Slashdot Mirror
First Ceiling Light Internet Systems Installed
An anonymous reader writes "We last heard about LVX's LED ceiling light optical communication system in December, and now news has broken that the company recently implemented the technology at several city offices in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The LVX/ceiling light system is capable of transmitting data at about three megabits per second, which is about as fast as a residential DSL line. It works by placing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in a standard-sized light fixture. This then transmits coded binary messages to the special modems attached to computers, which also respond via light waves."
The return of the infra-red access point, even if its not infra red this time around same bad concept.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
And unlike said-watch - how does one transmit data back the other direction?!
My office's ceiling lights started flickering recently. Have they been upgraded with this system, too?
"Sir, are there three green lights on the modem?"
"Hang on, let me climb my ladder."
(crashing noise is heard in background)
First was IBM Zurich 30 or so years ago with IR on the ceiling as a connection method
Then there was the IR profile for WiFi. 802.11b at 1Mbit actually has an optical option. However as there is nobody doing it any more so there is no standards compliant kit out there.
Otherwise it is a very cool idea for a number of applications. There are places where you just do not want radio for a variety of reasons. Light is much less likely to cause interference and is much easier to keep "contained" so it is not eavesdropped on.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Why not just stick a regular wireless (RF) transmitter in the light fixture?
I don't understand the point of this. Unlike RF (as far as we know), this actually could give people headaches or whatever.
User: My network won't work.... Tech: Move your ficus tree so it's not blocking the light again...
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
Has anyone considered the Health erffects of BINARY lightwaves on the human Brain? Analog light has been proven by experience to be safe but do we know if the digithal lightwaves will be safe?? This is kust like the POLLUTION of our ETHER with digital (electromagnetic) radiation. When will people learn that just because science can, doesnt mean that science SHOULD???
the newly formed company Fee@Ces inc. announced a breakthrough in encoding binary data in output stools.
"This is great !", an employee of the Sewer City company announced proudly, "Now when I want to convey messages to my colleagues, I simply visit the bathroom and the technology takes care of the rest. And, using our technology of a series of pipes, we can even use this to work from home.".
Fee@Ces did mention that inputting data back to users is a bit harder, as a spokesman said: "Users will need to properly operate the machinery involved to read out the processed stool messages. Failure in doing so can give unexpected results.". It was unclear at the time of writing what the 'unexpected result' meant, as the spokesman had to quickly take care of an 'accident' he had at the bathroom himself.
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
There are four lights!
Money for nothing, pix for free
My old thinkpads IRDA port was faster than 3mbit. You can't do shit with 3mbit..most broadband Internet connections are much faster than 3mbit.
In the age of $50 APs with much better range and throughput where the hell is the market for this or more simply why should anyone care?
...can I see the Matrix?
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
So "Real enterprises" never use WiFi?
Real enterprises treat it as a second class network, but all desktops are generally still on a wired network.
They also generally have you use an encrypted VPN even if you're on an internal WiFi.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Given the plethora of proven connectivity options out there, I can't envision a scenario where I would chose this implementation over others. From TFA they talk about saving energy with the LED lighting system, but couldn't you by a cheaper LED lighting control system without their "value added" data transmission tech added to the cost?
Radio is light. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation
It's probably a wise precaution to install a firewall. Also known as a wall.
I'm supposed to be working right now.
Today computer-power is a plentiful resource. With network tunneling and encryption it is safe to transfer with light. I have seen my fair share of places where networks are really slow due to bad connections due to overcrowding of the wireless spectrum. Hope this tech will be cheap soon.
I seem to recall when modems with lights were still in use, that a video tape of the flashing lights on the modem could be slowed down enough to read the stream of bits. Granted 3mb/s is a great deal faster than 56kb/s, but video technology is faster now, too.
I would presume there is encryption on both ends, but I see a small IR led "bug" left on top of a computer, cube wall, file cabinet, etc. serving as a middle man pickup of the stream while it is decoded on the other end.
It's easy to see that any system requiring special light fixtures and modems for each PC will be far more expensive than simply setting up a wireless access point or two for each floor of a building. This wouldn't even just be a one-time cost, but would apply as part of regular maintenance - which is easier, to swap out a router, or to bring in contractors to replace all of a company's light fixtures?
A system like this could really only be practical where conventional wireless can't be used for some reason. Perhaps in offices where security is the foremost consideration (CIA?), or a building right next to a high-powered radio broadcast tower.
Alphanos
You could even use this for inter-building communication. Stick and transceiver on an outside wall, with the opposite building doing the same. For improved reliability increase the intensity and use a laser instead.
As other people have mentioned the technology is not that novel, but the fact they are actually try to move the technology forward is of interest, since there are scenarios where a more limited signal transmitting solution actually has it uses. Security being one of them. Sure any device in the room could receive the signal, but as wi-fi implementations have shown there are solutions.
BTW in Europe I have seen stores using the fluorescent lighting with data modulated into them to update price tags on the shelves.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
But what about the people who say that fluorescent tube lights flicker at a frequency that gives them headaches etc? Oh boy there will be office workers complain these lights give them migraines, cancer, the lot.
Plus the occasional crazy telling us that the lights were speaking to him....
Is there any risk of epilepsy? I'm guessing there isn't (since it's way too fast), but the right combination of bits might be able to do it, though probably only if intentionally rigged. The point is that this technology makes that possible, perhaps also untraceable.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
Just don't tell them about it. They'll be fine.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
I think it used to be called IRDA.
I think I remember it also sucked. Hard.
Well if it is transmiting 3mbs then it must be modulated at no less then 6 mhz. Nobody can see a 6 mhz flicker so it should be a none issue.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
They keep sending messages to my brain. How can I make them stop...
Don't know about you people, but I'm going to have to start lining my hats with aluminum foil again. The voices... the voices....
and stuff
It should be but the loonies will claim it hurts them somehow. These are the same folks that claim Wifi gives them cancer or whatever.
"It is better than traditional wireless communication since systems such as WI-FI, 3G Networks and Bluetooth all require magnetic radio waves."
Oh, so that's the difference between light and other parts of the EM spectrum. Here I always thought it was just wave length...
I'm glad that science reporter was there to help educate the public. >:/
Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
I could be mistaken here, but I think that's probably an urban legend. Even assuming that you were using a 300-baud modem that could show a nibble at a time on 4 parallel LEDs and that the LEDs were updated on every single bit, that would still be a potential flicker rate of 75Hz. That would be impossible to catch on any consumer-grade camera, although some specialized equipment could capture it. At 14.4kbps, it would be completely impossible with any video equipment that I'm aware of. At 56kbps forget about it.
Depending on directionality, one could certainly plant an IR bug if desired. However, that's not any different than wifi now.
---- I'll take you in a Hunt deathmatch any day.
There's some truth to the fluorescent light complainers... old magnetic ballasts run the light at 60Hz, which can create noticeable flickering (you can see it easier if you look with the side of your vision).
Modern electronic ballasts run at very high (30khz+) frequencies and so don't have this problem.
I thought I had 3mbps DSL but it was losing sync three times per day. I opened a support call and they derated my line to 1.5mpbs so that now it only goes down three times in a week!!! Now in canada they get to charge me extra for heavy down loading -- if only the piece of crap line works long enough for that. 3 mbps DSL? What planet?
And you thought Pikachu was hard on epileptics.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Now wait for the first instance of a hacker hypnotizing an entire office to act like chickens, via the light fitting internet system...
If one looks at technology, the transmitted information below light frequencies allows for using off-the-shelf devices to tune into a network and snoop or even interpose oneself as a man-in-the-middle to capture lots of confidential data. By using modulated Leds, wireless frequency radiation is gone, to where a single cable can bring the signal to the overhead light fixture, and where, using light modulation, no signal inadvertently leaves the room. So, unless the toilet light fixture is wired, you will not be able to bring your laptop there to work while you are busy on the throne.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
"real enterprise" uses desktops?
I would have thought people would all use laptops, so you could hold all sorts of important meetings where you say "enterprise" and "paradigm" a lot.
And since being efficient is the key to "real enterprise" you wouldn't issue both a laptop AND a desktop to an employee.
generally you plug your laptop dock into wired, but when you're on the move in a big campus of your "real enterprise" company email and file servers access is vital. I think I could make the argument from that alone that wireless is your primary network in "real enterprise" business.
Have these been tested for it?
If my lights are doing the mambo constantly, especially bright lights, thats almost a guaranteed nasty headache after awhile.
As if fluorescent lights didn't flicker enough. It's more noticeable than everyone likes to think. As far as security goes, just point a tiny mirror or something at a 45 angle towards a window, and use something to capture it from your nice warm office across the street, much classier than sitting in your nasty van sniffing wifi packets.
9696... inb4 shitstorm
ics
And when people come in and ask how to access the new websites employees can point up above their heads.
old magnetic ballasts run the light at 60Hz
If things are working properly (e.g. nothing in the system is having a diode like affect) they should flicker at 120Hz* which is out of most but not all peoples limit of perception.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register