ZDnet shines on the newest bright idea to promise to change the way we internet… a Chinese project using lightbulbs to transmit information wirelessly:
Four computers under a one-watt LED lightbulb may connect to the Internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier instead of traditional radio frequencies, said Chi Nan, an IT professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
She explained a lightbulb with embedded microchips can produce data rates as fast as 150 Mbps, much higher than the average broadband connection in China.
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The term Li-Fi was coined as early as 2011 by Harald Haas, a professor of engineering at Edinburgh University, with the name standing for “light-fidelity”. The technology made use of LED bulbs that glow and darken faster than the human eye can see, and LED lights being semiconductors could be programmable.
The same technology can be put anywhere light shines… like car headlights, living rooms or floodlit back yards.