Iillustration 19276996 / Dirk Erck / Dreamstime
Illustration 60886103 / Kheng Ho To /Dreamstime
Illustration 19276996 / Dirk Erck / Dreamstime

WiFi lighting?

March 10, 2010
Can't get enough of wacky technological convergence? Here's one that's new to us: some researchers in Germany are working on wireless broadband networking that uses flickering LED lighting to transmit the signal instead of radio frequencies. The ...

Can't get enough of wacky technological convergence? Here's one that's new to us: some researchers in Germany are working on wireless broadband networking that uses flickering LED lighting to transmit the signal instead of radio frequencies. The connections would have virtually unlimited bandwidth to work with, but would be limited to line-of-sight connections because visible frequencies don't pass through walls - that means more security from wardrivers and eavesdroppers but less range. Mark this under "we'll see."

Here's the release on the research, to be presented at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference March 21-25 in San Diego, via Eurekalert: Details