings us, dare I say it, light-years closer.
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