ABSTRACT

Whether you’re using wireless internet in a coffee shop, stealing

it from the guy next door, or competing for bandwidth at a
conference, you’ve probably gotten frustrated at the slow speeds
you face when more than one device is tapped into the network.
As more and more people and their many devices access wireless
internet, clogged airwaves are going to make it increasingly
difficult to latch onto a reliable signal. But radio waves are
just one part of the spectrum that can carry our data. What if we
could use other waves to surf the internet?

One German physicist,DR. Harald Haas, has come up with a solution

he calls “Data Through Illumination”—taking the fiber out of
fiber optics by sending data through an LED light bulb that varies
in intensity faster than the human eye can follow. It’s the same
idea behind infrared remote controls, but far more powerful. Haas
says his invention, which he calls D-Light, can produce data rates
faster than 10 megabits per second, which is speedier than
your average broadband connection. He envisions a future where
data for laptops, smartphones, and tablets is transmitted through
the light in a room. And security would be a snap—if you can’t
see the light, you can’t access the data.
 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO LI-FI
4

2. GENESIS OF LI-FI
6

3. HOW LI-FI WORKS

7

4. WHY LI-FI?
10
 4.1 PRESENT SCENARIO IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION 10
4.2 ISSUES WITH WI-FI USING RADIO WAVES
10
4.3 ALTERNATIVES TO RADIO WAVES IN EM SPECTRUM
11

5. LIGHT FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

13

6. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF LI-FI

14
7. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LI-FI 15

8. FUTURE
16

9. CONCLUSION 17

10. REFERENCES
18
INTRODUCTION TO LI-FI

WHAT IS LI-FI?

Li-Fi is a VLC, visible light communication, technology developed

by a team of scientists including Dr Gordon Povey, Prof. Harald
Haas and Dr Mostafa Afgani at the University of Edinburgh. The
term Li-Fi was coined by Prof. Haas when he amazed people by
streaming high-definition video from a standard LED lamp, at TED
Global in July 2011. Li-Fi is now part of the Visible Light
Communications (VLC) PAN IEEE 802.15.7 standard.

“Li-Fi is typically implemented using white LED light bulbs. These devices
are normally used for illumination by applying a constant current through the
LED. However, by fast and subtle variations of the current, the optical output
can be made to vary at extremely high speeds. Unseen by the human eye, this
variation is used to carry high-speed data,”
says Dr Povey, , Product Manager of the University of Edinburgh's
Li-Fi Program ‘D-Light Project’.

In simple terms, Li-Fi can be thought of as a light-based Wi-Fi.

That is, it uses light instead of radio waves to transmit
information. And instead of Wi-Fi modems, Li-Fi would use
transceiver-fitted LED lamps that can light a room as well as
transmit and receive information. Since simple light bulbs are
used, there can technically be any number of access points.
This technology uses a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that
is still not greatly utilized- The Visible Spectrum. Light is in
fact very much part of our lives for millions and millions of
years and does not have any major ill effect. Moreover there is
10,000 times more space available in this spectrum and just
counting on the bulbs in use, it also multiplies to 10,000 times
more availability as an infrastructure, globally.

It is possible to encode data in the light by varying the rate at

which the LEDs flicker on and off to give different strings of 1s
and 0s. The LED intensity is modulated so rapidly that human eyes
cannot notice, so the output appears constant.

More sophisticated techniques could dramatically increase VLC

data rates. Teams at the University of Oxford and the
University of Edinburgh are focusing on parallel data
transmission using arrays of LEDs, where each LED transmits a
different data stream. Other groups are using mixtures of red,
green and blue LEDs to alter the light's frequency, with each
frequency encoding a different data channel.
Li-Fi, as it has been dubbed, has already achieved blisteringly
high speeds in the lab. Researchers at the Heinrich Hertz
Institute in Berlin, Germany, have reached data rates of over
500 megabytes per second using a standard white-light LED. Haas
has set up a spin-off firm to sell a consumer VLC transmitter
that is due for launch next year. It is capable of transmitting
data at 100 MB/s - faster than most UK broadband connections.
GENESIS OF LI-FI

fig. 2.1 DR. Harald Hass, at TED Talks July 2011

Harald Haas, a professor at the University of Edinburgh who began

his research in the field in 2004, gave a debut demonstration of
what he called a Li-Fi prototype at the TEDGlobal conference in
Edinburgh on 12th July 2011. He used a table lamp with an LED bulb
to transmit a video of blooming flowers that was then projected
onto a screen behind him. During the event he periodically blocked
the light from lamp to prove that the lamp was indeed the source
of incoming data.
At TEDGlobal, Haas demonstrated a data rate of transmission of
around 10Mbps -- comparable to a fairly good UK broadband
connection. Two months later he achieved 123Mbps.

HOW LI-FI WORKS?

Fig. 3.1 Data transfer using Li-Fi.

Li-Fi is typically implemented using white LED light bulbs at the

downlink transmitter. These devices are normally used for
illumination only by applying a constant current. However, by
fast and subtle variations of the current, the optical output can
be made to vary at extremely high speeds.

This very property of optical current is used in Li-Fi setup. The

operational procedure is very simple-, if the LED is on, you
transmit a digital 1, if it’s off you transmit a 0. The LEDs can
be switched on and off very quickly, which gives nice
opportunities for transmitting data. Hence all that is required is
some LEDs and a controller that code data into those LEDs. All
one has to do is to vary the rate at which the LED’s flicker
depending upon the data we want to encode.

Further enhancements can be made in this method, like using an

array of LEDs for parallel data transmission, or using mixtures of
red, green and blue LEDs to alter the light’s frequency with each
frequency encoding a different data channel. Such advancements
promise a theoretical speed of 10 Gbps – meaning one can download
a full high-definition film in just 30 seconds.
Fig. 3.2 An artistic future vision of Li-Fi system at work.

To further get a grasp of Li-Fi consider an IR remote.(fig 3.3).

It sends a single data stream of bits at the rate of 10,000-20,000
bps.

Now replace the IR LED with a Light Box containing a large LED
array. This system, fig 3.4, is capable of sending thousands of
such streams at very fast rate.
Fig 3.3 , Data stream from an IR remote control.

Fig 3.4 , Data streams of a typical Li-Fi system

WHY LI-FI?

PRESENT SCENARIO IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 There are 1.4 million cellular radio masts deployed worldwide.

  There are more than five billion wi-fi devices present.

 With all these devices, we transmit more than 600 terabytes

of data every month.

Wireless communications has become a utility like electricity and

water. We use it every day. We use it in our everyday lives now --
in our private lives, in our business lives. And we even have to
be asked sometimes, very kindly, to switch off the mobile phone at
events like this for good reasons. And , therefore , it is very
important to look into the issues that this technology has,
because it's so fundamental to our lives.

ISSUES WITH WI-FI USING RADIO WAVES

There are four issues with the current wi-fi scenario , which
are :-

1. CAPACITY

 We transmit wireless data is by using electromagnetic waves

-- in particular, radio waves.
  Radio waves are scarce, expensive and we only have a
certain range of it.

 Due to this limitation one can’t forever hope to cope with

the demand of wireless data transmissions and the number of
bytes and data which are transmitted every month.

2. EFFICIENCY

 There are 1.4 million cellular radio masts deployed

worldwide.

 Most of the energy consumed, is not used to transmit the

radio waves, but is used to cool the base stations.

 The efficiency of such a base station is only at about five

percent.

3. HEALTH ISSUES

 There are potential health issues associated with radio

waves.
  Consequently we have to switch off devices like cell-phones
in places like hospitals.

4. SECURITY

 The radio waves penetrate through walls.

 They can be intercepted, and somebody can make use of

one’s network.

ALTERNATIVES TO RADIO WAVES IN EM SPECTRUM

The issues concerning radio waves begs a close inspection at EM

Spectrum for some alternative. The EM Spectrum is as given
below :-

Fig. 4.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

  Gamma Rays can’t be used as they could be dangerous.

 X-Rays have similar health issues.

 Ultraviolet Light is good for a nice suntan, but otherwise

dangerous for the human body.

 Infrared , due to eye safety regulations, can only be used

with low power.

Hence we are left with only the Visible Light Spectrum.

LIGHT FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Light is inherently safe and can be used in places where radio

frequency communication is often deemed problematic, such as in
aircraft cabins or hospitals. So visible light communication not
only has the potential to solve the problem of lack of spectrum
space, but can also enable novel application. The visible light
spectrum is unused, it's not regulated, and can be used for
communication at very high speeds.
HOW LI-FI OVERCOMES ISSUES ATTACHED WITH RADIO
WAVES :-

1. CAPACITY

 We have 10,000 times more spectrum in visible light region

than in the radio waves region.
 Therefore we have 10,000 times more channels to transmit
data.

2. EFFICIENCY

 LED consumes very little power therefore the data

transmission is very efficient.

3. SAFETY

 Visible light poses no health issues.

4. SECURITY

 Light Waves doesn’t penetrate through walls.

 Therefore they can’t be intercepted easily.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF LI-FI

Li-Fi technology is still in it’s infancy. However some areas

where it seems perfectly applicable are :-

1. TRAFFIC LIGHTS

 Traffic lights can communicate to the car and with each

other.

 Cars have LED-based headlights, LED-based back lights, and

cars can communicate with each other and prevent accidents
in by exchanging information.

2. INTRINSICALLY SAFE ENVIRONMENTS

  Visible Light is more safe than RF, hence it can be used in
places where RF can’t be used such as petrochemical plants,
airplanes etc.

3. PUBLIC INTERNET HOTSPOTS

 There are millions of street lamps deployed around the

world.

 Each of these street lamps could be a free access point.

4. ON OCEAN BEDS

 Li-Fi can even work underwater where Wi-Fi fails completely,

thereby throwing open endless opportunities for
military/navigation operations.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVATAGES OF LI-FI

ADVANTAGES

1. SUPERIORITY OVER RF WAVES

As was demonstrated earlier, the visible light has

considerable edge over RF waves in many fields.

2. LITTLE INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS

There are an estimated 14 billion bulbs in the world today.

Since Li-Fi can operate
on conventional LEDs infrastructure is pretty much present
already.

3. SIMPLE SYSTEM STRUCTURE

A typical Li-Fi system consists of an LED array, a

photoreciever , a de/modulator pair.

DISADVANTAGES
The biggest disadvantage is that it needs direct line of sight to
transmit data, so one wouldn't be able to have a single router in
his/her house and the data goes through walls etc..

FUTURE

In 2009, the US Federal Communications Commission warned of a

looming spectrum crisis: because our mobile devices are so data-
hungry we will soon run out of radio-frequency bandwidth. Li-Fi
could free up bandwidth, especially as much of the infrastructure
is already in place.

The solution might be Li-Fi. Direct modulation of LED devices is a

low cost, secure, and safe way to transmit data, and there is an
abundance of free visible light spectrum. High intensity LEDs
used in light bulbs, flash lights and cameras can transmit very
high data rates, faster than Wi-Fi.

And the technique looks good not only on paper. At Heinrich Hertz
Institute in Berlin, Germany researchers have achieved a data rate
of 500 megabytes per second using a standard white LED. This
year’s,2012, Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas demonstrated
VLC in full vigour when a pair of Casio smartphones exchanged data
using light of varying intensity given off from their screens. In
October, 2011 a number of companies and industry groups formed the
Li-Fi Consortium to work towards and promote Light Fidelity (Li-Fi)
in order to overcome the rapidly diminishing bandwidth for
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi).

However everyone is not so optimistic. Dr Suresh Borkar , a trend-

watcher, consultant and communications expert who teaches at the
Illinois Institute of Technology, opines that at the current stage
of maturity, Li-Fi usage will be limited to in-house and proximity
applications. The use of very high frequency (400-800 THz) limits
it to very short distances and more of point-to-point
communications.
Li-Fi, according to Dr Borkar, is still in the experimental
laboratory stage. Standards have to be defined and devices
identified and made available along with the infrastructure and
related entities before it can be used widely. Some limited
prototypefriendly deployments have taken place in the last year or
so but the availability of receiving devices that require arrays
of photodiodes is still limited.
CONCLUSION

The fact that Li-Fi is being considered as one of the IEEE 802.xx
standards bodes well for its potential success. Like other 802.xx
standards, it is defined only at layers 1 and 2 (physical and
media access control (MAC) layers) of the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) model. Layer 3 and higher layers need to be
designed using the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) packet
transport standards.

Li-Fi is certainly not useless, but it has certain inherent limits

for the technology. LiFi may not be able to replace conventional
radios altogether, but it could turbocharge the development of
wireless television and make it easier to throw a wireless signal
across an entire house. At present, finding the ideal position for
a wireless router is something of a divine art. If the signal
could be passed via VLC from Point A to Point B inside a home,
small local routers at both points could create local fields with
less chance of overlapping and interfering with each other. Large
scale areas that are saturated with radio signals or that don’t
permit them for security reasons could use LiFi as an alternate
high-speed wireless network solution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCES

[1] Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks
(WPANs)

Submission Title: [Visible Light Communication : Tutorial]

Date Submitted: [9 March 2008]

Source: [(1)Eun Tae Won, Dongjae Shin, D.K. Jung, Y.J. Oh, Taehan Bae, Hyuk-
Choon Kwon, Chihong

Cho, Jaeseung Son, (2) Dominic O’Brien (3)Tae-Gyu Kang (4) Tom Matsumura]
Company [(1)Samsung

Electronics Co.,LTD, (2)University of Oxford, (3)ETRI (4) VLCC (28 Members)]

[2] Design and Implementation of an Ethernet-VLC Interface for Broadcast

Transmissions
Thispaper appears in: Communications Letters, IEEE
Date of Publication: December 2010
Author(s): Delgado, F.
Dept. de Ingeniera Telematica, Univ. de Las Palmas de Gran Canada, Las Palmas
de Gran, Spain
Quintana, I. ; Rufo, J. ; Rabadan, J.A. ; Quintana, C. ; Perez-Jimenez,
R.

Websites

http://www.ed.ac.uk

http://www.visiblelightcomm.com

http://new.electronicsforu.com

http://blog.ted.com

http://www.newscientist.com

http://purevlc.com