CONNECTIVITY
By Eddie Brady, Business
Development Manager, Comtec
www.comtecdirect.co.uk
The opportunities presented by Li-Fi
technology are huge for network
cabling contractors, but what is it
and what could it do for you?
In the coming years, wireless is set to be an essential part of
any business’ connectivity strategy. With technology getting
faster all the time and cellular advances such as 5G set to
transform the way people think about connecting, fast and
efficient solutions will be vital to success.
This will present challenges for businesses in the future
relying on traditional Wi-Fi solutions. As Wireless networks
become increasingly congested, with more devices competing
for bandwidth, this could stretch the limitations of Radio
Electromagnetic Spectrum and lead to slower speeds and lost
productivity for users. However, there’s an emerging solution
that could solve these problems; visible light communications
using light frequency, known as Li-Fi. But what exactly is this
technology, and how could it help transform the future of
connectivity?
Li-Fi explained
Traditional Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit data through
the air, but Li-Fi, or Light Fidelity, as the name suggests,
instead uses the visible light spectrum to transmit data.
This means that instead of wireless access points placed
strategically around a building to provide the best coverage,
Li-Fi is built directly into an LED lighting system. As this form
of lighting is now the primary choice for installations in new
and refurbished buildings, it makes sense to harness these
utilities for more reliable connectivity.
The technology has been in development for several years
and is now nearing a stage where commercial deployments
are a practical reality. The UK is one of the world leaders in Li-
Fi technology, with several UK firms and universities, such as
the University of Edinburgh, helping to spearhead the rollout
of these solutions.
more practical. However, this is still up to 40 times faster than
what is typically available with standard Wi-Fi.
The greater bandwidth capabilities of Li-Fi could also be
hugely useful in future environments where wireless IoT
networks are operating alongside the next generation of
smartphones, tablets and laptops. As the number of devices
looking to simultaneously connect to a network grows,
managing these demands with traditional Wi-Fi is likely to
prove highly challenging.
While 5G is set to make mobile coverage much faster and
is likely to offer a speed boost over existing Wi-Fi solutions,
getting the best speeds indoors is likely to be difficult. This is
because it’s harder for the high-frequency, short-wavelength
radio spectrum used for 5G to penetrate walls and windows
as well as 4G radio signals. Li-Fi could, therefore, be the ideal
solution to offer the fastest possible connectivity everywhere
within a building in an era where end users are coming to
expect lightning-fast data transfer speeds wherever they are.
Smart lighting
Smart lighting is a way of providing low voltage power
and Ethernet (PaE) LED lighting. Using centralised drivers
remotely powering LED fixtures and designed for installation
in server or maintenance rooms up to 100m from the
luminaires, allows easy access for installation, commissioning
and routine maintenance. This reduces downtime and
the costly, maintenance headache for buildings in which
luminaires are external, or installed in high and difficult to
access areas, such as factories, atriums, stairwells, hospitals,
theatres and cinemas, etc.
Advantages include a typical 50,000-hour lifespan for
the luminaires and centralised LED drivers that reduce
maintenance costs. Also, the reduction in the amount of
energy used for lighting can directly impact the reduction
The key benefits
One of Li-Fi’s biggest advantages over Wi-Fi is the speed it
can offer. Lab tests have suggested that theoretically, the
technology could provide speeds of up to 224Gbps, though
in commercial usage speeds between 1Gbps and 8Gbps are
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