LVX system Data over LED!!???

[guitar309]

Check this out... http://www.electrictv.net/Archives/Visible-Light-Communication.aspx


This company is using LED's in there lighting to transmit data!  A pretty cool idea...  ONLY 1 PROBLEM... that I see....  There has to be a "modem" of sorts...
This "modem" looks as if it has to be plugged into the wall... and aimed directly under the light....

If you have a power cord.. why wouldn't you just run a data cable next to it and plug it into the wall.. (speed maybe)  if this Led transfer is so fast.. what is it being sent threw on the other end? Fiber?


But still... Some pretty cool technology!

[allanw]

Not sure what the point is when current wireless technology does the same job for cheaper and farther range and higher speeds?

[guitar309]

well I think the speeds are higher with the led system... (like fiber)  but they are trying to make this system sound like all the lights are turned into a wifi hotspot of sorts...   which is not true.. because it still acts like fiber (has a transmitter and reservoir)  If you look when they are in the class room.. there would have to be a reservoir set up like a wireless point.. and then all of the students lap tops would have a wireless card.. I don't think they have just a card that plugs in a laptop and can receive and send light pulses...  so I do not see a point in this whole system..    Yes.. I do think the data would be sent faster over led.. that a typical cat 6 line.. but your only limited to the speed of the wireless cards from the receiver... and what ever the data is being sent over from the light back to the data closet...   

But I guess my point was... that is pretty cool that they are able to come up with this... I think in the future it might lead to more..

[NiHaoMike]

Where it would make sense is in low speed, low cost applications where microwave band standards like Zigbee would not be very well suited. The common TV remote already uses that in the IR band.

There was a project involving 10Mbps wireless networking using laser pointers, but it has faded when 802.11 became cheap. Perhaps it's time to develop an updated version that does at least 1Gbps and emphasize that it is intended to complement 802.11 instead of replacing it?

[joelby]

I think it's a nice idea, but for fixed desktops I don't see a huge advantage over wired Ethernet, which have no interference problems, are well supported and inexpensive, and readily give each segment gigabit speeds.

The speeds quoted in the video are entirely meaningless, but you would need one expensive 10 Gbit switch port per light fitting to service ten computers at gigabit speeds, and that's assuming that ten computers can fit under the footprint of single light fitting.

For portable computers, I'm not sure that the problems with well-managed wireless networks are so bad that it should be replaced by something that requires an external modem that you need to aim whenever you move around.

As an intelligent lighting system, great!

Commercial point to point laser networking systems are available for gigabit speeds, but in my experience they're less reliable than microwave systems using licensed spectrum that can offer similar speeds with comparable distance and line of sight limitations.

[djsb]

Maybe the point is LOCALISED data transmission. There was a slot in between programmes on BBC tv a while ago showing people walking out the exit of a tube station. They walked over a round BBC radio advert positioned on the pavement and heard what was being broadcast on that station in real time. When they moved outside of the circular area they could no longer hear it. This was using directed sound technology (or was meant to be-if it really exists). Maybe this is doing the same with light? Maybe Simon Knows the AD's that I'm talking about?

  

[tyblu]

Boring! We've been doing this with IR and lasers for ages.