WJ4.

1 (Plenary)
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM

LiFi: Conceptions, Misconceptions and Opportunities

Harald Haas

LiFi Research and Development Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK,
h.haas@ed.ac.uk

Abstract In this talk we will first explain what Light-Fidelity (LiFi) is and highlight the key differences
to visible light communication (VLC). We will discuss misconceptions and illustrate the potential impact
this technology can have across a number of existing and emerging industries.

LiFi Conceptions
It is forecast that by 2020, we will generate
44 zettabytes of data. This amounts to nearly as
many bits on the planet as stars in the universe.
A vast amount of this data will be generated by
machines. In this context, it is forecast that by
2020, there will be 80 billion Internet-of-Things
(IoT) devices. Take a wind turbine for example.
A wind turbine currently already creates 10 ter-
abytes of data per day. A lot of this digital data
is transmitted from a source to a receiver across Fig. 1: LiFi is an additional wireless networking layer
large distances, and this end-to-end communica- complementing existing heterogeneous RF networking
technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), and
tion very often involves a wireless link. In the past,
Wireless-Fidelity (WiFi). In LiFi every LED light source acts
resources to achieve wireless connectivity have as an access point (AP) for bi-directional networked wireless
been taken from the radio frequency (RF) spec- multiuser communication indoors, but also outdoors. The
trum. These are the electromagnetic frequencies high density of light sources is exploited to achieve orders of
magnitude improvements in data density. Since light does not
of up to 300 GHz. The generally accepted expo-
propagate through opaque walls and objects, physical layer
nential increase in data volumes during the next security is enhanced massively. (Photo courtesy of pureLiFi).
decade will make it increasingly difficult to provide
enough RF resources. At this point it is helpful advent of power over ethernet (PoE) and its use
to recognize that the electromagnetic spectrum is in lighting, there exists the opportunity to piggy-
much larger. There are 300 THz (1000 times the back on existing data network infrastructures for
300 GHz RF spectrum!) unused bandwidth avail- the required backhaul connections between the
able at higher frequencies in the visible light spec- light sources with its integrated LiFi modem and
trum. These resources can be used for data com- the Internet.
munication which has been successfully demon-
strated for decades in fibre optic communication LiFi Misconceptions
using coherent light communication links enabled Misconceptions about LiFi can be addressed as
by lasers. follows:
With the advent of the high brightness light LiFi is a line-of-sight (LoS) technology
emitting diode (LED), which produces incoherent This perhaps is the greatest misconception. By
light, it is logical to consider the light spectrum using an orthogonal frequency division multiplex-
for pervasive wireless communication which can ing (OFDM)-type intensity modulation (IM)/direct
be achieved with LiFi, a technology first coined detection (DD) modulation scheme 1 , the data
in 2 . LiFi extends the concept of visible light com- rate scales with the achieved signal-to-noise ra-
munication (VLC) to achieve high speed, secure, tio (SNR) 4 . In a typical office room environment
bi-directional and fully networked wireless com- where the minimum level of illumination for read-
munications 3 , and this is illustrated in Fig. 1. It ing purposes is 500 lux, the SNR at table height
is important to note that LiFi supports user mo- is between 40 dB and 60 dB. This means higher
bility and multiuser access. The key advantages order digital modulation schemes can be used in
of a LiFi wireless networking layer are: i) three conjunction with OFDM to harness the available
orders of magnitude enhanced data densities; ii) channel capacity. By using adaptive modulation
unique properties to enhance physical layer secu- and coding (AMC) it is possible to transmit data at
rity; iii) three order of magnitude improvements in SNRs as low as -6 dB. This means signal block-
energy efficiency; iv) use in intrinsically safe en- ages between 46 dB - 66 dB can be tolerated.
vironments such as petrochemical plants and oil Fig. 2 illustrates a video transmission to the lap-
platforms where RF is often banned; v) with the top in the foreground over a distance of about 3 m

978-1-5090-1906-9/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE 680

 data at a speed of 1.1 Gbps over a distance of
10 m with an LED of merely 4.5 mW optical out-
put power.
LiFi Opportunities
LiFi is a disruptive technology that is poised to
impact a large number of industries. LiFi can un-
lock the IoT, drive Industry 4.0 applications, en-
able light as a service (LaaS) in the lighting in-
dustry, contribute to the 5th generation of cel-
Fig. 2: LiFi video transmission in a strictly lular systems (5G) and beyond, enable new in-
non-line-of-sight (NLoS) scenario. A LiFi AP in the
telligent transport systems, enhance road safety
background directly connects to an off-the-shelf LED light
fixture. The LED lamp streams a video to a LiFi modem in the when there are more and more driverless cars,
foreground which is connected via a universal serial create new cyber-secure wireless networks, en-
bus (USB) connection to the laptop positioned at the front. able new ways of health monitoring of aging soci-
eties, and offer new solutions to close the digital
where the LED light fixture is pointing towards a divide.
white wall in the opposite direction to the loca- LiFi will have a catalytic effect for the merger of
tion of the receiver. Therefore, there is no direct two major industries: i) the wireless communica-
LoS component reaching the receiver in the fore- tions industry, and ii) the lighting industry. In 25
ground, but the video is successfully received. years from now the LED lightbulb will serve thou-
LiFi does not work in sunlight conditions sands of applications and will be an integral part
Sunlight constitutes a constant interfering signal of the emerging smart cities, smart homes and
outside the bandwidth used for data modulation. the IoT, and LaaS will be a dominating theme in
LiFi operates at frequencies typically greater than the lighting industry which will drive the required
1 MHz. Therefore, the constant sunlight is sim- new business models when LED lamps last 20
ply filtered out, and has no impact on the bit error and more years. LaaS in combination with LiFi
ratio (BER) performance as long as the receiver will, therefore, provide a business model driven
is not saturated. This has been shown in exper- pull for the lighting industry to enter what has tra-
imental studies with commercial LiFi equipment ditionally been a wireless communications mar-
from pureLiFi. Saturation can be avoided by using ket.
automatic gain control algorithms. So on the con-
trary, we assert that sunlight is hugely beneficial Acknowledgements
as it enables solar cell based LiFi receivers where The author acknowledges support from the
the solar cell acts as data receiver device, and at EPSRC under Established Career Fellowship,
the same time harvests sunlight as energy 6 . EP/K008757/1, and the UPVLC programm grant,
Lights cannot be dimmed There are ad- EP/K00042X/1.
vanced modulation techniques such as enhanced
unipolar OFDM (eU-OFDM) 5 which enable the References
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erated at very low light output levels while main- the Development of Networks and Communities, 2006.
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[2] H. Haas. Wireless Data from Every Light Bulb. TED Web-
The lights flicker The lowest frequency at site, Aug. 2011.
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tion. This, however, does not mean that both func- tral efficiency in intensity modulation and direct detec-
tionalities always have to be used together. Both tion systems. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
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functions can easily be separated (please see the
[6] Z. Wang, D. Tsonev, S. Videv, and H. Haas. On the
comment on dimming). As a result, LiFi can also Design of a Solar-Panel Receiver for Optical Wireless
be used very effectively for uplink communication Communications With Simultaneous Energy Harvesting.
where lighting is not required. The infrared spec- IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications,
33(8):16121623, Aug 2015.
trum, therefore, lends itself perfectly for the uplink.
We have conducted an experiment where we sent

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