Claire FletcherMaking its debut at LuxLive last week, a live audience was witness to video content played via a Li-Fi internet connection, in the first ever demonstration at LuxLive of its kind. The experiment was carried out by Dr Harald Burchardt, chief operating officer at pureLiFi, a Scottish company currently developing and delivering Li-Fi solutions.
The Li-Fi system was connected via USB to a tablet. When Harald stood directly beneath the Power over Ethernet adapted stage lights, a network was quickly detected.
Speaking to LuxReview, Harald notes: “Li-Fi technology has the ability to widen the capacity of our wireless communication options.”
However, the signal started to fade quickly as he moved further from the light, suggesting the technology still only has a short range.
“Every light has a limited amount of coverage,” Harald clarifies. “Each fixture offers a range of sixty degrees and seven to eight square metres. The use of multiple Li-Fi luminaires will act to widen the available amount of coverage to users.”
During his talk in the IoT Arena at LuxLive, Harald commented that he does not consider Li-Fi to be a replacement to Wi-Fi, but wished it instead to be viewed as a, ‘secure extension to already available layers of communication’.
Theoretically, Li-Fi is quicker than Wi-Fi, although currently this has only been proven in a lab setting. However, it does possess the scope to be even faster in the future.
The innovation is described by experts as a secure, electromagnetic, interference free solution, combining the security of a wired internet connection with the flexibility of Wi-Fi. This coupled with the potential for improved speed and encryption puts Li-Fi in good stead to be the next technology of choice.
When pressed, experts chose not to reveal whether or not Apple had any plans to implement the new technology in future products.