Light bulbs to connect to the internet? Researchers want to use LEDs as routers

Nowadays, WiFi has become an indispensable thing in our lives. We use it for reading, entertainment, work, etc. The magical radio waves carry data and shuttle between devices and wireless routers . However, wireless network signals are not everywhere. Sometimes users in complex environments, large apartments or villas often need to deploy wireless extenders to increase the coverage of wireless signals. Electric lights are everywhere in indoor environments. Wouldn’t it be better if we could transmit wireless network signals through the light bulbs of electric lights?

Professor Maite Brandt Pearce of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Virginia is conducting an experiment to use LEDs to send wireless signals, which is faster than the current standard network connection speed. The researchers named this project "LiFi". Sending wireless data through LED bulbs does not use any additional energy. Now more and more lamps have been replaced with LED lamps. In the future, LED bulbs distributed in different locations in the home can be connected to wireless networks to conduct Internet activities.

However, Professor Maite Brandt Pearce pointed out that you should not abandon your wireless router at home . LED bulbs transmit wireless network signals, which cannot replace WiFi, but are only an auxiliary means to expand the wireless network. In this way, any place where a bulb can be installed in the environment can become a WiFi access point, and the LiFi connection method is very safe. At present, some companies have begun to conduct experiments based on LiFi technology to connect to the Internet through the light waves of desk lamps.

Sending wireless signals through LED bulbs is just one technology that has a significant impact on the Internet of Things. By connecting to the wireless network provided by the bulb, the coffee machine, refrigerator, water heater, etc. in the home can be connected to the network. In the future, we will not need to expand the wireless network provided by the wireless router to each room in the home and connect the appliances to it. The more convenient LiFi technology really makes us use the wireless network at home without dead spots, which is very worth looking forward to!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.