Podcast: LiFi – Is the industry ready to see the light?

PolicyTracker‘s podcast series continues with a look at Light Fidelity (LiFi) technology. Instead of using radio frequencies (RF), this form of wireless communication transmits data through light.

PolicyTracker’s Mirva Villa spoke to Professor Harald Haas, who is considered a LiFi pioneer. He explained how the technology works and where the industry is heading.

The proponents of using light spectrum claim it could be the answer to the so-called “spectrum crunch”. The spectrum of light available is much wider than the RF spectrum, and largely unencumbered by other users.

However, the technology is yet to take off in the consumer market. Current users are in sectors (such as defence) where LiFi’s characteristics make it suitable for providing fast, private communications.

LiFi is yet to be deployed at scale commercially, but the introduction of a new Wi-Fi standard could change that. The new standard allows for LiFi to be used as a complementary technology to WiFi, but there is still room for it to grow as a standalone technology. In the podcast, we also consider the obstacles LiFi must overcome to become more widely used.

Listen to the new podcast below. You can also find it on all major podcast platforms.