What is Li-Fi? Know the Definition of Li-Fi and how it works?

Learn what the definition Li-Fi is and how Li-Fi works.

Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) is a wireless networking technology that uses light waves LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) for data transmission instead of radio waves. Li-Fi is a subset of Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) that can replace or be the complement to RF Communication, in terms of data transmission technology.

Li-Fi is a wireless and Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology which delivers the high-speed and bidirectional, networked mobile communications, which seems similar to Wi-Fi (uses Radio Waves). Li-Fi promises 100 times faster data transmission rate as compared to Wi-Fi and theoretically it can be reached the speed of up to 224 Gigabits (Gbps) per second, said the researchers of the technology.

Li-Fi is designed to use LED light bulbs to transmit data and Li-Fi bulbs are equipped with a chip that modulates the light imperceptibly for optical data transmission and these data is transmitted by a bulb and received by photoreceptors.

Herald Haas is known as the father of Li-Fi, who invented and discussed about the technology firstly in the month of July in 2011. See the Herald Haas – Li-Fi TED Talk where Li-Fi was discussed first time for public.

A new Talinn based startup company called Velmenni successfully tested the Li-Fi technology in their working office and unlocked the speed of upto 1Gbps which is 100 times faster than standard Wi-Fi.

How Li-Fi Works

Li-Fi’s recently developed models were provided 150 megabits-per-second (Mbps). Or in the different types of environments like Lab or with stronger LEDs, different technology and commercial kits; Li-Fi produced 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps). Which is much faster than 802.11 ad Wi-Fi.

Instead of Wi-Fi, Li-FI will helpful to allow network or data access to electromagnetic sensitive areas such as Aircraft cabins, hospitals and nuclear power plants etc. without causing electromagnetic interference. Well, both technology uses electromagnetic spectrum to transmit data, whereas Wi-Fi uses radio waves, Li-FI uses visible light (light waves) to transmit data.

Benefits of Li-Fi: -

• Faster speeds than Wi-Fi.
• 10000 times faster the frequency spectrum of radio.
• More secure due to a clear line of sight means data cannot be intercepted.
• Preclude piggybacking.
• Exclude adjacent network interference.
• Unimpeded radio interference.
• Without creating interference, it can be used in radio-sensitive electronics and making it better and safer to use in environments like hospitals and aircraft's etc.

Using lights in and around a building produces ground-breaking signal coverage than a single Wi-Fi router. Faster signal or network strength gives faster data transmission speed. For some cases, technology is really best, but, it still needs so many enhancements to use the technology for the mobility, because, without light, Li-Fi does not work, requirements of lights stay on for the operation.

And the other limitation of the technology is, it can’t be used in direct sunlight or harsh/weak lighting conditions because it requires electronic lights for data transmission. But according to Velmenni and Haas’s statements and demo's it will work with some amount of Ambient Lighting.

Written By: - Anish Tiwari, an SEO/SMO expert and Gadget Freak/Geek love to explore and write about Technology, Gadgets, IT, Search Engine and SEO/SMO Updates. Follow me on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram to ask your doubts or share your queries.