![\"Maite](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Maite-Brandt-Pearce.jpg\")
<\/a>Maite Brandt-Pearce<\/p><\/div>\n
More wireless news<\/h3>\n
Uncapped prices: ADSL vs Neotel wireless vs Telkom LTE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
University of Virginia engineering professor Maite Brandt-Pearce and Harvard professor Mohammad Noshad have devised a way of using light waves from LEDs\u00a0to carry signals to wireless devices at 300 megabits per second.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe developed a modulation algorithm that increases the throughput of data in visible light communications,\u201d said Brandt-Pearce.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can transmit more data without using any additional energy. As more light fixtures get replaced with LED lights, you can have different access points to the same network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their breakthrough means that data can be transmitted faster with light waves using no more energy than is already required to run the lights.<\/p>\n
Noshad and Brandt-Pearce have filed a patent for their idea and Noshad has created a company – VLNComm (Visible Light Network Communications) – to which Brandt-Pearce is a consultant.<\/p>\n
The firm is developing a prototype for potential investors – a desk lamp that provides an Internet connection through light.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can make different products, such as a large LED panel for shopping centres, airports, and conference rooms. And we can build LED bulbs for use in the home,\u201d said Noshad.<\/p>\n
He said computers would require the addition of software to connect to\u00a0the LED transmitters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a replacement for Wi-Fi – it\u2019s an augmentation,\u201d said Brandt-Pearce. \u201cResearchers have called it \u2018Li-Fi\u2019. Our modulation can be used in any optical device so this has the potential for widespread use and much better access than present Wi-Fi based on radio waves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can use it any place that has lighting.”<\/p>\n
Like current wireless communications, encryption is necessary to keep data secure, but Brandt-Pearce noted that a secure network could be created in a room with no windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can\u2019t be detected outside the room because the light waves stop when they hit something opaque, such as a wall.”<\/p>\n
And two networks in different rooms would not interfere with each other the way they do with present Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n
She said devices with LED circuits can also communicate with each other. \u201cYour alarm clock can communicate with your coffee maker that it is time to start making the coffee.”<\/p>\n
Because the system does not use radio waves, it\u00a0can be used in places where radio waves could create problems, such as in hospitals, in manufacturing facilities, and in aeroplane\u00a0cabins.<\/p>\n