What is LiFi, internet 100 times faster than WiFi, tested in Ariane 6 ?

© ArianeGroup

During the launch of Ariane 6 on July 9, the teams in charge of configuring the scientific experiments on board carried out a very special mission, installing Li-Fi. This internet connection, described as 100 times faster than our current Wi-Fi, was tested for the first time on board a rocket. But in the meantime, while almost everyone don’t have access to Li-Fi yet, it is still undoubtedly vital to learn information such as 192.168.11.1.

Concretely, Li-Fi uses light to transfer information. While Wifi uses radio waves. The main difference between these two methods is the amount of data that can be transferred between two points. Li-Fi would thus be 100 times faster than Wifi. 

Li-Fi works with a system of ultra-reactive LEDs that can turn on and off several million times every second. This technology, developed by the French company Oledcomm, therefore sends a large quantity of information in infrared, a part of the light spectrum invisible to the human eye.

The information is then converted into binary data, as could be done with Morse code and sound waves. In a press release on the subject, the ESA, the European Space Agency, assures that these modulations can be carried out more than 10 million times per second, allowing ultra-fast and super-efficient information transfer.

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Space as the first client

The space industry is increasingly interested in Li-Fi technologies. The arrival of an experiment under the hood of Ariane 6 is anything but chance. The space world appreciates this new approach because it reduces the risk of malfunction. In addition to transferring ever more data, ever more quickly, Li-Fi does not require cables. The risks of hardware failure are therefore very limited.

Li-Fi technology also offers advantages from an energy point of view. To function, it only needs a few LEDs, which consume much less electricity than a WiFi installation. With so many advantages, the space industry could become one of the first customers of Li-Fi, before this standard arrives in all our homes?

Li-Fi, the future of the internet

For now, Li-Fi experiences like this carried out in Ariane 6 are limited to “two on-board modules 80 centimeters apart.” But as Benjamin Azoulay, CEO of Oledcomm, reminds us, this is a great world first, which should only demonstrate the possibility of ;#8217;use of Li-Fi systems in space.

If the return of data after this first experience proves conclusive, developments in this technology could be exponential over the coming years. In addition to space uses, Li-Fi could arrive at our homes and replace our internet boxes.

Several company projects are focusing on this technology to offer a different solution to Wifi. This is particularly the case for “Li-Fi lamps”. Already in 2019, the world-famous brand Philipps launched a range of bulbs capable of transferring information via Li-Fi.

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