Boston U researchers dream of LED lighting-based Wi-Fi hotspots

David Gonzales  By on 07 Oct 08

Wires are so caveman-times. Wireless is surely the way to go, if we’re ever going to accomplish more in our future, pristine, and clutter-free work-environments.

But how do we go about it? Wi-Fi has been around for some time, and has done a pretty good job, but there are still underlying issues in using it such as sudden interference, eavesdropping, and the like, which make certain users want to look at yet another solution.

And what else is there? Well, we could find out ways to make Wi-Fi connections more secure, without slowing it down or cutting its range in half. We could try and make Wi-Fi connections as widespread as cellular signals. But researchers from the Boston University’s College of Engineering think differently. They’re proposing LED light-based Wi-Fi hotspots.

You read that right. LED light-based Wi-Fi hotspots. And if that still wasn’t obvious enough for you, they mean, “just walk into the room, flick a switch, turn your Wi-Fi-enabled device on, and then… BOOM! you’re connected.”

This is a pretty interesting, if only childish approach to a problem that plagues many of us. Imagine, Wi-Fi hotspots generated by lightbulbs at the same time as light! Who would’ve thought?

If this technology ever gets deployed, it might be better than our currently existing solutions in several respects, but it still won’t be perfect. For one, its range will be limited to the spaces where light from the LEDs can creep through. And two, users of this technology would, after many hours of usage, get a tan.

All jokes aside, though, this Smart Lighting technology certainly seems to be on the right track to giving us wireless freedom, all in a cheaper and somewhat energy-efficient package. Hopefully, we’ll get to see the fruits of this National Science Foundation-granted project soon.

Via Cellular News

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