If researchers at Boston University's College of Engineering have their way, light bulbs of the future may be the highway your data gets carried along. A team at the school is working on low-power LEDs which could utilize an optical communication system to carry data wirelessly. Using a technique which rapidly switches the LEDs on and off data transmissions could be made via imperceptible -- yet undoubtedly brain-scrambling -- flickering patterns, and each light would be its own network entry point at speeds of 1 to 10Mbps. The concept is more secure than current RF techniques because it requires linked devices be in line-of-sight, and the technology would draw far less energy than conventional radios. Says professor Thomas Little, "Imagine if your computer, iPhone, TV, radio and thermostat could all communicate with you when you walked in a room just by flipping the wall light switch and without the usual cluster of wires." Yes... and talk about you behind your back. And plot your "accidental" death after taking out a large life insurance policy on you. You won't get away with this LED network!
[Thanks, Travis]
posted October 7th 2008 5:57AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the perks of WiFi that you *don't* have to stay in line-of-sight?
I would think you would have problems with bugs flying into the lamps. It would give an old new meaning to bugs in the system.
So I'll have to keep my PDA or phone oriented in a way to keep its transponder pointed at the ceiling? blech.
Now, small, low power, wifi access points that fit in light fixtures ? With intelligence so that you can seamlessly move from one area to the next within a federation of those access points? THAT would be useful and cool.
Cool.. but.. This would be affected differently than your conventional wireless routers how?
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Line of sight only? I'd say that sort of defeats the purpose. And it's only for a 1-10Mbps connection! You'd might as well use a traditional Ethernet cable; you're going to have to set up some sort of wired system to get the LED sensors within range anyway (if I'm not mistaken. If they only work within line of sight, those LEDs are going to have to be hooked up to a solid connection at some point... unless I missed something), so it'd might as well be for 100Mbps (typically). It's a nice concept, but not truly as wireless as Wi-Fi.
Perhaps this would only be worthwhile if nobody knew you were doing it, as they would not be able to detect it using traditional methods. Seems like a bad plot device for a spy film.
This is old stuff. There were irda Apple talk networks long before you were born kids!
It's already being done in the "real" world. Look here....http://www.lightcorp.com/Intu.cfm
Engadget commenters spout some of the funniest one-liners ever. Seriously, where I work (my co-workers are all between 19-21 yrs old), the staff chat-room funnies are all inspired by you folks.
I think y'all deserve your own web video/audio series, where Engadget breaks a story, and the highest-ranked people get to send an audio recording of their comments in or somesuch
And God said, Let there be internet.
next,
the air for wireless communication medium
How many I.T. guys does it take to change a light bub?...oh wait.
Impressive
here in http://www.cisdec.com, we are specialized in videosurveillance and are eager to get rid of all those wires...
hoping it's not a hoax !
thx, Emmanuel