LiFi Technology Mashed Up With Wireless Power For New Connectivity Option
February 26, 2024 by Dave Haynes
Connectivity is fundamental to almost every digital signage network out there, but the industry is seemingly well past the days when just establishing a stable and suitably speedy internet connection was a big chore.
Even with a lot of options now available, new ones continue to emerge, like something called LiFi – which uses light rather than radio frequencies for wireless communication.
The Scottish company pureLiFi is bringing to market what are described as the world’s first commercial light antennas for all kinds of devices, from industrial to consumer. The user experience is described as similar to traditional wireless systems, but with broader possibilities.
Based in Edinburgh, the company showing at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, with products that include the use of wireless power from a Canadian start-up.
From PR:
Among the highly anticipated products to be unveiled is the LINXC Bridge, a collaborative project between pureLiFi and Solace Power, a global leader in high-performance, leading-edge wireless power technology, based in Newfoundland, Canada. This groundbreaking solution addresses the challenge of providing robust connectivity indoors, particularly for 5G mmWave signals.
By leveraging wireless power and LiFi, the LINXC Bridge significantly reduces costs and logistical challenges associated with signal transmission from outside to inside buildings. This innovative window-mounted system is self-installable, eliminating the need for costly professional installation, shortening time to market for network operators and dramatically improving indoor connectivity for enterprise and the home.
Attendees can also witness demonstrations of pureLiFi’s network access solutions. Users can experience low latency, congestion free gaming, video conferencing and media streaming that doesn’t force them to battle for bandwidth with others over WiFi.
pureLiFi’s game changing LiFi concept SkyLite is a whole-room access point that covers over 50 sqm (540 sq feet) of space, flooding the room with high speed, low latency and highly secure wireless connectivity accessible to all. the LiFi Cube is a plug-and-play access point designed for simple, secure working from home, gaming, streaming and on-the-move connectivity, offering unparalleled speed and privacy.
For networking nerds:
pureLiFi’s full network access product range boasts IEEE 802.11bb compliance following the ratification of the new global LiFi standard in 2023. LiFi Cube, SkyLite and all of pureLiFi’s client devices are 802.11bb compliant. They represent the next evolution of LiFi technology, offering faster, more secure connectivity that transforms the consumer experience.
As noted at the top, in the old digital signage days deployments could involve a lot of investigation into what’s available and what might work for connecting devices at the edge of networks, particularly when it came to retail with a lot of far-flung locations. Satellite pushes with a dial-up or crappy DSL as the return side of the connection were even used. WiFI capability was a somewhat unique selling point for digital signage solutions 20 years ago.
Now we’re largely in a what to choose situation, between fiber and 5G. But one more option, particularly if it cuts out some labor costs and time, will attract interest. Solace suggests being able to establish on-premise connectivity outside – without needing to run wire and mount a lot of stiff inside, in something like a comms room – can save a bunch of money.
In the provided image, the connecting device is stuck on both sides of a window.
One of the interesting wrinkles with this tech is that it doesn’t work in darkness, needing at least 10% illumination of the area to maintain a connection.
This is very cool… right up to the point where it won’t work in the dark…like solar energy production…sigh… On the other hand, it’ll be huge in hydroponic facilities.
🙂