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I remember hearing about Lifi [1] years ago and thinking we would see it everywhere but this has not been the case. I wonder what has held it back. Like this s
by 14 5y ago
I remember hearing about Lifi [1] years ago and thinking we would see it everywhere but this has not been the case. I wonder what has held it back.
Like this super computer Lifi promised unmatched speeds that wifi can not do. Very neat to see the field is still advancing.
[1] https://lifi.co/lifi-vs-wifi/ https://lifi.co/lifi-vs-wifi/
- tomlue 5y agothere was a ted talk [1] that made me think lifi would be take off much faster than it has. [1]https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_haas_wireless_data_from_every_light_bulb https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_haas_wireless_data_from_eve...
- crate_barre 5y agoHow could LiFi be truly wireless if anything can obstruct the path of light? How’s my phone in my pocket going to get connection?
- dmm 5y agoWhy restrict yourself to visible light? There are frequencies of em waves that would easily penetrate your jeans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray
- Denvercoder9 5y agoUsually we go to the lower-energy, longer-wavelength part of the spectrum for applications like this, since gamma rays and the high-energy, short-wavelength part of the spectrum is very hard to control and gives you cancer.
- causality0 5y agoKeeping a multi-watt transmitter of ionizing radiation in your pocket is a very bad idea.
- ben_w 5y agoOr indeed a single-milliwatt transmitter, if it’s in your pocket for more than an hour or so per lifetime.
- causality0 5y agoI see this "cell phones will use x-rays and gamma rays in the future" claim often enough that I wish an expert in the field would write an article on just how bad the effects would be.
- croes 5y agoIsn't the use of visible light the whole point LiFi?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- 14 5y agothere are many use cases that don’t require you to be connected 24/7. You could while driving under a street light download a movie in seconds. Then go on your way loading your cars infotainment with maps and several movies for your kids in the back or whatever. I haven’t looked into the tech in years but the promised of faster downloads and a city wide array of street lights made it seem like the future.
- zbrozek 5y agoAperture fouling (dirt / grime) seems like it would make such a service flaky. Aside from needlessly low data caps, the cell network is pretty great for road trip connectivity. High bandwidth intermittent connectivity would be nice for self-driving car sensor log offload. Inside my home it would be cool to have 10 gbps to my laptop, but I don't have a real use case where that's meaningfully better than the 500-800 mbps that I already get with WiFi.
- bogwog 5y ago> pretty great for road trip connectivity Until people start getting seizures while driving from all the flashing lights
- 14 5y agoThe flashing happens so fast it is invisible to human eye. LED lights already do with with pulse width modulation to make them as efficient as they are and it is not an issue.
- up6w6 5y agoIt seems that light reflected off walls can achieve up to 70 Mbit/s in a controlled environment. But yeah, it's still hard to think about direct applications in our lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/the-internet-on-beams-of-led-light/5134888 https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/th...
- croes 5y agoIf you don't need a cable it's wireless notwithstanding any other disadvantages
- causality0 5y agoThat page is amateurish and riddled with absurd statements, like the claim visible light travels faster than radio waves. It also claims LiFi offers speeds "100 times faster than wifi" but their thousand dollar router can only do 100Mbps. To add insult to injury it rips off the Wi-Fi trademark logo as well. There may be a market for visible light networking but LiFi is total garbage.