We’ve heard about LiFi or Light Fidelity (also known as Low Fidelity) technology for a few years now but there hasn’t been a major company that offered this technology for businesses and consumers. Philips Lighting is now the first major lighting company to bring LiFi-enabled regular office luminaries, bringing “secure and highly stable high-speed Internet connection” not through the regular radio waves but through light waves. This is potentially a new tech that should bring better Internet to people who want to avoid the already congested radio frequencies.
LiFi is similar in a lot of ways to WiFi, with both using a two-way high-speed wireless technology. But instead of the already congested radio waves, it uses light waves. And with Philips Lighting’s office luminaries, users will be able to get 30 MB per second which should be enough to stream HD quality videos while also taking video calls. Of course, that’s all in theory and as we all know, real-world use is sometimes vastly different.
A real estate investment company in Paris called Icade is piloting this technology in their La Defense office. They do have a smart office and with the addition of LiFi technology, they will hopefully have both stable connectivity and also good light quality. One of the promises of this tech is that the data connection will not interfere with the energy-efficient lighting that Philips is known for.
If you want a demo of the what Philips Lighting’s LiFi tech can do, they will be at the Light + Building 2018 trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany. We wait for the day when it will be commercially available for regular consumers because only then will it probably convince the public that it is a viable option to WiFi.
SOURCE: Philips
