Scientists in Shanghai have successfully connected to the internet using signals sent by lightbulbs, Xinhua reports.
Four computers under a one-watt LED lightbulb may connect to the Internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier instead of traditional radio frequencies, as in WiFi, said Chi Nan, an information technology professor with Shanghai's Fudan University, on Thursday.
A lightbulb with embedded microchips can produce data rates as fast as 150 megabits per second, which is speedier than the average broadband connection in China, said Chi, who leads a LiFi research team including scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
10 sample LiFi kits will be on display at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai which opens on November 5.
"Wherever there is an LED lightbulb, there is an Internet signal," said Chi. "Turn off the light and there is no signal."
However, LiFi is still a long way from becoming a commercial success, since the technology requires line-of-sight to function.
"If the light is blocked, then the signal will be cut off," said Chi.
As one commenter at Kinja points out, "try solving the issue of the connection dropping every time the cat walks by the computer. And god help you if he settles down for a nap."
The term LiFi was coined by Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh, but had previously only been a theoretical technology.
[Image via Flickr]
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