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LiFi Acceptance: A Closer Look at the Global Integration and Adoption Challenges of LiFi Technology
Photo Credit to LiFi Tech News
The world’s need for a faster internet connection has never been this insatiable for the last several years. Being the lifeblood of communication and other applications in the fields of healthcare, finance, e-commerce, media and entertainment, education, information technology, and more, wireless internet connection paved the way for myriads of innovations that made many aspects of our lives easier.
Today’s ever-interconnected world needs faster and more efficient internet technology that can suffice our bulging need for a reliable connection. The current wireless connection that we have (WiFi) has its own disadvantages and with the growing need for the internet comes spectrum congestion, security concerns, speed limitations, and even regulatory challenges.
LiFi, or light fidelity, is another promising solution to the current challenges that we have, but like every technology, there will always be hindrances and disadvantages, especially when it comes to acceptance, adoption, and integration.
What is LiFi & How Does LiFi Work?
LiFi technology relies on visible light to transmit data wirelessly. It basically consists of two essential elements which include a receiver device and a light source. The device is equipped with a photodiode to receive light signals and the light source (e.g. LED bulbs) has a signal processing unit to transmit signals encoded in light.
It is versatile and promises a faster connection because as we all know, light travels faster as opposed to the radio frequency that WiFi utilizes. In a lab-based trial, scientists found out that LiFi technology can achieve speeds of up to 224 gigabytes per second which is mind-blowing enough as opposed to our current WiFi speeds.
Advantages & Applications of LiFi Technology
High-Speed Transfer
The most promising advantage of LiFi is high-speed data transfer which provides us the ability to send large data in just seconds.
Security
The US Army has agreed to deploy LiFi under a 4.2 million dollar deal with pureLiFi. The level of security and other advantages of the tech are ideal for tactical and defense strategies. Data transmissions through LiFi cannot go through the walls, therefore, giving the military secure communications with only the right people and preventing information breaches.
Reduced Electromagnetic Pollution
Another huge advantage of LiFi is its environmental impact. It emits zero electromagnetic radiation and healthcare facilities can highly benefit from this.
No Interference
Unlike radio frequency, LiFi is immune to interference in crowded radio frequency environments. This allows for a more reliable and stable connection.
Ample Bandwidth
The untapped spectrum of visible light as a source of data transmission provides us with more bandwidth, especially for data-intensive applications. This can solve the congestion problem we have with WiFi.
Despite these promising advantages, LiFi technology has to go through a bottleneck. There are obstacles that come with its acceptance, integration, and adoption.
What are the Challenges of LiFi Adoption on a Global Scale?
Just like any revolutionary tech and innovation, LiFi integration on a global scale is faced with significant challenges. Here are the hindrances that make LiFi implementation and integration quite challenging.
High costs of LiFi systems
Like any new technology, LiFi currently has higher upfront costs compared to the well-established Wi-Fi technology. Implementing the infrastructure, integrating the components into devices, and buying LiFi-enabled products can be prohibitively expensive, especially for cost-conscious consumers and businesses. However, with continued research and advancements, the costs and adoption challenges facing LiFi will likely decrease over time. As the technology matures, infrastructure expands, awareness grows, and compatibility improves, LiFi may gradually transition from a niche to a mainstream technology.
Overhaul of Infrastructure
As expected, the biggest challenge in the integration of the new LiFi technology is the need for a time-consuming and costly infrastructure overhaul. The process includes the upgrade of our current lighting systems with photodiodes to become LiFi-enabled. The transformation can be extremely expensive and will surely take a lot of time.
Range Limitations
While LiFi can be a hundred times faster than WiFi, the tech is limited by physical barriers which is not ideal in some situations. Military camps and sites take advantage of this limitation. However, if it is for home and other facilities, this can be quite a nuisance.
Standardization & Compatibility
The tech is not yet mature, therefore, there are no universal standards, protocols, or compatibility yet in place. This is a major issue that slows down its global adoption.
Lack of Awareness
Not a lot of people know about LiFi and its promising benefits. The lack of education and awareness hindrances the tech to flourish and go further. When there is limited knowledge of a specific tech, there are limited opportunities for investment. Selling the product will be extremely difficult if people do not have enough information about the tech which limits its market adoption.
Support from Governing Bodies
Emerging technologies are immediately blocked from rising above the surface if the governing bodies are uneducated about them. This is one of the most challenging issues that may hinder the full deployment of LiFi across the globe. Not all governing bodies are willing to understand or even willing to risk. Many would just stay with what currently works (the WiFi) and would struggle to press the green button for a new wireless connection technology.
Standardization debates: diverse perspectives on 802.11bb adoption
pureLiFi sees 802.11bb as providing the framework needed for the widespread adoption of LiFi on a global scale. They are ready with the first compliant devices and believe the standardisation will give confidence to manufacturers to deploy LiFi at scale.
Fraunhofer HHI echoes pureLiFi's optimism. They see 802.11bb as critical for enabling interoperability between vendors, allowing LiFi solutions to integrate with WiFi ecosystems.
In contrast, Signify has reservations. They are unconvinced of the benefits of large-scale commercial use at this time. Their standard is ITU-T G.vlc, which they believe offers the best LiFi solutions currently. They point to issues around reusing WiFi chipsets, which will hurt performance, size, heat, and cost.
Similarly, Oledcomm sees 802.11bb as a good step but needs adoption by WiFi chipmakers like Intel and Qualcomm before it is significant. Oledcomm believes major hardware and software changes are needed from WiFi chip roadmaps before 802.11bb sees large-scale deployment.
Moving forward: amplifying awareness and accelerating LiFi adoption
Considering these challenges, the ultimate goal is to spread awareness, make more campaigns, provide educational resources, get the media in the mix for additional voice, and actively promote its speed, security, and efficiency. The industry has a lot of work to do, but governing entities have roles to play too.
Further innovation and development of LiFi can be pursued and accelerated if the whole world learns more about it.
Photo Credit to pureLiFi
What is LiFi?
LiFi, also known as "Light Fidelity" is a wireless optical networking technology, which uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transmit data. In 2011, professor Harald Haas made a LiFi demonstration at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global Talk on Visible Light Communication (VLC).
VLC uses light as a medium to deliver high-speed communication like Wi-Fi and complies with the IEEE standard IEEE 802.15.7. The IEEE 802.15.7 is a high-speed, bidirectional, and fully networked wireless communication technology-based standard similar to Wi-Fi's IEEE 802.11.
How does LiFi work?
LiFi is a high speed, bidirectional, and fully networked wireless communication of data using light. LiFi constitutes of several light bulbs that form a wireless network.
When an electrical current goes through to a LED light bulb, a stream of light (photons) emits from the lamp. LED bulbs are semiconductor devices, which means that the brightness of the light flowing through them can change at extremely high speeds. The signal is sent by modulating the light at different rates. The signal can then be received by a detector that interprets the changes in light intensity (the signal) as data. Also when the LED is ON, you transmit a digital 1, and when it is OFF, you transmit a 0.
LiFi Benefits
The primary benefits of LiFi are as follows:
• Security: Provides entirely secure access. Where there is no light there is no data.
• Safety: Does not produce electromagnetic radiation and does not interfere with existing electronic systems.
• Localisation: Allows localisation due to the small coverage area of LiFi access point - localisation can be used for very precise asset tracking.
• Data density: Provides ubiquitous high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater data density (data rate per unit area) than RF through high bandwidth reuse.
Credit to Oledcomm
LiFi Applications
LiFi can be used for so many applications and the list is increasing every year. You can read our updated list of Li-Fi applications at the following link:
Credit to pureLiFi
LiFi Systems Reviews by LiFi Tech News
OLEDCOMM LIFIMAX KIT REVIEW - ONE YEAR IN
We reviewed the LiFiMax kit produced by the leading French LiFi company Oledcomm. We bought this LiFi kit system at the end of 2020. After over a year of use, we decided to write a review of this LiFi system. We looked briefly at the profile of Oledcomm, a brief history of the LiFiMax system, the Kit box contents, some testing and performance results of this LiFi system, the customer experience and our own verdict (the good and the bad points) of the LiFiMax kit.
You can read the review on this link:
https://www.lifitn.com/blog/lifimaxreview
SIGNIFY TRULIFI 6002.1 STARTER KIT SYSTEM REVIEW
We also reviewed the Trulifi 6002.1 starter kit produced by Signify, the world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. We got this LiFi kit system with the help of PCDSI and Signify around August 2021. In a similar fashion done with our previous review of the LiFiMax kit a few months ago, we will look briefly at the profile of Signify, a brief history of the Trulifi 6002.1 kit, the Kit box contents, some testing and performance results of this LiFi system, the customer experience and our own verdict (the good points and the bad points) of the Trulifi 6002.1 kit.
You can read the review on this link:
https://www.lifitn.com/blog/trulifi6002review
In conclusion, if you are also interested to hear more information about the OWNII Coin, you can contact the OWNii Support team at info@ownii.net or use the contact form on the new OWNii website, ownii.net. If you are enquiring about LiFi devices such as the LiFiMax kits and the Trulifi kits, you can contact us through our chatbot or by sending an email through our contact us form. If you enjoyed this post and would like to hear more updates about LiFi technology, subscribe to our newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe to our social media accounts. You can also join our Telegram group about LiFi technology on this link:
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