Visible Light Communication: High-Speed Internet from the Ceiling Lamp

The demand for wireless communication networks within buildings will further increase during the coming years. The optical light communication offers an alternative, because it simultaneously uses LED-based light sources as data transmitters, which leads to a significant extension of network capacity while maintaining the mobility expected by the users. The optical data transfer avoids all electromagnetic interference with radio networks and is by definition radio-free.

Data rates of higher than 1 Gbit/s and latencies lower than 2 ms are possible with conventional LEDs, which allows for unproblematic broadband real-time video streaming in highest quality (2/4/8K). With only a few additional components, the standard LED light can be turned into a high performance optical WiFi transmitter. A special modulator turns the light diodes on and off in fast rhythm – this is how the digital information is transferred.