Imagine that a light bulb gave us not only light but also access to high-speed internet. Li-Fi technology is viable, and it is closer than we think.
Today the vast majority of the devices we have at home or at work reach the internet over Wi-Fi, a wireless technology a little over 20 years old that many of us could not live without, despite the merits of 4G — and, in the future, 5G. Curiously, both technologies use the same basis: the electromagnetic spectrum, only at different frequencies.
And although the coming Wi-Fi 6 and 5G promise simultaneous connections to a larger number of devices than current technologies, the electromagnetic spectrum dedicated to these two wireless technologies is finite, so it is reasonable to imagine it will saturate sooner or later. The solution? Turning to alternative technologies, such as Li-Fi.
Li-Fi is the acronym for light fidelity. It is a technology announced in 2011 that already has very mature projects available on the market. In short, Li-Fi aims to deliver wireless connectivity through light. Although it is a very young technology, connections faster than Wi-Fi have already been achieved, and they are more stable and more secure — because unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi is limited to a specific physical space that is harder to interfere with.
There are still a few years to go before Li-Fi can compete on equal terms with Wi-Fi. At the moment most serious projects are aimed at large companies and industry, mainly because of the prices and the infrastructure required. In any case, below are some practical examples of Li-Fi products already available on the market.
Trulifi by Signify
The Dutch company Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, has its own line of Li-Fi products under the Trulifi name, available for now to companies, industry and public bodies.
Its first Li-Fi product, Trulifi 6001, launched in 2018 and offers 30 Mbps over a range of 2 metres, built into a ceiling LED panel. Since 2019 two new products have been available, Trulifi 6002 and Trulifi 6013. The first offers speeds of 150 Mbps at 2 metres and the second 250 Mbps at a distance of 8 metres.
In every case the only requirement is having the transmitting device and a receiving device that can be connected to any device over USB. As well as the speeds given above, it includes AES 128-bit encryption.
LiFiMAX, GEOLiFi and MyLiFi by Oledcomm
From France comes Oledcomm, a company offering several Li-Fi products such as lamps, bulbs and other accessories.
Its LiFi Discovery Kit, for example, includes a router, a flexible lamp, a mobile app, a desk lamp with its USB receiver and a ceiling panel that also has a receiver. Its most recent product, the two-way MyLiFi desk lamp, offers 13W of light and a connection speed of 23 Mbps. It includes a USB receiver compatible with USB-A and USB-C.
Beyond that, its LiFiMAX line, aimed at companies, allows simultaneous access for up to 16 users and download speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
