Concept home network using optical communication (via OMEGA project)
LED lighting is inspiring many to innovate. As the world moves towards replacing all light fixtures with energy efficient LED lamps, some are looking to utilize the innate digital nature of the technology in a new wireless communication system.
Flickering faster than the human eye can see, the FIT (Fraunhofer Institute of Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI in Berlin Germany) LED communication light fixture can send data up to 1Gbps over a 90 square-foot range. By combining power-line communication with LED lamps, the FIT solution can be installed into locations with no additional wires needed. This is a big selling point for office and factory non-critical data transmission.
This is a line-of-sight connection. The modulated data streaming LED lamps are sensed by a photo-diode on the desires platform. Very similar IR communication ports of the past. Of course, the data stream can be interrupted very easily just by blocking the sensor. The researchers stated their goal is not for a complete replacement, "It is best suited as an additional option for data transfer where radio transmission networks are not desired or not possible – without needing new cables or equipment in the house. Combinations are also possible, such as optical WLAN in one direction and PowerLAN for the return channel. Films can be transferred to the PC like this and also played there, or they can be sent on to another computer.”
At the moment, the team can transmit 800 Mbps in the lab using red-blue-green-white LEDS, just 200 Mbps shy of their claim. Their next step is increasing the data bandwidth of their solution. The effort is in conjunction with the EU's OMEGA Home Gigabit Access project, a collaboration of 21 European industry and academia partners.
The technology from FIT and OMEGA is not yet available for widespread distribution. They better get a move on, since .
Eavesdropper