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Regular light bulbs straight from the shelf could be the future of wireless technology.
Energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LED) have long been eyed as a convenient replacement for energy to supply wireless networks. Labs and startups are producing custom-built LED prototypes with high-speed data transmission capabilities, but German researchers successfully converted light bulbs that come right off the shelf. “These are high-brightness, white LEDs which normally are used for illumination,” said Anagnostis Paraskevopoulos, a research engineer at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications in Berlin responsible for industrial applications of visual light communications. “We think it is advantageous if you can transmit data through these illuminating devices.”
If used widely, the technology not only creates a vast new application for light, but could also expand our limited wireless capacity.
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