Li-Fi – A STUDY AND ITS APPLICATION

A PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED IN COMPLETE FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE
OF
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(IT)
SUBMITTED BY:

Aryan Mittal
(2K20/B10/07)
Dhruv Khera
(2K20/B10/18)
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF:

Dr. Vinod Kumar

Dr. Bharti Singh

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(IT)
DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(FORMERLY DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)
BAWANA ROAD, DELHI – 110042
JULY 2021

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 DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(FORMERLY DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)
BAWANA ROAD, DELHI – 110042

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION

We, ARYAN MITTAL (2K20/B10/07) and DHRUV KHERA(2K20/B10/18)) students of

Bachelor of Technology (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(IT)) hereby declare that the

dissertation titled “Li-Fi – A Study and its Applications” which is submitted by us to the

Department of Applied Physics, Delhi Technological University, Delhi in partial fulfilment

of the requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology, is original and is

not copied from any source without proper citation. This work has not previously formed the

basis of any award of any degree, diploma associateship, fellowship or any other similar title

or recognition.

Place: Delhi ARYAN MITTAL (2K20/B10/07)

Date: 13.07.21 DHRUV KHERA (2K20/B10/18)

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 DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(FORMERLY DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)
BAWANA ROAD, DELHI – 110042

CERTIFICATE

I, hereby certify that the project dissertation named “Li-Fi – A Study and its Applications”,

which is submitted by ARYAN MITTAL (2K20/B10/07) and DHRUV

KHERA(2K20/B10/18)) students of Bachelor of Technology (INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY(IT)), Delhi Technological University, Delhi in complete fulfilment of the

requirement for the award of the degree of the Bachelor of Technology, is a record of the

project work carried out by the students under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge,

this work has not been submitted in part or full for any degree or diploma to this University

or elsewhere.

Place: Delhi

Date: 13/07/21

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 DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(FORMERLY DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)
BAWANA ROAD, DELHI – 110042

ABSTRACT

This report is a study on the basis of the significance of Light Fidelity (Li-Fi), its modern

application and a study of famous papers published by The University of Edinburgh with

regards to Visible Light Communication (VLC) and Li-Fi. This report encapsulates the

essence of Li-Fi as a technology, its uses, applications, advantages over the existing

technology Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Li-Fi’s limitations and disadvantages. In the latter

part of this report famous papers regarding Li-Fi’s application and latest developments in the

field of Li-Fi and VLC published by the University of Edinburgh have been studied and

analysed. The papers have been influenced by Prof. Harald Hass, who is the father of Li-Fi.

The papers have also proposed a hybrid Li-Fi/Wi-Fi system which aims to take the best of

both the technologies and develop a technology that is faster, safer and more reliable than

either one of the technologies on its own. Besides we have studied the modern development

in the field of Li-Fi that is communication through Gallium Nitride (GaN) violet micro-LED

(Light Emitting Diode) which aims to implement speeds as fast as 10 Gb/s (Gigabits per

second) using Li-Fi.

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 DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(FORMERLY DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)
BAWANA ROAD, DELHI – 110042

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In performing our major project, we had to take the help and guidance of some respected

people, who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this assignment gives us much

pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude towards Dr. VINOD KUMAR, our mentor

for the project, who gave us a good guideline for the report throughout through numerous

consultations. We would also like to extend our deepest gratitude towards everyone who have

directly and indirectly helped us to complete our project.

Many people, especially Dr. BHARTI SINGH , our classmates, and team members

themselves have made valuable comments and suggestions on this proposal which gave us an

inspiration to improve our project. We thank all the people for their help directly and

indirectly to complete our assignment.

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 CONTENTS

Title page (i)

Candidate’s Declaration (ii)

Certificate (iii)

Abstract (iv)

Acknowledgement (v)

Contents (vi)

Introduction to Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) (1)

Working of the Technology (2)

Uses and Applications of Li-Fi (3)

Advantages of Li-Fi over Wi-Fi (4)

Disadvantages of Li-Fi (5)

Study of “What is Li-Fi” (6)

Combining the Best of Both Worlds (8)

New ways to achieve high speed (9)

Situation in todays world What we will see in upcoming future (10)

Summary and Conclusion (11)

References and bibliography (12)

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 Introduction

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi)

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) is a wireless communication technology that uses light (electrical wave)

to transmit data. The term was first introduced by Professor Harald Hass during the 2011

TEDGlobal Talk talk in Edinburgh.

In terms of technology, Li-Fi is a light communication system capable of transmitting data at

high speeds with visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared spectrum. In its current form, only

LED lights can be used to transmit visible light.

In terms of its ultimate use, the technology is similar to Wi-Fi - an important technological

difference is that Wi-Fi uses radio frequency to enable power in the antenna to transmit data,

while Li-Fi uses the light switch to transmit data. Li-Fi can be theoretically transmitted at

speeds of up to 100 Gbit / s. Li-Fi's ability to work safely in areas that may be affected by

electricity (e.g., airports, hospitals, military) is advantageous. Technology is being developed

by several organizations around the world.

PureLiFi showcased the first commercially available Li-Fi program, Li-1, at the 2014 Mobile

World Congress in Barcelona.

Fig 1: Li-Fi Modules

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 Working of the Technology

Li-Fi is based on the wireless technology (OWC) technology, which uses light
from diode emitting diodes (LEDs) as a medium to deliver a network, a cell
phone, communicating at the same speed as Wi-Fi.
Visible Light Communication (VLC) works by turning off the current in LEDs
and progressing at very high speeds, and very fast detection by the human eye,
therefore, does not produce anything shiny. Although Li-Fi LEDs will need to
be stored to transmit data, they can be blurred under human visibility while
emitting enough light to handle data. Light waves cannot penetrate walls that
translate into very short distances, as well as low hacking power, in relation to
Wi-Fi. Direct eye-tracking is not required for Li-Fi signal transmission; the light
displayed outside the walls can reach 70 Mb / s.
Both Wi-Fi and Li-Fi transmit data over the electrical spectrum, but while Wi-
Fi uses radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared. Since Wi-
Fi only works on radio waves it has a shorter spectrum compared to Li-fi. Li-Fi
spectrum limit is almost 10000 times higher than Wi-Fi.

Fig 2: A simple representation of Li-Fi architecture

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 USES AND APPLICATIONS OF LI-FI

Although Li-Fi is still a development technology, it has found many applications and
applications in the field of communication. Some of these are discussed below:
• Oil refineries and petrol stations: Li-Fi can easily switch to Radio Frequency-based
communications where radiation from the antenna can cause sparks, and explosion at oil
refineries and petrol stations. Li-Fi does not rely on electromagnetic wave transmission but
rather only the automatic flash of light.

• Hospitals, companies and protected areas: Li-Fi signs cannot penetrate wall and other
physical issues and can make the server a reliable, unbreakable means of communication
where data security is paramount such as hospitals, companies and government agencies
intelligence agencies and armed forces.

• Traffic Control Systems: There have been many suggestions for installing Li-Fi signals on
car headlights and receivers on car bumpers that can help prevent nearby lumps and act as a
brake system for private cars.

• Converted lights can serve as hot spots: Traditional lights and other light sources can be
easily converted to serve as Li-Fi hotspots by simply placing an emitter module on the street
and this technology can be used to provide faster internet connectivity in crowded places such
as supermarkets, public areas and monuments, etc.

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 Advantages of Li-Fi over Wi-Fi

Until 2012, the entire wireless data transfer system such as Wi-Fi faced 4 challenges of
becoming a complete wireless network:

• Data Security: With wireless communication taking over, sensitive data is less secure than
before. There has been an emphasis on cyber security and data protection for years now. Li-
Fi here has the great advantage of the fact that the Li-Fi signal cannot penetrate through walls
and other physical barriers making it very difficult to enter or touch.

• Energy: The US Federal Communications Commission has warned of potential spectrum

dangers because Wi-Fi is almost completely accessible, but Li-Fi has almost no power limit.
The visible light spectrum is almost 10000 times wider than the radio frequency radio.

• Efficiency: The power stations used to produce and transmit radio waves are so inefficient
that only 5% of the total energy supply is converted into actual radio waves. Therefore, more
power is needed to cool the sub-channel to transmit data. On the other hand, only the energy
used to illuminate the light source is needed for communication.

• Fast Speed: Li-Fi at its full potential is expected to produce faster speeds (up to 100Gb / s)
much faster than Wi-Fi. Modern developments of Li-Fi such as GaN have produced speeds
close to 10Gb / s and laser-based Li-Fi should increase these speeds even higher.

• Key benefits: Improved wireless infrastructure by providing an extra layer of tiny cells to
completely eliminate health concerns

Disadvantages of Li-Fi

However, Li-Fi is not the solution to all the problems in wireless communication and

comes with its equitable share of issues and disadvantages:

• Distance: One of the major areas where Li-Fi lags behind Wi-Fi is the signal

transmission distance. Li-Fi signals cannot penetrate walls and other physical barriers and

without obstacles the signals cannot pass long distances. The Li-Fi range is 10m

compared to the traditional Wi-Fi range 32m.

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 • High input costs: Although Li-Fi connection once installed is cheaper than Wi-Fi but

Li-Fi installation costs are more expensive than Li-Fi. This can cause problems with large

Li-Fi conversions.

• Delays: One would expect the fast internet to also mean lower delays using Li-Fi, but

that is not the case. Li-Fi has almost the same latency as Wi-Fi, which is why faster data

transfers may not interfere with video conferencing, playback games and other

application areas plagued by latency issues.

• Direct exposure to light at high speed: Although Li-Fi is a technology that does not

require LOS (Line of Sight), the speed of light connection to the light displayed on the

walls is detrimental as the power is greatly reduced. Therefore to achieve the high speed

associated with Li-Fi, there needs to be direct exposure to the bright Li-Fi signal.

• Energy supply: Although less energy intensive, in order to have internet-enabled

internet resources, the lights need to be kept on day and night. Since the internet is a need of

the hour, this will waste more energy than any other internet system.

Fig 3: Image representing the difference in range of Wi-Fi and Li-Fi

Study of “What is Li-Fi?”

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We read the famous paper “What is Li-Fi?” with contributions from Prof. Harald Hass, Liang

Yin, Yunlu Wen and Cheng Chen. Here are our similar interpretations and analyzes:

• Prof. Hass wanted to improve these technologies because of the problem of radio wave

limitations and their low performance in communication production.

• This paper shows that using a single LED can produce speeds of up to 3Gb / s and further

research and development can improve these speeds up to 100Gb / s.

• It starts with the distinction between VLC and Li-Fi by stating that VLC is a point-to-point

communication system instead of a cable where Li-Fi is a whole wireless communication

system that points to multi-channel communication and multi-point communication.

• In addition, there are discussions of voice modification techniques that can be used to

measure signals and transmit wireless. Like radio waves, light is also an electromagnetic

wave so similar alternatives such as Single-Carrier Modulation (SCM), Multi-Carrier

Modulation (MCM) can be used. In addition, there are discussions about Li-Fi Specific

Modulations that can be used for data transmission and lighting as lighting fixtures can be

produced by mixing multiple LEDs.

• This paper goes on to discuss the various Li-Fi features needed to integrate it with 5G and

IoT. The author believes the key to Li-Fi commercial adaptation is the availability of low

cost, low power and miniaturized transmitter and receiver chips. A diagram of the transfer

and receiving chips is shown below

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 Fig 4: A Li-Fi transmitter chip (left) and a Li-Fi receiver chip (right)

• This paper also talks about the availability of more users on Li-Fi but that is beyond the

comprehension and scope of the project.

• In addition, this paper studies the modeling of Li-Fi networks and it is thought that the

placement of access points (APs) may affect performance. This paper studies the effect of

the placement of APs on four different systems such as models developed in RF connections

because the main objectives for efficiency are the same for both. Four adjustments are

shown below.

 All the four configurations have their advantages and disadvantages like (a) is better

for signal transmission while (c) is better for illumination and more practical.

 After this hybrid Li-Fi/Wi-Fi systems were studied which has been discussed below.

LIFI /WIFI NETWORK

Combining the best of both worlds

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Throughout the report, it has been shown that both Li-Fi and Wi-Fi have both advantages and
disadvantages. Li-Fi cannot replace Wi-Fi as the only wireless communication technology and it is
undeniable that Li-Fi has its much-needed benefits in this technologically advanced world. So there
seems to be a middle ground and that's where Hybrid Li-Fi / Wi-Fi Networks is starting to work.

• To provide users with high quality service (QoS), Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) overlay can be installed
on the Li-Fi system.

• Since there is no scattered spectra on Wi-Fi and Li-Fi, no interruptions can be detected and both
can work well.

• Considering the hybrid system, users in all areas can benefit from the system because the Wi-Fi
system benefits from reduced friction and loss of spectrum efficiency, as well as RF spectrum relief
due to reduced light light spectrum, while Li-Benefits of location availability dead.

Fig 6: Illustrates a hybrid system which has 4 Li-Fi and 1 Wi-Fi

 As it can be observed from the above illustration the users (in pink) which are away

from the centre are using Wi-Fi as the Li-Fi signal weakens at that range.

New ways to achieve high speed

The University of Edinburgh has made great strides in studying Li-Fi using a new type of

micro-LED design that seems to be truly promising to produce network speeds of up to 11.95

Gb / s when operated at a reduced noise level and record 7.91 Gb / s in the state-of-the-art

system. real where all audio sources are present.

• The standard LED used in Li-Fi testing was replaced by Gallium Nitride (GaN) based on

inorganic Light Emitting Diode (LED) which appeared to produce amazing results.

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 Fig 7: Experimental Setup for GaN based Li-Fi system
 It was observed that this type of micro-LED setup had a faster transmission than that

of the traditional LED which in turn opens up a new avenue for micro-LEDs in Li-Fi

communication. A record of 7.91Gb/s with all types of noise considered was

observed which has setup a new boundary for the wireless communication field.

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 Situation in todays world

 An estimate has been made that Li-Fi may be available for public use in 2022 by

“lifi.co”.

 “pureLiFi” – A company founded by Prof. Harald Hass is working tirelessly to make

Li-Fi a reality.

 A grocery store in France is currently using Li-Fi to track the locations of their

customers throughout the store and is then able to offer coupons and incentives.

Large mobile companies, such as Apple, are also starting to suggest that their future

devices will be Li-Fi capable.

What we will see in upcoming future

 As light is available almost everywhere, the possibilities with Li-Fi are endless.

 With the upcoming shortage of bandwidth for radio frequency communication and

the ever-increasing need for a means of communication, Li-Fi seems to be a very

promising candidate.

 The shorter range and requirement of a light source are some of the challenges that

are being faced by this technology, it will be interesting to find the workaround for

these shortcomings.

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 Summary and Conclusion

 All things considered, Li-Fi does seem to be a promising technology with endless

applications. However, we are still far away from unlocking its full potential.

 Li-Fi with all its advantages and disadvantages does not seem to be a be a viable

replacement for Wi-Fi, rather it should be seen as a close companion to the

technology.

 Hybrid systems that have both Li-Fi and Wi-Fi elements seem to be the near future of

wireless communication.

 Li-Fi can be seen as a really fitting substitute for Wi-Fi in places where use of Wi-Fi

is restricted like in hospitals, aircraft communication and chemical factories which

produce volatile substances.

 The presence of light almost everywhere presents it as a viable source to makes Li-Fi

a technology that can make global connectivity – a reality.

 The cost and energy efficiency of Li-Fi makes it a technology viable both monetarily

as well as having low impact on the environment.

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 References and Bibliography

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi

 https://lifi.co/

 https://purelifi.com/

 https://www.lifi.eng.ed.ac.uk/

 Research Papers-

o http://www.homepages.ed.ac.uk/hxh/Li-

Fi_PAPERS/what_is_LiFi_invited_jlt_ecoc15.pdf

o http://www.homepages.ed.ac.uk/hxh/Li-Fi_PAPERS/17_pr_islim.pdf

 https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper/A-Study-on-LiFi-Light-Fidelity-Technology.pdf

 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/325/1/012013/pdf

 https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_haas_wireless_data_from_every_light_bulb?

language=en

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