‘Lifi networks via LED light available to consumers within four years’

In three to four years, the first consumer products using Li-Fi technology should appear on the market. This is the opinion of the CEO of a start-up from Estonia, which is currently conducting pilots with network technology that works via LED light.

Deepak Solanki, CEO of Velminni, told IBTimes that the start-up is currently piloting Li-Fi networks in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The wireless network technology that works with LED lamps would have been used successfully in both an industrial environment and an office. The Li-Fi technology used in the pilots could transmit data at a speed of 1GB/s. In laboratory tests, speeds of 28GB/s over a distance of three meters were already achieved at the end of last year.

According to Solanki, the Li-Fi technology could be on the market for consumers within three to four years. He himself works with Velminni on the Jugnu; a smart LED bulb with added Li-Fi support. It is not yet known which speeds are possible with this Li-Fi lamp.

Lifi, in which data is sent via visible light, works with very fast oscillating LEDs. The blinks are invisible to the human eye. To maintain the connection, the transmitter and receiver must always be able to detect each other’s light pulses. The technology is therefore not a complete replacement for WiFi, as it is not possible to send data through walls. However, the two techniques could work side by side. The advantage of LiFi is that there is less interference and very high speeds can be achieved. It can also be labeled as safer, because it is easier to shield the signal.

Until now, however, practical applications of Li-Fi networks have not reached high speeds. PureLiFi, the company that Harald Haas is co-founder of, demonstrated its Li-Flame at the Mobile World Congress in March. With this system, upload and download speeds of 1.25MB/s would be possible over a distance of three meters. For example, to receive data from a Li-Fi network with a smartphone or laptop, these devices must also be equipped with a Li-Fi sensor. In early 2014, the Oledcomm company showed a smartphone that can communicate with Li-Fi networks and a Li-Fi dongle that can be plugged into devices.

Harald Haas, a German professor at the University of Edinburgh, is the inventor of the Li-Fi technology. He demonstrated the technology himself in 2011 during a TED talk.