New Li-Fi Technology Is 100 Times Faster than Wi-Fi

Harald Haas, a professor at Edinburgh University is a busy man. In 2011 he invented a wireless broadband technology that uses LEDs to send data at hundreds of times the speed of today’s wi-fi networks.

Dubbed Li-Fi, which sounds like a network technology for politicians, the technology has emerged from the nation that gave the world deep fried Mars bars, men in skirts and musical instruments which sound like a tom-cat trying to have sex with an accordion. It could prove useful for offices that needs a secure and fast network for transferring and sending files.

While these speeds are impressive in a lab setting, until now, results of Li-Fi tech in a real in a real world setting hasn’t been really revealed.

SLOW Wi-Fi connections could soon be a thing of the past, with high-speed Li-Fi.

Wi-Fi is so 2012. Instead, scientists are working on a way to make our mobile devices Li-Fi-compatible.

The technology adapted here is the Visible Light Communication, which in its pure form is an advanced form of Morse Code communication. Li-Fi is a promising new technology, but consumers will be excited by its speed.

Light is already used on a smaller scale in fibre optic cables to carry data more quickly than copper wiring, but Velmenni’s ambitions are more lofty as they want to carry data through light in the air. The entire process happens so fast that it is completely imperceptible to humans. It might sound basic, but it works, and it is fast. In lab conditions, the global Business Times (IBTimes UK) reported, the transmission speed recorded a jaw-dropping 224 gigabits per second.

Visible light can not pass through walls, making Li-Fi a much more secure system, and less susceptible to interference.

This technology uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz.

There is an interesting limitation of Li-Fi, which could be a blessing in disguise.

Haas demonstrated that by flickering the light from one light-emitting diode (LED), he could transmit far more data than a cellular tower was capable of. The Estonia trials are still just that – trials – with Velmenni admitting widespread commercial uptake of the technology is not coming any time in the near future. Li-Fi bulbs appear as any other ordinary LED bulbs, but they actually transmit lightning-fast internet at the same time. Haas also sees Li-Fi as a way to bring internet to remote locations, using hilltop transmitters and rooftop solar panels.