Meanwhile back to stuff that resembles FYI….
Most of us use WiFi in some form or another….but is it possible that there is something on the horizon that could replace it?
I am so glad you asked.
Wi-Fi might be on the way out even though Wi-Fi 7 is on the way in. According to The Verge, the IEEE standards body that oversees Wi-Fi has released the IEEE 802.11bb light communications standard that will cover the emerging Li-Fi technology. Instead of using wireless network signals, Li-Fi uses invisible (to the human eye, anyway) infrared light to deliver light-based wireless optical connectivity at speeds up to 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.
Light can deliver signals free of radio interference and Li-Fi already has a competing standard, the International Telecommunication Union’s G.9991. The Verge notes that this standard is used with data-beaming bulbs from Signify. Another company called pureLiFi released the Light Antenna One system in February which already meets 802.11bb standards. This is a module that could fit into smartphones and the manufacturer claims that it can deliver data speeds exceeding 1Gbps.
However, Light Antenna One is rated to communicate with devices less than 10 feet away and when transmitting back it has only a 24-degree field of view. Still, the manufacturer of the Light Antenna One says that it is ready “to enable mass integration of Li-Fi for the first time.” Despite the 1Gbps claim from pureLiFi, download data speeds for Li-Fi are said to be as high as 224Gbps which tops the average 40Gbps download speed expected for Wi-Fi 7.
Some of the advantages of Li-Fi includes better security as signals are less likely to leak through walls. Li-Fi transmitters can be easily installed in light fixtures used in offices, and Li-Fi’s higher data speeds certainly would deliver the fast connectivity that Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and gaming devices could benefit from. And besides the faster download speeds, Li-Fi promises to deliver low latencies.
(phonearena.com)
Whatcha think?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Being a ham radio guy I usually tune into these kind of things. A few years ago I tuned into a Youtube video on a couple guys from Denmark who were playing around with a WW2 German military gadget left after the war. These fellows managed to get their hands on a German infra red transmitter/receiver. It was two parts.. and box transmitter, which they aimed across a bay.. and a buddy had the box receiver across the bay. One could easily hear the voice being transmitted. The point is.. this tech is not new itself. The easy way to determine advantages and limitations of using infrared light is simply your remote control on your TV or other devices. You already know that when someone or some item is sitting in front of the TV, it can obstruct the light being emitted from the remote. Then you start moving your arms around to get the TV to receive your remote selections.
Another thing to consider… it’s a bit of a misnomer that infrared light is phiscially “faster” than radio wifi. Radios waves are on the light spectrum and travels the same speed as all light.. 186,000 miles per second. What makes infrared “faster” is that the properties of converting visible light to impulses of data, and decoding it to use the data, is a quicker process coupled with a kind of much larger “bandwidth” in which to send a maximum amount of data as possible.
Given that, light is also has direct line-of-sight properties. Radios waves with current wifi can penetrate most barriers. Your laptop or phone will need a direct, unobstructed path to an infrared transmitter bulb to operate. In the home, one would have to have an infrared light bulb transmitter in each room you plan on surfing the net… or.. evolve to only one room for your internet connection.
Also… should you want an internet connection as you travel out and about in public, you currently look for a good signal, and you might move to a different position or location if you need a better connection. Since radio waves are usually transmitted “omnidirectionally”, meaning all around at once, searching for a right signal generally solves the problem. There is no infrared “signal” to grab “out of the air”. You literally have to walk into a direct infrared light beam.
Nonetheless… really cool tech for lots of other applications.
I should add, because one would have to actually break into an infrared light beam to access or transmit data, this makes LiFi as being very secure and private. No one can eavesdrop on you unless they get into your light beam… even if you were sharing the same lightbulb connection.
Now that was useful and informative….thanx chuq
Thanx for the round-up….I just saw the article and thought it would make good fodder. chuq
I had never even heard of this. It’s all rather too techical for me, I barely understand how my TV works! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
I know me either….but I thought this might be interesting to some of my more tech savvy readers (I think maybe I was mistaken….LOL) chuq