(Sample Material) Study Kit on Current Affairs for UPSC Mains Exam: Science and Technology: Li-Fi

(Sample Material) Study Kit on Current Affairs for UPSC Mains Examination

Light-Fidelity is a new technology that uses light waves, instead of radio frequency waves, as a medium to carry data. An improvised LED bulb, functions as a router. It can provide internet access 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.
An ordinary off-the-shelf LED bulb connected to a device, which in turn is connected to the Internet.
The Internet data flows in via the device’ into the bulb, and is carried by light waves.
At the other end, light waves carrying the Internet data falls on a receiver or a dongle which is connected to the computer.
‘The technology uses the frequencies’ generated by LED bulbs which flicker on and off imperceptibly thousands of times a second to beam information through the air, leading it to be dubbed the “digital equivalent of Morse Code”.

Visible light spectrum lsavailable in plenty, unlicensed and’ free to use
Double benefit of a bulb giving us light as well as internet access
Low interference leads to very high data speed
Li-Fi works under water as well
Not harmful, unlike RF that can· interfere with electronic circuitry
Light won’t pass through walls, making eavesdropping nearly impossible
LED illumination is already efficient and data transmission needs very little additional power.
It can achieve about 1,000 times data density of Wi-Fi, since light can be contained in an area