Optical Wi-Fi. What is this madness??? [Photo: Siemens]Last year we covered a new wireless networking technology that used light to transmit data and thoroughly trounced Wi-Fi. It was fast then, but the networking researchers of Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin, Germany have since taken Optical WLAN technology to new heights with downloads speeds of 800 Mbps.
Optical WLAN works by using LEDs and a modulator that makes them flicker faster than the eye can see. The technology is a line-of-sight system that can reach as far as a 90-square-foot-range. While the device receiving the signal is outfitted with a simple photo diode.
The Hertz lab previously achieved speeds of 500Mbps using just white LEDs but by using red-blue-green-white light LEDs, they were able to transmit 800-Mbps.
The scientists see Optical WLAN as an easily and cheaply modifiable system with lights everywhere. They also say that the system could be used in areas where traditional radio or wired networking is restricted: such as in hospitals, on planes or in circumstances where running cables isn’t a possibility.
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