The entity behind the Wi-Fi 802.11 standards—Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)—has released the 802.11bb as its latest global light-based communications standard.
According to Business Wire, pureLiFi and Fraunhofer HHI, two global Li-Fi companies, have expressed their approval of the release of the new 802.11bb standard by IEEE. Li-Fi is a wireless technology that uses light, instead of radio frequencies, to transmit data.
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How it works
By utilizing the light spectrum, Li-Fi can provide ‘faster’ and ‘more reliable’ wireless connectivity that is more secure than conventional technologies like WiFi and 5G.
Photo/ pureLiFi
Although, this does not imply that existing technologies (even wired) become obsolete. As of June 2023, the IEEE 802.11 recognizes wireless light communications (LC) as a physical layer for wireless local area networks. This means that Li-Fi is technically not designed to compete with Wi-Fi, as it is meant to be interoperable rather than an entirely distinct wireless system.
The Fraunhofer HHI video demonstrates a Li-Fi system that utilizes a building’s lighting infrastructure for data transmission. The data is transmitted through part of the infrared spectrum (without visibly blinking or flashing) that can achieve speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 9.6 Gbps without radio interference.
Here’s a video demo from The Verge to better understand how it works:
The cons
Although Li-Fi seems all promising, there are a few drawbacks to consider in its current development. One, is that its sensitivity to lighting conditions can vary significantly, and it is easy to accidentally cut off a line-of-sight connection. Another disadvantage is its limited range, as the light is stationary and confined to a specific line of sight.
R&D laboratory, CableLabs, acknowledges that there is still room for improvement in LC technology. In its experiment results with Wi-Fi to LC, it said that “LC range is very sensitive to irradiance and incidence angles making dynamic beam steering (and LOS availability) attractive for future LC evolution.”
“Enterprise Wi-Fi and state-of-the-art LC performance on par but LC reliability needs to be improved. A possible approach is the use of multiple, distributed optical frontends,” it added.
Photo/ pureLiFi
With the release of the IEEE 802.11bb standard, manufacturers can now have more confidence in integrating Li-Fi technology where it is suitable. One of the major players in the Li-Fi industry, pureLiFi, has already developed the Light Antenna ONE module, which is 14.5mm component for LC and is currently being offered to OEMs for evaluation.
