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Researchers Beam 230Mb/sec Wireless Internet WIth LEDs

Posted by timothy on from the binded-by-the-light dept.

MikeChino writes "A group of scientists from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute have devised a way to encode a visible-frequency wireless signal in light emitted by plain old desklamps and other light fixtures. The team was able to achieve a record-setting data download rate of 230 megabits per second, and they expect to be able to double that speed in the near future. While the regular radio-frequency Wi-Fi most of us use currently is perfectly fine, it does have its flaws — it has a limited bandwidth that confines it to a certain spectrum and if you've ever had someone leech off of your connection, you know that it also leaks through walls. LED wireless signals would theoretically have none of these downsides."

2 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. No upsides either by IICV · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Leaking through walls" isn't a bug, it's a feature; I don't want to wire my whole house for Ethernet just to have wireless in every room, as that defeats the purpose.

  2. I remember a DIY LED netsystem.... by Ogi_UnixNut · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...called Ronja, only 10-mbits/sec, but ~1.4km range, and it could all be built by yourself. Quite cool IMO. You can find out more info (on the now bit dated) site here: http://ronja.twibright.com/