DATA TRANSMISSION THROUGH LIFI

LIFI TECHNOLOGY

A Mini Project Report

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of degree of

Bachelor of Technology

In
Electronics and Communication Engineering
By
V.Vinay Kumar (16AG1A04A8)
Under the guidance of
A.Rajesh
Assistant Professor

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

ACE Engineering College
(Affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad)
Ghatkesar ,Medchal, Dist – 501301.

November - 2019

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 ACE
Engineering College
(Affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad)
Ghatkesar, Medchal. Dist – 501301.

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Date: ...................

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work entitled “Data transmission

through LI-FI technology” is being submitted by V.Vinay
kumar(16AG1A04A8) in partial fulfillment for the award of Degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY in Electronics and Communication
Engineering to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad
during the academic year 2019-20 is a record of bonafide work carried out by
him/her under our guidance and supervision .

The results embodied in this report have not been submitted by the
student(s) to any other University or Institution for the award of any degree.

Internal Guide Head of Department

A.Rajesh Prof. Dr. Srinivas Baba
Assit.prof Professor & Head,
Dept. of ECE,
ACE Engineering College ,
Ghatkesar,Hyderabad

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude to my beloved Principal Dr. B. L. Raju ACE

Engineering College for permitting us to carry out this project.

I express my gratitude to my beloved HOD, Prof. Dr. Srinivas Baba

,Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ACE
Engineering College, Hyderabad for the valuable guidance and suggestions,
keen interest and through encouragement extended throughout period of project
work.

I express my gratitude to our beloved Internal Guide Mr.A.Rajesh

Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, ACE Engineering College for his valuable suggestions and rare
insights, for constant source of encouragement and inspiration throughout my
project work.

I would like thank our Project co-ordinator Mr. Giri Raju, Associate
Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering of ACE
Engineering College for his continuous efforts in monitoring, helping and
guiding us in all the aspects for completion of my project work.

I express my thanks to all those who contributed for the successful

completion of my project work.

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LIFI TECHNOLOGY

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Contents
List of Figures .....................................................................................................6
List of Tables ......................................................................................................7
List of Abbreviations .........................................................................................8
Key Words ….....................................................................................................8
Abstract ...............................................................................................................9
Introduction .......................................................................................................10
Chapter One: Problems of Wireless Communication Systems.........................11
1-1 What is the Problem? .................................................................................12
1-2 Visible Light Communication .................................................................... 13
Chapter Two: Li-Fi Definition, Working Principle and Advantages............. .15
2-1 What is Li-Fi? ........................................................................................... 16
2-2 History ........................................................................................................ 17
2-3 D-Light Project......................................................................................... .19
2-4 Working....................................................................................................... 19
2-5 Components……………………………………………………………. …23
2-6 Present Scenario…………………………………………………………….25
2-7 Advantages ..................................................................................................28
Chapter Three: Applications of Li-Fi ............................................................. 30
3-1 Life with Li-Fi ............................................................................................ 31
3-2 Applications of Li-Fi .................................................................................. 32
Chapter Four: Systems of Li-Fi and Challenges .............................................. 36
4-1 Implemented Systems ................................................................................ 37
4-2 Li-Fi versus Wi-Fi .......................................................................................41
4-3 Challenges for Li-Fi .................................................................................. 41
Conclusion ........................................................................................................42

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Multiple communication systems cause Spectrum Crunch. ............... 12

Figure 2: Location of visible light and RF frequencies at electromagnetic
Spectrum…………………………………………………………...…13
Figure 3: Block diagram of the VLC system. ....................................................14
Figure 4: Data transmission via LEDs ............................................................... 16
Figure 5: Construction of Li-Fi………………………………………………….20
Figure 6 : The main component of Li-Fi system: LEDs, Photodiode and Image
Sensor…………………………………………………………….…22
Figure 7: Electro Magnetic Spectrum................................................................. 26
Figure 8: Environment with Li-Fi. .................................................................. …31
Figure 9: Optical Underwater Communications system. ....................................32
Figure 10: Vehicle Visible Light Communications. .......................................... 33
Figure 11: Li-Fi in air bus………………………………. .................................. 34
Figure 12: Indoor Navigation system for Blind people. ......................................35
Figure 13: Li-1st working diagram. .................................................................... 37
Figure 14: Some of the relevant technical expertise and background
accomplishment……………………………………………….…....39
Figure 15: Colour modulation is used to express and receive data. .................. 40
Figure 16: Reflectance compensation improves accuracy. ............................... 40

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List of Tables

Table 1: comparison between Li-Fi and Wi-Fi…………………….. 41

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List of Abbreviations

AP Access points.
LED Light emitting diode.
Li-Fi Light Fidelity.
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging.
RF Radio frequency.
TED Technology Entertainment Design.

VLC Visible light communication .

Key Words

D-Light,
Li-Fi,
LED,
VLC,
Wireless communication,
Wi-Fi.

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ABSTRACT
We know that spectrum is the rare coin for communication engineers. Nowadays, with the
rapid growth of wireless communications the problem of using spectrum efficiently has
become more important. Many solutions have been proposed to solve this issue; one of these
solutions is the usage of visible light frequencies to send data. These frequencies are already
free and unused. Light fidelity (Li-Fi) is a new short range optical wireless communication
technology which provides the connectivity within a local network, by using Light-Emitting
Diodes (LEDs) to transmit data depending on light illumination properties. Li-Fi or Light
Fidelity refers to 5G Visible Light Communication systems using light-emitting diodes as a
medium to high-speed communication in a similar manner as Wi-Fi.In the days where
internet has become a major demand, people are in a search for Wi-Fi hotspots. Li-Fi or New
Life of data communication is a better alternative to Wi-Fi in wireless communication. This
paper proposes a survey on Li-Fi Technology. The Li-fi technology was invented by
Professor Harald Hass of University of Edinburgh
. Li-Fi has more capacity in terms of bandwidth in visible region therefore it does not poke its
nose in other communications which uses radio frequency range, without taking its frequency
bands. Li-Fi has thousand times greater speed than Wi-Fi and provides security as the visible
light is unable to penetrate through the walls, which propose a new era of wireless
communication.[18] The concept of Li-Fi is data communication on fast flickering of light
which is not detected by human eye but it is focused on photo detector which converts the on-
off state into binary digital data. It has gained a huge popularity in two years of its invention.
Such technology has brought not only greener but safer and cheaper future of
communication.
We shall explain in this report the basic foundation of this new technology and its important
applications. Then we discuss its challenges and implemented projects all over the world.

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INTRODUCTION
Transfer data from one place to another is one of the most important day-to-day activities. The
current wireless networks that connect us to the internet are very slow when multiple devices
are connected. As the number of devices that access the internet increases, the fixed bandwidth
available makes it more and more difficult to enjoy high data rates and connect to a secure
network. Nowadays, Everyone is interested in using his mobile phone, laptop to communicate
with other people through Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, and this technology, Wi-Fi, is
widely used in all public areas like home, cafes, hotels and airports by people, also the time
usage of wireless systems is increasing exponentially every year; but the capacity is going
down, due to the limitation of Radio Frequency (RF) resources, so we are going to suffer from
severe problem.

In order to overcome this problem in the future, Professor Harald Haas, an expert in optical
wireless communications, proposes in 2011 a brilliant and applicable solution by using light to
transmit data, he demonstrated how an Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) bulb equipped with signal
processing technology could stream a high-definition video to a computer and he showed that
one watt LED light bulb would be enough to provide net connectivity to four computers.

This new technology is known as Light–Fidelity (Li-Fi). It is a short range wireless

communication system based on light illumination from LED, and use the visible light as a
signal carrier instead of traditional RF carrier as in Wi-Fi. Professor Harald Haas coined the
term "Light-Fidelity" and set up a private company, called “Pure Visible Light
Communication”, to exploit that technology. He envisions a future where data for laptops and
smart phones are transmitted through the light in a room in a secure way.

In this seminar, we will talk about its features, applications and advantages, some practical
projects that have been implemented; and we will show that it can be seriously the future of
communication technology

The concept of Li-fi is currently attracting a great deal of interest, not least because it offers a
genuine and very efficient alternative to RF.As a growing number of people and their recent
device access wireless internet, the airwaves are becoming increasingly clogged and
unavailability of free bandwidths to every device, making it more and more difficult to get a
reliable, high speed signal. The opportunity to exploit a completely different part of the
electromagnetic spectrum is very appealing. Li-Fi has other advantages over Wi-Fi, such as
safe to use at nuclear power plants, thermal power stations where Wi-Fi cannot be used.[16] In
such stations RF waves can be harmful and can cause accident, to communicate in such regions
only visible light spectrum can be safe. Apart from adverse regions Li-fi can also be used in all
places where Wi-Fi can be used. Li-fi is present wherever there is availability of light, in turn
eradicating the necessity of having hot-spots only at selected places. There are four criterions
to judge on the working of Li-Fi and Wi-Fi that is, capacity, efficiency, availability and
security. Both Li-fi and Wi-Fi uses electromagnetic spectrum for data transmission, but
whereas Wi-Fi utilizes radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light communication in the range of
100Mbps. The present paper deals with the VLC which provide a wide and fast data rate like
500Mbps. In this paper, the comparison is made between Wi-Fi and Li-Fi technology. This
paper also discusses the working, implementation and improvements in Li-fi technology.

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 Chapter One:
Problems of Wireless Communication Systems

 In this Chapter, we will talk about severe problem in communication

system which called “Spectrum Crunch”, and the suggested solutions to
solve it. One of the solutions is the use of visible light; we will describe it
briefly and talk about Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems and
their components.

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1-1 What is the Problem?
Despite continuous improvements in wireless communication systems, e.g. 3G, 4G, etc.., a
coming crisis is expected due to the lack of sufficient Radio Frequency (RF) resources, this
limitation in bandwidth can‟t support the growth in demand for high data rates and the large
numbers of communication systems, as shown in Figure 1, within the bandwidths between 300
kHz and 4 GHz. That‟s known as “Spectrum Crunch”. [1]
Although, spectrum congestion decreases when we use high frequencies to transfer data, but
this not a practice solution, because this part of spectrum requires complex equipment and
causes high cost systems. [2]

Figure 1: Multiple communication systems cause Spectrum

So how can we solve this problem?

Actually, there are numbers of technologies that provide realistic and applicable solutions to
this issue. One of them is the “Cognitive Radio”. [3] It is a new sort of wireless communication
with a transceiver architecture that can intelligently detect which communication channels are
in use and which are not, and instantly move into empty channels to use them to transmit data.
Another solution is the transmission of data using visible light illumination which use very
high frequency. In general, this technology known as Visible Light Communication (VLC). [2]

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There are also many brilliant and efficient solutions, in this seminar we will focus on Light
Fidelity (Li-Fi) technology, which is based on VLC.

1-2 Visible Light Communication

Definition
VLC is an optical communication technology that use visible light rays, these rays locate
between [400-800] THz, as optical carrier for data transmission by illumination. It uses fast
pulses of light, which cannot be detected by the human eye, to transmit data. [4] [5] It
includes any use of the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit
information. The VLC standardization process is conducted within IEEE wireless personal
area networks working group (802.15). [6]
One of VLC‟s features is providing wide bandwidth as illustrated in Figure 2. We can
obviously see that usage the optical portion of spectrum guarantees about 10,000 times
greater bandwidth compares to the usage of the RF frequencies. [7]

Figure 2: Location of visible light and RF frequencies at electromagnetic spectrum.

As we see in the previous paragraph, VLC is a communication system which consists of

a transmitter, a receiver and a communication channel. The main components of VLC
systems are:

• High brightness Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or any light sources, which acts as
transmitter.

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 • A silicon photodiode has the roll of a detector and it shows a good response to
visible wavelength. Communication channel is air or fibre optics.
Usually, we add to these components some necessary circuits like a driving circuit and a
receiving circuit. The driving circuit consists of a control circuit and output stage to modify
the data and make it ready to be sent and the receiving circuit consists of a filter to select the
required band, amplification stage to provide the required Signal to Noise ratio in order to
demodulate the signal. We show a block diagram of VLC system in Figure 3. [8]

Figure 3: Block diagram of the VLC system.

Figure 3: Block diagram of the VLC system.

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 Chapter Two:
Li-Fi Definition, Working Principle and Advantages

 In this chapter we will talk about LI-Fi technology in detail and

show its history describe the first project which called “D-Light” .In
this field we do explain the working principle for this technology
and its advantages.

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2-1 What is Li-Fi?
Li-Fi is a new technology for short range wireless communication system; which is suitable
for data transmission via LEDs by illumination. It uses the visible light, a part of the
electromagnetic spectrum that is still not greatly utilized, instead of RF part. Professor Harald
Haas, the original founder of Li-Fi technology, in his Technology Entertainment
Design(TED) global talk on Li-Fi says: “At the heart of this technology is a new of high
brightness LEDs”, he also explains “Very simply, if the LED is on, you transmit a digital 1, if
it‟s off you transmit a 0, they can be switched on and off very quickly, which gives nice
opportunities for transmitted data.” It is possible to encode data in the light by varying the
rate at which the LEDs flicker on and off to give different strings of 1s and 0s. Figure 4
illustrates the idea of data transmission using light. The LED intensity is modulated so
rapidly that the human eye cannot notice, so the output appears constant; also more
sophisticated techniques could dramatically increase Li-Fi data rates such as using array of
LEDs, where each LED transmits a different data stream, to provide parallel data
transmission. Other ideas are using mixtures of red, green and blue LEDs to alter the light
frequency encoding a different data channel. In the next paragraphs, we will talk about the
history of the technology,its working principle and its various advantages.

Figure 4: Data transmission via LEDs

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2-2 History
The term was first used by Professor Harald Haas from University of Edinburgh, United
Kingdom, in his TED global talk in 2011. Li-Fi idea rates as “one of 50 best inventions of
2011” on TED world site on the internet.

Haraald Haas continues to hit the world that there is a possibility for communication through
light.LI-FI technology has the possibility to change how we access the internet, stream videos,
receive emails and much more. The technology truly began during the 1990's in countries like
Germany, Korea, and Japan where they discovered LED's could be Haraald Haas continues
to hit the world that there is a possibility for communication through light.LI-FI technology
has the possibility to change how we access the internet, stream videos, receive emails and
much more. The technology truly began during the 1990's in countries like Germany, Korea,
and Japan where they discovered LED's could be retrofitted to send information. This type of
light would come in familiar forms such as infrared, ultraviolet and visible light. Research
into VLC has been conducted in earnest since have shown that LEDs can be electronically
adapted to transmit data wirelessly as well as to provide light. VLC is faster, safer and cheaper
than other forms of wireless internet, advocates say - and so could eliminate the need for
costly mobile-phone radio masts.

Haralad Hass

Haas has a small lab stuffed with equipment, including the now-famous table lamp and its box
of electronics. It was here in 2007 that his research assistant, Mostafa Afgani, first sent data

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using light signals. Haas's invention centres on how these signals are modulated: the
information, embedded within visible light emitted from the LEDs, is trans- mitted by means
of many subtle changes made to the intensity of the light at the ultra-high rate of 100 million
cycles per second (100MHz). The photo-detector in Haas's box monitors these tiny variations
and converts them back into a digital signal, from which the transmitted information is
extracted.

In October 2011 a number of companies and industries formed the Li-Fi

Consortium, to promote high-speed optical wireless system sand to enhance the limited
bandwidth provided by radio-based wireless spectrum available. The consortium believes it
is possible to achieve more than 10Gbpsspeed using this optical wireless technology also
known as Li-Fi. The communication is done by deploying transmitter and receiver in direct
line of sight manner. It gets affected if line of sight is not used,the speed of data transmission
will reduce or data transmission will stop. It is also more secure than other wireless net- works
as only photo receptors are used, which can receive data within transmitted cone of light
signals.

The first project which explains the idea of Li-Fi was The D-Light project. It was funded from
January 2010 to January 2012 at Edinburgh's Institute for Digital Communications by
Professor Haas; we will explain this project in the next paragraph.

Here we show the history of Li-Fi in short:

 2011, Haas promoted this technology in TED global talk and helped start a company to
market it.
 October 2011, companies and industry groups formed the Li-Fi consortium, to promote
high-speed optical wireless systems and to overcome the limited amount of radio-based
wireless spectrum available by exploiting a completely different part of the
electromagnetic spectrum.

 2012, VLC technology exhibited by using Li-Fi Consortium.

 October 2013, Chinese manufacturers work on Li-Fi development kits.
 April 2014, the Russian company Stins Coman announced the development of a Li-Fi
wireless local network called Beam Caster. Their current module transfers data at 1.25
Gbps.

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2-3 D-Light Project

D-Light, which means “data through illumination”, is the invention of Professor Harald Hass.
He says that his invention can produce data rates faster than 10 Mbps, which is speedier than
average broadband connection. He visualizes a future where data for laptops, smartphones, and
tablets is transmitted through the light in a room, but Haas says that this version is limited by
existing LEDs and by the usage of LEDs as transmitters and detectors at the same time.
However, he has created a better LED, which provides a data rate close to 4 Gbps operating on
just 5 milliwatt of optical output power and using high bandwidth photodiodes at the receiver.
Haas says that we can send data with a distance of 10 meters at up to 1.1 Gbps with a simple
lens, and soon they will increase that up to 15 Gbps. The 802.11ad Wi-Fi standard for the 60
GHz radio band reaches just under 7 Gbps, so Li-Fi would more than double of that rate.

D-Light system uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) techniques,

which allows us to vary the intensity of the LEDs output at a very fast rate, invisible to the
human eye; for the eye, the bulb would simply be on and providing light. The signal can be
picked up by simple receivers. He says: “It should be so cheap that it‟s everywhere visible
light spectrum, which comes for free.

2-4 Working Principle

In order to know the working of Li-fi we need to know the necessity for Li-fi .With the vast
development in living the use of gadgets and invention of new gadgets is increasing which
lead to the technological developments.

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 FIG 5: Construction of lifi technology

There are many situations in which people get frustrated with the dull performance signals of
Wi-Fi at a place with many network connections in seminars conferences etc. Li fi fulfills
these needs .this fantabulous idea first striked the mind of Harald Haas from University of
Edinburgh, UK, in his TED Global talk on VLC.His idea was very simple that if the LED is
―on‖ then the digital 1 can be transmitted and if the led is ―off‖ then the digital 0 can be
transmitted. Led’s can be switched on and off very quick. For transmitting data this way all
that we require is LED’s and controller that code data into Led’s. Parallel data transmission
can be done by using array of LED’s or by using red, green, blue LED’s to alter light
frequency with the frequency of different data channel. Advancements and enhancements in
this field generate a speed of 10 gbps! But amazingly fast data rates and lowering band
widths are not the only
reasons that enhance this technology. Lifi usually is based on light and so it can be probably
implemented in articrafts and hospitals that are prone to inference from radio waves. Unlike

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Wi-Fi Li-Fi can work even under- water which makes it more advantageous for military
operations. Radio waves are replaced by light waves in data transmission called Li- Fi.

Light emitting diodes can be switched on and off very much faster than the human eye allowing
the light source to appear continuously. The data transmission is done through binary codes
which involve switching on LED can be done by logic 1 and switch off using logic 0.The
encoding of information in light can therefore be identified by varying the rate at which the
LED’s flicker on and off to give strings of 0’s and 1’s.visible light communication is this
method of using rapid pulses of light to transmit information wirelessly.

Li-Fi technology is implemented using white LED light bulbs used for illumination by
applying a constant current. However, by fast variations of the current, the light output can
be made to vary at extremely high speeds. The LEDs can be switched on and off quickly to
transmit data that can‟t be detected by a human eye.

Visible Light Communication:

VLC is a data communication Medium, which uses visible light between 400 THz (780nm)
and 800 THz (375 nm) as optical carrier for data transmission and illumination.Fast pulses
are used for wireless transmission.

Communication system components are:

1. A high brightness white LED which acts as a communication source

2. Silicon photo diode which shows good response to visible wavelength region.LED
illumination can be used as a communication source by modulating the LED light with
the data signal.

The LED light appears constant to the human eye due to the fast flickering rate. The high
data rate can be achieved by using high speed LED’s and appropriate multiplexing tech-
niques. Each LED transmits at a different data rate which can be in- creased by parallel
data transmission using LED arrays. Many different reasons exist if the usage of LED
light in spite of fluorescent lamp, incandescent bulb etc which are available.

So what we need at all for sending data are some LEDs and a controller that cods data into
those LEDs and for receiving data, we need an Image Sensor, Photodiode which is used as a
detector, these components are shown in below Figure.

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 Solar panal

The LED bulb will hold a micro-chip that will do the job of processing the data. The light
intensity can be manipulated to send data by tiny changes in amplitude.

Below figure shows the working principle of Li-Fi system, for data transmission; it can be
done by single LED or multi LED. On the receiver side there is a photo detector, which
convert this light into electric signals and it will give the electric signals to the device

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connected to it. Voltage regulator and level shifter circuits are used on both sides to convert
or maintain a voltage level between transmitter and receiver .

2-5 COMPONENTS:

TRANSMITER COMPONENTS

LED:
As is evident from its name, LED (Light Emitting Diode) is basically a small light emitting
device that comes under “active” semiconductor electronic components. It’s quite comparable
to the normal general purpose diode, with the only big difference being its capability to emit
light in different colors. The two terminals (anode and cathode) of a LED when connected to a
voltage source in the correct polarity, may produce lights of different colors, as per the
semiconductor substance used inside it.

Working Principle:

A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode that
emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able
to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons.
This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy
of the photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor.

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PHOTO DOIDE:
Defination: A special type of PN junction device that generates current when exposed to
light is known as Photodiode. It is also known as photodetector or photosensor. It operates in
reverse biased mode and converts light energy into electrical energy.

Principle of Photodiode
It works on the principle of Photoelectric effect.
The operating principle of the photodiode is such that when the junction of this two-terminal
semiconductor device is illuminated then the electric current starts flowing through it. Only
minority current flows through the device when the certain reverse potential is applied to it.

Solar panel:
Solar panels work by absorbing sunlight with photovoltaic cells, generating direct current
(DC) energy and then converting it to usable alternating current (AC) energy with the help of
inverter technology. AC energy then flows through the home’s electrical panel and is
distributed accordingly. Here are the main steps for how solar panels work for your home:
1. Photovoltaic cells absorb the sun’s energy and convert it to DC electricity
2. The solar inverter converts DC electricity from your solar modules to AC electricity,
which is used by most home appliances
3. Electricity flows through your home, powering electronic devices
4. Excess electricity produced by solar panels is fed to the electric grid.

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2-6 Present Scenario:
 We have 1.4 million cellular mast radio waves base stations deployed
 We also have over 5 billions of mobile phones
 Mobile phone transmits more than 600 Tb of data
 Wireless communication has become a utility like electricity & water
 We use it in our everyday life, in our private life, business life
 Currently WiFi uses Radio Waves for communication
 It is important to look into this technology which has become fundamental to our life.

Four Issues with radio waves

1. Capacity :
 We transmit wireless data through radio waves
 Radio waves are limited
 Radio waves are scar and expensive
 We only have a certain range of it
 With the advent of the generation technology as of like of 2.5G,3G,4G and so on
we are running out of spectrum.

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2. Efficiency :
 There are 1.4 million cellular radio base stations
 They consume massive amount of energy
 Most of this energy is not use for transmission but for cooling down the base stations
 efficiency of such a base station is only 5% and that raise a very big problem
3. Availability :
 Availability of radio waves or rf singnals causes another concern
 We have to switch off our mobiles In aero planes
 It is not advisable to use mobiles at places like petrochemical plants and
petrol pumps

4. Security :
 Radio waves penetrates through walls
 They can be intercepted
 If someone has a knowledge and bad intentions than he may misuse it.

Alternative to radio waves in Electromagnetic spectrum

 So there are four major concerns i.e., capacity, efficiency, availability and security
related with radio waves
 But on the other hand we have 40 billions of light box already installed and light is
part of electromagnetic spectrum
 So let’s look up at this in context of EM spectrum

Figure 7 :EM Spectrum

26
  Gamma rays are simply very dangerous and thus can’t be used for our purpose of
communication
 X-rays are good in hospital and can’t be used either
 Ultra –violet rays are sometimes good for our skin but for long duration it is dangerous

 Infra red rays are bad for our eyes and are therefore use at low power levels
 We have already seen shortcoming of radio waves
 So we are left with only visible light spectrum.

Light for WiFi communication

 Light has been around for millions of years.

 It has created us, has created life and has created all stuffs of life.
 FLICKERING lights are annoying but they may have an upside. Visible light
 communication(VLC) uses rapid pulses of light to transmit information wirelessly, now
it may be ready to compete with conventional WIFI.
 So it is inherently safe use and would be great if we can use it for our wireless
communication

What we have to do?

 We have to replace inefficient fluorescents lights with this new dignitaries of LED
lights.
 It is a semi conductive e-device.
 The LED bulb will hold a micro chip that will do the job of processing the data.
 Light intensity can be modulated at very high spends to send data tiny change in
amplitude.

How we do this?

 Remote control has as IR-led

 It creates a single data stream.

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  High speed data rates of 10000 b/s to 20000b/s
 Replace remote control with light box
 With this technology we transmits 1000’s of data stream in parallel at high speeds.
 We termed this technology as special Modulation.

2-7 Advantages:

Li-Fi is ideal for high density wireless data coverage in confined area and for reducing radio
interference issues. Its features include benefits to the capacity, energy efficiency, safety and
security of a wireless system; now, we will talk briefly about each one of these advantages.

I. Efficiency
The efficiency of each radio station is just 5%due to the fact that most of the energy is used for
the cooling system in base of the radio station. Li-Fi is highly efficient because LED consumes
less energy. It is effective in terms of low cost, low required energy and for various
Environments. In this topic there are some main and important points:
 Low cost: Requires fewer components than radio technology, due to the cheap
price of the LEDs and Digital components compared with the microwave equipment.
 Energy: LED illumination is already efficient and the data transmission does
not requires, additional power because most energy dissipation in LEDs requires little
amount of energy.
 Environment: RF transmission and propagation in water is extremely difficult
but Li-Fi works well in this environment.

II. Capacity
Any lighting devices like car lights, ceiling lights, street lamps, etc. are used as a hotspot. It
means that any light spread internet using VLC which helps us to lower cost architecture for a
hotspot. [12] The most important issues here are Bandwidth, Data density and speed.
 Bandwidth: The visible light spectrum more abundant 10,000 times compared
with the RF spectrum..
 Data density: Li-Fi can achieve about 1000 times the data density of Wi-Fi
because visible light can be well contained in a tight illumination area, whereas RF
tends to spread out and cause interference.
 High speed, Very high data rates can be achieved as high as 500mbps or 30GB
per minute due to the low interference, high device bandwidths and high intensity
optical output.

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III. Safety
Light is all around us – it is a natural part of life – and as such there are no health concerns
associated with its use as a communications medium. It never gives any side effects on any
living thing like radio waves and other communication waves which can dangerously interfere
with electronic circuits and have effects on birds and humans.

IV. Security
“If you can’t see the light, you can’t access the data!”
Because of the signal will not travel through walls, it is difficult to eavesdrop on Li-Fi signals.
You can also see where the data is going, so there is no need for additional security such as
pairing for RF interconnections like Bluetooth.

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 CHAPTER THREE
Applications of Li-Fi

 The applications of Li-Fi are unlimited and promising for the

future of communications on the planet. In this Chapter we will
talk about some of its applications.

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3-1 Life with Li-Fi
The dramatic growth in the usage of LEDs for lighting provides the opportunity to incorporate
Li-Fi technology into a plethora of LED environments, for instance any lighting devices like
car lights, ceiling lights and street lamps are used as a hotspot which helps us to lower cost
architecture for a hotspot.

This technology is particularly suitable for many popular internet applications; you can
download movies, games and music in just a few minutes with the help of Li-Fi.

Figure 7 shows the environment with the Li-Fi technology where light bulbs are used as a
data communication medium to PC, Laptop and Tablet as it all have photo detector connected
to it as receiver.

Figure 8: Environment with Li-Fi.

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3-2 Applications of Li- Fi

Due to its advantages, Li-Fi has a lot of Life applications. Here we will talk about some
important applications of it.

a. Underwater Communications
Using RF signals is impractical due to strong signal absorption in water. Li-Fi provides a
solution for shortrange communications. Submarines could use their headlamps to
communicate with each other, process data autonomously and send their findings periodically
back to the surface in Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). Another important
issue is that Li-Fi can even work underwater where Wi-Fi fails completely, thereby it‟s open
for military operations. [16]
Figure 8 shows water vehicles which use light to communicate with each other and transfer
data between them.

Fig 9:Underwater Communications System

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b. Traffic Management

Li-Fi can help in managing the traffic in a better manner and the accident numbers can be
decreased. Traffic lights can communicate to the car and with each other to manage the traffic
in the street.
Traffic light can play the role of the sender of the data to provide information to the car on
the status of the road or about the situation of other cars as shown in Figure 9. [15] [16] Also
cars can communicate with each other and prevent accidents by exchanging information. For
example, LED car lights can alert drivers when other vehicles are too close. [12]

Figure 10: Vehicle Visible Light Communications.

c. Airways
We have to switch off mobiles in aircrafts to prevent overlapping of mobile phone signals
with navigation and control signals used by aircraft. Li-Fi can be safely used on planes
because it doesn't interfere with RF. [15] Since it Data is present where light is present, we
can use the lights above the seats in the plane as hotspot. [12]

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 Figure 11 :Li-Fi in air bus

d . Medical Applications
One of the most important features of Li-Fi is that it could be used in hospitals and medical
settings that require the lack of RF signals which affect the medical equipment. For example,
OTs (Operation theatres) do not allow using Wi-Fi due to radiation concerns because usage
of Wi-Fi blocks the signals for monitoring equipment‟s. So, it may be dangerous to the
patient's health.

e. Blind Indoor Navigation System

Indoor navigation is convenient for everyone, and it is especially indispensable for the visually
impaired. We proposed such a navigation system for the visually impaired as shown in Figure
10. LED lights emit visible light with location data and an embedded system or smartphone
with a visible light receiver which receives the data. The embedded system or smartphone
calculates the optimal path to a designation and speaks to the visually impaired through a
headphone. [17]

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 Figure 12 : Indoor Navigation system for Blind people.

f. In Sensitive Areas or in Hazardous Environments

Li-Fi provides a safe communication in environments such as mines and petrochemical
plants, because it doesn‟t cause electromagnetic interference which appears in RF
communications. Li-Fi can also be used in petroleum or chemical plants where other
frequencies could be hazardous.

For example, power plants like nuclear power plants require grid integrity and monitoring of
the station temperature that need fast, inter-connected data systems. Wi-Fi and many other
radiation types are bad for sensitive areas surrounding the power plants. Li-Fi could offer
safe, abundant connectivity for all areas of these sensitive locations.Moreover this technology
also enables us to control plants and their growth without direct presence.

g. Disaster Management

Li-Fi can be used as a powerful means of communication at times of disaster such as

earthquake or hurricanes, for example places like subway stations and tunnels which are
common dead zones for most emergency communications, don‟t pose obstruction for Li-Fi,
so it can be used there, as emergency communication.

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 Chapter Four:
Systems of Li-Fi and Challenges

 In this chapter we will talk about some projects that depend on Li-Fi technology, Comparison
between Li-Fi and other wireless technology and Challenges of Li-fi technology.

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 4-1 Implemented Systems
There is a number of implemented systems and projects which uses Li-Fi technology and
provides reliable and new applications and uses for this technology. Some of these are:

Pure LiFi™ Company

PureLiFi, the home of Li-Fi, is recognised as the leader in the field – the usage of the visible
light spectrum instead of radio frequencies to enable wireless data communication. PureLiFi
provides high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater security, safety and data
densities than Wi-Fi along with inherent properties that eliminate unwanted external network
intrusion. In addition, the integration of illumination and data services generates a measurable
reduction in both infrastructure complexity and energy consumption. [15]
The management Team of this company say: “At pureLiFi, we aim to address and optimally
exploit the opportunities presented by this disruptive technology in conjunction with our Li-
Fi ecosystem partners.” Some Products of this company: a. Li-1st

The Li-1st provides the first major opportunity for customers to rapidly develop and test VLC
applications for cost-effective, high-speed data communication solutions that utilize
commercial LED infrastructures. In Figure 11 we show the working principle diagram of this
project. [15]

Figure 13: Li-Fi 1st working diagram.

The product offers full duplex communication with a capacity of 5Mbps in both the
downlink and uplink over a range of up to three metres, while simultaneously providing
ample desk space illumination. The distance achieved by the system depends only on the
strength of the light source, i.e., the LED light. Li-1st offers a simple plug-and-play

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solution for secure wireless point-to-point Internet access with a wide range of LED
luminaires working seamlessly with large 600×600 panels, as well as T5 replacement
LED tubes or downlighters. Actually, the Li-1st is a largely LED luminaire agnostic,
providing a diverse tool for deploying and exploiting the shifting, services based, business
model of the lighting industry. The system has been available on limited release since
January 2014.

b. Li-Flame

The Li-Flame is the next generation of the world‟s first high-speed wireless network
solution using VLC. Li-Flame delivers:

• An extensive range of wireless communication applications including and beyond

existing Wi-Fi.
• A cost-effective delivery of light and data via a single infrastructure.
• More flexible construction environments with the elimination of communication
cabling.
The Li-Flame was publicly demonstrated at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 2
– 5 March at the Scottish Development International stand.
The main products for this project are:

 Li-Flame Ceiling Unit (CU)

It has some main advantages which is Data and power via standard Ethernet port,
Simple installation, Multiple access; and Handover control enables seamless
switching between Access points (APs).

 Li-Flame Desktop Unit (DU):

This device also has some excellent advantages, Connects to client device via
USB, 10Mbps infrared uplink to ceiling unit, Handover allowing user to move
from one AP to the next without losing the high-speed data connection,
Transceiver swivel head can be adjusted by user to optimise the connection; and
Battery-powered and portable.

II. UP-VLC Project

Ultra-parallel visible light communications or (UP-VLC) project is a partnership between 6

research groups at 5 institutions. It is led by Professor M.D. Dawson of the University of
Strathclyde and mentored by Professor P. Blood of Cardiff University. Some of the relevant
technical expertise and background accomplishments brought by the partners of this project
are illustrated in Figure 12.

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Figure 14: Some of the relevant technical expertise and background accomplishments.

In Figure 14: (a) high-fill-factor chequerboard (square grid) Ga N LED/CMOS clusters

(Strathclyde/Edinburgh),

(b) 1Gb/s eye diagram from 84μm-diameter GaN micro-pixel LED (Strathclyde),
(c) flexible organic semiconductor grating arrays for hybrid LEDs (Strathclyde/St. Andrews),
(d) multiple channel VLC link (Oxford),
(e) 124Mb/s real time video VLC transmission demonstration (Edinburgh).

The project Running from October 2012 to September 2016, UP-VLC is an ambitious
EPSRC-funded £4.6 million Programme Grant which will explore the transformative
technology of communications in an imaginative and foresighted way. The vision is built on
the unique capabilities of gallium nitride (GaN) optoelectronics to combine optical
communications with lighting functions and especially on the capability to implement new
forms of spatial multiplexing, where individual elements in high-density arrays of GaN based
LEDs provide independent communications channels, but can combine as displays. The
engineers who work on this project say: “We envisage ultra-high data density - potentially
Tb/s/mm2 - arrays of LEDs driven via CMOS control electronics in novel addressing and
encoding schemes and in compact and versatile forms".
Recently, by integrating CMOS electronics with Ga N based micro-LEDs, they have
developed CMOS controlled color-tunable smart displays. The color-tunable LED pixels in
these displays have a modulation bandwidth of 100 MHz, thus providing simultaneously a
wavelength-agile source for high-speed visible light communications. The programmable
dynamic images generated from such a micro-display system are shown below (red „Tetris‟
and green Firework).

Fujitsu Laboratories Working

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a technology that modulates the colour of light emitted by
LED lights in such a way as to be undetectable to the human eye, but that can still embed ID
data in the light that is cast on an object.
We will talk about two basic concepts: the first one is Key features of this technology and the
second is Reflectance compensation.

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The key feature of this technology is that information could be embedded using colour
modulations. For more clarification, we know that colour LEDs combine the three lights of
red, green, and blue (RGB) to produce a range of colours. By modulating the intensity of the
light emitted by each of the three component colours along the time axis, ID data can be
embedded in the light cast onto an object, even with very small variations. Data for one ID is
attached to each individual LED light. Figure 13 shows transmit and receive data with colour
modulation.

Figure 15: Colour modulation is used to express and receive data.

When light is cast onto a surface, some of it will be absorbed and some reflected, depending
on the reflectivity of that surface. The signal encoded in the respective RGB wavelengths will
wind up being weakened by that partial absorption, and since this technology uses an image
captured by a camera to measure the reflectivity and compensate accordingly, information-
capturing accuracy has been improved, this issue is called reflectance compensation. Figure
14 show that reflectance compensation improves accuracy in demodulation process.

Figure 16: Reflectance compensation improves accuracy.

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4-2 Li-Fi versus Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is the popular name for the wireless Ethernet 802.11b standard for Wire line local area
networks (WLANs). It is the name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses
radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. This
technology works with no physical wired connection between sender and receiver by using
RF, a frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation.
When an RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is
able to propagate through space.

Li-Fi is a term of one used to describe visible light communication technology applied to high
speed wireless communication. It acquired this name due to the similarity to Wi-Fi, only using
light instead of radio. Wi-Fi is great for general wireless coverage within buildings, and li-fi
is ideal for high density wireless data coverage in confined area and for relieving radio
interference issues, so the two technologies can be considered complimentary. Li-Fi provides
better bandwidth, efficiency, availability and security than Wi-Fi and has already achieved
blisteringly high speed compare with Wi-Fi. It is low-cost technology because of nature of
LEDs and lighting units and there are many opportunities to exploit this medium. Table 1
shows a comparison between LiFi and Wi-Fi.

technology Bandwidth Speed Data Rang Security Power ecological Cost

Expansion Density available impact

Wi-Fi Limited 150 Low medium Good Low medium medium

Mbps (medium)

Li-Fi Exceptional >10 High Low Excellent High Low Low

Gbps (High)

Table 1: comparison between Li-Fi and Wi-Fi

4-3 Challenges for Li-Fi

Apart from many advantages over Li-Fi, this technology is facing some problems such as Li-
Fi requires line of sight (LOS) and receiving device would not be shift in indoors. A major
challenge is how the receiving device will transmit data back to transmitter. Another
important issue is interference from external light sources like sun light, normal bulbs; opaque
materials in the path of transmission will cause interruption in the communication. Another
disadvantage is that Li-Fi doesn‟t work in the dark or light can‟t pass through objects, so if
the receiver is inadvertently blocked in any way, then the signal will immediately cut out.
And the signal is
easily blocked by somebody simply walking in front of the LED source.

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Conclusion
The possibilities are numerous and can be explored further because the concept of Li-Fi is
currently attracting a lot of eye-balls because it offers a genuine and very efficient alternative
to radio based wireless. It has a good chance to replace the traditional Wi-Fi because as an
ever increasing population is using wireless internet, the airwaves are becoming increasingly
clogged, making it more and more difficult to get a reliable, high-speed signal. In the future,
data for laptops, smart phones and tablets can be transmitted through light in the room by
using Li- Fi. Researchers are developing micron sized LED which are able to flicker on and
off around 1000 times quicker than larger LED. If this technology can be put into practical
use, every bulb can be used as a WiFi hotspot to transmit wireless data and we will proceed
toward the cleaner, greener, safer and brighter future. This concept promises to solve issues
such as the shortage of radio-frequency bandwidth and boot out the disadvantages of Wi-Fi.
Li-Fi is the upcoming and on growing technology acting as competent for various other
developing and already invented technologies. Hence the future applications of the Li-Fi can
be predicted and extended to different platforms and various walks of human life.

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