Internet via an outlet.
Scientists from a college at Boston University have undertaken a project the enormity of which Anatoly Chubais himself with his nanotechnologies and RAO UES would envy: they are going to develop a technology that will turn ordinary electric light into a channel for transmitting information.
Researchers intend to develop special LED systems that will “make” lamps and luminaires “blink” at certain frequencies that are invisible to the human eye. Actually, data will be transmitted in this way.
“Imagine that your computer, smartphone, TV or, for example, an electronic thermostat on the wall could receive information without any wires — just turn on the light,” says Boston University professor Thomas Little. – This is possible using an LED communication network with low electrical energy consumption, high reliability and no electromagnetic interference. Moreover, this network can also be built on the basis of an existing lighting network.”
According to his assumptions, the new technology will significantly reduce traffic costs and reduce harm to the environment. Moreover, it can be used not only indoors, but also outdoors. In particular, Little described to journalists such a fascinating picture: cars will “read” signals from the headlights of cars in front, inform the driver of the speed of his braking or turn on the appropriate security systems. It is clear that if the “electric Internet” networks are successfully developed, traditional Wi-Fi hotspots will no longer be needed. However, skeptics are somewhat confused by one point: modern LEDs can turn on and off no more than 10 million times per second, which limits the data transfer rate to a maximum of 10 Mbit/s. For comparison, Wi-Fi technologies allow, in theory, to reach speeds of 600 Mbit/s. However, Little’s group has its own answer to this argument: a whole group of LEDs can transmit data simultaneously, they say. So “Wi-Fi speed” can be achieved and even surpassed. The development will be financed by the US National Science Foundation.
“I don’t know what about cars, but there’s no way to displace hotspots of this technology,” Andrei Nenakhov, director of the Redsolution company, doubts. – Unless American scientists manage to teach light to propagate along a curve, and transceivers to work with re-reflected light. Otherwise, any object, for example, a person walking around the room, once in the line of sight, will interrupt the data transmission. And this technology cannot be called particularly innovative: let’s say, the IR port that was recently present on any phone is a type of LED that “blinks” at a frequency invisible to the human eye. High-speed optical data transmission is also not new — laser ethernet devices (bridges, access points, etc.) are widely used in countries where fog and rain are rare.”
“The idea, of course, is tempting,” notes Tatyana Mukhamadeeva, director of the PRaktik company. – However, it is still too early to draw any conclusions and assumptions: let’s wait until the Boston group achieves at least some practical results. After all, in the last century, Nikola Tesla also invented devices for transmitting electricity wirelessly over hundreds of thousands of kilometers. And where are they now? And Tesla is still a bigger name in the world of physics than Little, with all due respect to the latter.”