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Oledcomm LIFIMax Kit Review - One Year In
Today, we are going to review 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 will look 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.
Oledcomm
Oledcomm designs and develops LiFi network interface devices that enable high-speed wireless data communication. It also serves LiFi equipment in the telecom, datacom, personal electronics, and industrial markets. The company’s product portfolio includes hubs, routers, switches, adapters, drivers, power supplies, and many more.
Oledcomm was founded in 2012 and is currently based in Paris, France. Oledcomm's adventure began in 2005 in the research laboratories of the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin with the first work on communication by visible light.
Following years of research & development and a passion for innovation, Oledcomm became the pioneer of LiFi (Light Fidelity) solutions and innovation on a global scale.
Based in the Paris region, Oledcomm employs around 25 people and designs complete solutions for LiFi operation, including microcontrollers, LiFi photoreceivers and software platforms.
Today, after more than 28 patents, 15 years of R&D, over 500 trusted clients and several awards, Oledcomm is pursuing a strong mission: to transform the 14 billion points of light in the world into a powerful communication network.
LIFIMax KIT HISTORY
LiFiMax dongle. Photo credit to Press-Citron
Back in early 2019, Oledcomm announced their 2nd generation LiFi system called “LiFiMax”. at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Benjamin Azoulay, President of Oledcomm stated that " LiFiMax is the result of more than 10 years of research. The LiFiMax connection is particularly required in offices: meeting rooms, work spaces, co-working and M2M industrial environments sensitive to radio frequencies”.
After the worldwide success of MyLiFi desk lamp, the first consumer LiFi lamp, the company developed a solution for professionals with LiFiMax. The latter will offer a connection ranging from 40 Mbps to 100 Mbps, over a radius of 28 m², and allowing up to 16 people to connect simultaneously.
The product became available from September 2019, for less than 874 euros (around £786). Benjamin Azoulay further stated at the time: "We are lucky for the moment to be under the radars: the big players in the sector [terminal manufacturers] have other priorities. Our strategy is to develop products and know-how, so that when they wake up, they take a license from us instead of spending two or three years developing their own solutions, ".
According to Oledcomm, LiFiMax® is an optical wireless communication system providing up to 16 simultaneous users with an ultra-high-speed, highly secured and radio wave-free wireless network access thanks to invisible light.
A LiFiMax® system is composed of a LiFiMax® access point that can be easily fixed on the ceiling of your conference room, co-working space or simply home office, and which enables network access to every device equipped with a plug-and-play LiFiMax® dongle.
LIFIMax KIT PRICE
We placed an order around December 2020 and we were quoted a price of around 990 euros (around £833) at the time. This was excluding the shipping price. The shipping price was 69 euros. The total price paid was 1059 euros (£891).
LIFIMax KIT BOX CONTENTS
When ordering a LiFiMAX kit from Oledcomm, you will receive the following contents:
1 x LiFiMax® access point
2 x LiFiMax® dongle
1 x USB-C / USB-C cable
1 x USB-C / USB-A cable
1 x Mounting kit
8 x pieces of documentation (Warranty Policy, Safety Instructions LiFiMax Access Point, Safety Instructions LiFiMax USB Dongle and Quick Start Guide). You will receive four pieces of documentation in English and four pieces of documentation in French.
LIFIMax KIT SPECIFICATIONS
Credit to Oledcomm
The LiFiMax system is a LiFi plug and play system as there is no need to install additional drivers or software when plugging the USB dongle on any tablet, smartphone or computer system. Up to 16 users can connect to a LiFiMax access point. This LiFi system also uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128 encryption. AES is implemented in software and hardware throughout the world for the encryption of sensitive data. It is essential for government computer security, cybersecurity and electronic data protection.
AES includes three block ciphers:
AES-128 uses a 128-bit key length to encrypt and decrypt a block of messages.
AES-192 uses a 192-bit key length to encrypt and decrypt a block of messages.
AES-256 uses a 256-bit key length to encrypt and decrypt a block of messages.
Each cipher encrypts and decrypts data in blocks of 128 bits using cryptographic keys of 128, 192 and 256 bits, respectively.
Security experts consider AES safe against brute-force attacks. A brute-force attack is when a threat actor checks all possible key combinations until the correct key is found. The key size employed for AES encryption, therefore, needs to be large enough so that it cannot be cracked by modern computers, even considering advancements in processor speeds based on Moore's law.
Below are some more specifications of the LiFiMAX system:
Communication Specifications
Type of light source: Infrared LED
Download data rate: up to 100 Mbps
Upload data rate: up to 100 Mbps
Communication coverage: 90 degrees field of view
Maximum number of users: 16
Electrical Specifications
Access point nominal power < 5W
Access point power input: PoE (IEEE 802.3af)
Dongle nominal power: 2.5W
Dongle power input: USB-C
Mechanical Specifications
Access point dimensions: Diameter: 110mm / Height: 25 mm
Access point weight: 400 g
Dongle dimensions: Diameter: 63 mm / Height: 17 mm
LiFi Dongle weight: 100 g
Main material: white painted aluminium
Ingress protection: IP30
User Device Requirements
Microsoft® Windows 7, 8, 10, Mac OS®, UNIX®, or Linux, Android
LIFIMax KIT INSTALLATION
Additional Required Equipment Before Use
Before setting up your LiFiMax system, you will need to get at least two Ethernet CAT6 cables and a PoE (Power Over Ethernet) switch device.
A CAT6 Ethernet cable is a standardised twisted pair cable for Ethernet that is backward compatible with CAT5/5e and CAT3 cable standards. Like CAT5e, CAT6 cables support Gigabit Ethernet segments up to 100 m, but they also allow for use in 10-Gigabit networks over a limited distance. Cat6 cables have stricter performance specifications and significantly higher data transfer speeds at greater distances. They are more tightly wound than Cat5 cables, and the cable conductors and cable sheath are thicker as well.
PoE is a revolutionary technology that allows network cable to provide both data and power for PoE-enabled devices. The PoE can provide higher power and reduce a lot of power cables during networking. A PoE switch offers power supply and data connection to a PoE-enabled IP camera system via network cables like Cat5, Cat5e and Cat6. Nowadays, whatever the industry or location, it is common and even necessary to use PoE managed switch for IP security cameras to ensure the safety of people and businesses.
In other words, without a PoE switch and at least a CAT6 Ethernet cable, the LiFiMax system will not work.
In our own case, we used some CAT6 cables and an 8 port Gigabit PoE switch when testing and using the LiFi system. N.B the Internet signal can be either slipt between the PoE ports, slightly reduced between the PoE ports or even be the same speed that you will normally get from your Internet router or modem. It depends on the type of PoE switch you have bought for home or office use.
CAT6 Ethernet Cable example
PoE Switch example - Credit to Mokerlink
Installation steps
STEP 1
Of course, the first thing you need to do is to make sure that your Internet router or modem is ON and that the Internet signal is working.
STEP 2
Then, connect one end of the CAT6 Ethernet cable to your Internet router or modem and the other end of the CAT6 Ethernet cable to one of the PoE switch ports. This will allow the PoE switch to receive the Internet signal from your Internet router or modem and distribute it into each of the PoE switch ports.
Modem with a CAT6 cable end on one port
The other CAT6 cable end on one of the PoE switch ports
STEP 3
Connect one end of the CAT6 Ethernet cable to another PoE switch port and the other end of the CAT6 Ethernet cable to the PoE port of the LiFiMax access point. This will allow the LiFiMax access point to receive power and data from the PoE switch at the same time. It usually takes 13 to 15s for the LiFi Max access point to switch ON. If you connect a CAT6 cable from the modem or router to the port of the LiFiMax access point, it will not switch ON.
LiFiMax access point
STEP 4
Connect the USB Type-A port to your computer system and the USB Type-C port to your LiFiMax USB dongle port. An Ethernet Network name should be displayed on the “Network & Internet Settings” section on your computer system. The name of the LiFi Ethernet network could come as either “Ethernet 2”, “Ethernet 3”, “Ethernet 4” or even as the name of your usual Internet network on your system. In one of many experiments and testings with the LiFiMax kit, the LiFi network name came up as Ethernet 3 before changing the name of the Ethernet network to the usual residential home Internet network name.
Finally depending on where you have placed the LiFiMax access point either through the room ceiling, holding it with your hand or even attached it to a lampstand, place the LiFi USB dongle in the coverage area of the LiFi access point.
The quality of the connection can be either of the followings:
Flashes Green: Good connection and Encryption activated. This also means the Ethernet connection is fine
Flashes Orange: Poor connection and Encryption not activated
Flashes Red: Very poor connection and Encryption not activated
LIFIMax KIT TESTING AND PERFORMANCE
We also did a series of tests by playing YouTube videos at different resolutions. We tested the performance of the LiFiMax kit when playing YouTube videos at 1080p, 2K, 4k and 8K resolutions respectively. Before that, we did a quick Internet speed test. The download rate was over 50 Mbps and the upload rate was over 20 Mbps. Download rate refers to how many megabits (Mbps) per second it takes your server to download data to your device. Upload rate refers to the time it takes for your connection to send data back to the speed test server. The speed test results depend on the Internet signal from the Internet service provider and the type of PoE switch device used.
Quick speed test when connecting to the LiFi Ethernet network at a home residence.
We proceeded to place the LiFi USB dongle in the coverage area of the LiFiMax access point. It usually takes between 3 and 7 seconds to be connected to the LiFi network. We then went on to play some YouTube videos at different resolutions via LiFi network connection. Below are some few performance results of the LiFiMax kit when playing the YouTube videos at different resolutions:
Playing at 1080p resolution
Throughout the play of the video, there was no buffering showing at 1080p resolution.
Playing at 2K resolution
There was no buffering showing at 2k resolution.
Playing at 4K resolution
During this test at 4k resolution, few episodes of buffering were showing near the 8 seconds of the video. It is usually recommended to have internet speeds of at least 100 Mbps to play videos at 4k resolution without any buffering.
Playing at 8K resolution
As expected during this test at 8k resolution, the video was struggling to play as there was a lot of buffering. This was expecting as the internet speed was not enough to videos at 8k resolution It is usually recommended to have internet speeds of over 500 Mbps and a computer with high video card and graphics card capabilities to play videos at 8k resolution without any buffering.
LIFIMax Ethernet Tethering
In contrast to other LiFi systems that we have tested and used, you can connect a smartphone or a tablet to the LiFiMax access point. You can do this by connecting a LiFi dongle to the USB Type-C charging port of your phone or tablet and activate the “Ethernet Tethering” feature on your Android device.
LIFIMax Kit - Our Verdict From LiFi Tech News
Overall, we are very satisfied with the general performance of the LiFiMax kit. We have highlighted some negative points and positive points about this LiFi kit.
Negative Points
1) This kit does not come with at least one CAT6 Ethernet cable. Some other LiFi kit systems such as the Trulifi kit do offer it.
2) The pieces of documentation that come with the package are too small to read. It will be great if Oledcomm can increase the size of the pieces of documentation for their LiFi kits.
3) The kit can be a bit pricey for some. However, in contrast to other LiFi systems, which prices can range from £1500 and £6000, the LiFiMax kit is more cost-effective.
Positive Points
1) The installation is truly a plug and play installation. No need of installing drivers or additional software for the LiFi dongles to work on your computer system. This is very convenient and user friendly from a client point of view.
2) This kit version is not bulky and heavy unlike some other LiFi systems such as the LiFi kits from pureLiFi. It is lightweight and easy to carry.
3) The customer support from Oledcomm has been nothing but outstanding from our experience. We really like their professionalism and LiFi passion to answer any question about their LiFi products and services.
4) Overall, the LiFiMax kit offer stable connection. The dongle does connect quickly to the Internet when placing it in the coverage area of the access point.
5) The kit adds an extra layer of security with its AES 128 encryption feature. This is very useful when dealing with sensitive data on any computer system.
LIFIMax - Upcoming Reviews Of Other Versions
We are aware and have been informed by Oledcomm that they have different versions of LiFi kits and other LiFi systems which can perform download rates ranging from 500 Mbps and 1 Gbps as well as some reaching up to 3 Gbps. We will review them soon. Don’t forget to follow on all our social media platforms and subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about LiFi technology news.
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
In conclusion, if you are also interested to hear more information about the OWNII Coin or enquire about LiFi devices such as the LiFiMax and Trulifi, 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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