WOLAITA SODO UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS AND COMPUTING

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
ADVANCED COMPUTER NETWORKING ASSIGNMENT
POST GRADUATE CLASS

Article Review of LI-FI Technology

By
Lewi Thomas

Authors:- Roziin Badeel[1], Nischay[2], Safwan Alfattani[3]

Title:1.A Review on LiFi Network Research: Open Issues, Applications and Future Directions
Department of Communication Technology and Network, University Putra Malaysia (UPM)
2.A Review Paper on Li-Fi Technology Department of Electronics & Communication
Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Jaipur Jaipur, India
3.Review of LiFi Technology and Its Future Applications University of Ottawa School of Electrical

Engineering and Computer Science Ottawa,Canada

Submitted to:-Dr J. Sebastian Nixon

November ,2022

Wolaita sodo,Ethiopia
Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Ottawa,
Canada

Abstract

Li-Fi stands for Light Fidelity. The technology is very new and was proposed by the German physicist Harald
Haas in 2011 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global Talk on Visible Light Communication (VLC).
Li-Fi is a wireless optical networking technology that uses light emitting diodes (LEDs) for transmission of data.
The term Li-Fi refers to visible light communication (VLC) technology that uses light as medium to deliver
high-speed communication in a manner similar to Wi-Fi and complies with the IEEE standard IEEE. The IEEE
802.15.7 is a high-speed, bidirectional and fully networked wireless communication technology based standard
similar to Wi-Fis IEEE 802.11

Light Fidelity technologies are becoming well-liked everyday due to their important role in different applications
such as Hospitals, Smart Lighting, Underwater Communication and Harmful Environments etc.

Li-Fi provides better bandwidth, efficiency, connectivity and security than Wi-Fi and has already achieved high
speeds larger than 1 Gbps under the laboratory conditions. By Leveraging the low-cost nature of LEDs and
lighting units, there are lots of opportunities to exploit this medium. Li-Fi is the transfer of data through light by
taking fiber out of fiber optics and sending data through LED light bulb.

Keywords:- LI-FI, WI-FI, LEDs,Wifi,TED VLC, Radio Spectrum.

INTRODUCTION

The idea of Li-Fi was introduced for the first time by a German physicist Harald Hass in the TED (Technology,
Entertainment, Design) Global talk on Visible Light Communication (VLC) in July 2011, by introducing it as
data through illumination. He used a table lamp with an LED bulb to transmit a video of a blooming flower that
was then projected onto a screen. In simple terms, Li-Fi can be thought of as a light-based Wi-Fi i.e. instead of
radio waves it uses light to transmit data. In place of Wi-Fi modems, Li- Fi would use transceivers fitted with
LED lamps that could light a room as well as transmit and receive information.(1)

Light fidelity (LiFi) is newer wireless-communication systems which uses light as a carrier as an alternative of
traditional radio frequencies, as in Wi-Fi. LiFi is a cutting edge thought in data innovation, one that focuses on
eventually supplanting radio recurrence remote signs with those that originate from light sources.(2)

By Communication through visible light, Li-Fi technology has the possibility to change how we access the
Internet, stream videos, receive emails and much more. Security would not be an issue as data can’t be accessed
in the absence of light. As a result, it can be used in high security military areas where RF communication is
prone to eavesdropping.(3)

There are many problems on the existing research of a study of security issues in LiFi network technology.
Several kinds of attacks carried out in network boundary like impedance from outside light sources like daylight,
ordinary bulbs, hazy materials in the way of transmission will cause interruptions in the communication, doesn’t
work in the dark or light can’t pass through objects and needs line of sight (LOS) and getting gadget would not
be move in indoors. This study analyses security issues and performance aspects of Li Fi network technology,
more specifically, the current study addresses security risk, vulnerabilities, and performance factors and solutions
Li Fi technology in relation to performance. The objective of this paper is to describe this new emerging
technology, main developments, its advantages and limitations, and its possible future applications.[Lewi
Thomas].
 2.ARCHITECTURE OF LI-FI

Li-Fi which can be the future of data communication appears to be a fast and cheap optical version of Wi-Fi.
Being a Visible Light Communication (VLC), Li-Fi uses visible light of electromagnetic spectrum between 400
THz and 800 THz as optical carrier for data transmission and illumination. It uses fast pulses of light to transmit
information in wireless medium. The main components of a basic Li-Fi system may contain the following:

1. A high brightness white LED which acts as transmission source.

2. A silicon photodiode with good response to visible light as the receiving element.(3)

Turning the LEDs on and off can make them generate digital strings with different combination of 1s and 0s.
To generate a new data stream, data can be encoded in the light by varying the flickering rate of the LED. In this
way, the LEDs work as a transmitter by modulating the light with the data signal. The LED output appears
constant to the human because they are made to flicker at a phenomenal speed (millions of times per second) and
its impossible for human eye to detect this frequency. Communication rate more than 100 Mbps can be achieved
by using high speed LEDs with the help of various multiplexing techniques. And this VLC data rate can be
further increased to as high as 10 Gbps via parallel data transmission using an array of LED lights with each
LED transmitting a different data stream. (2)

The Li-Fi transmitter system consists of four primary subassemblies:

 Bulb

 RF Power Amplifier Circuit (PA)

 Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

 Enclosure

These smart devices require wide bandwidths and high data rates. However, most of the radio
frequency (RF) spectrum has been utilized or assigned for certain applications, and it becomes more
difficult to accommodate more wireless devices. One of the proposed solutions that can tackle this
issue and provides high data rate is the LiFi technology, which uses the visible light spectrum for
wireless communications, instead of the radio spectrum. This is a recent technology introduced by
Prof. Harald Hass in 2011.(1)

Figure 1: Global wireless data traffic forecast by Cisco [source: Cisco VNI Mobile, 2016
Figure 2: Effect of smart mobile devices and connections growth on traffic [source: Cisco VNI Mobile, 2016
How It Works
The working of Li-Fi is very simple. There is a light emitter on one end i.e. an LED transmitter,
and a photo detector (light sensor) on the other. The data input to the LED transmitter is encoded in
to the light (technically referred to as Visible Light Communication) by varying the rate at which the
LEDs turns ‘on’ and ‘off’ to achieve different strings of 1s and 0s. The on off activity of the LED
transmitter which seems to be invisible (The LED intensity is modulated so fast that human eye
cannot notice it, so the light of the LED appears constant to humans), enables data transmission in
light form in accordance with the incoming binary codes: switching ON a LED is a logical '1',
switching it OFF is a logical '0'. By varying the rate at which the LEDs turns on and off, information
can be encoded in the light to different combinations of 1s and 0s.In a typical setup, the transmitter
(LED) is connected to the data network (Internet through the modem) and the receiver (photo
detector/light plasma state at the bulb’s center. And this controlled plasma in turn will produce an
intense source of light. All of these subassemblies are contained in an aluminum enclosure as shown
in Fig. 2 above. Working of Li-Fi Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) technology is a wireless communication
system based on the use of visible light between the violet (800 THz) and red (400 THz). Unlike Wi-
Fi which uses the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum, Li-Fi uses the optical spectrum i.e.
Visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The principle of Li-Fi is based on sending data by
amplitude modulation of the light source in a well-defined and standardized way. LEDs can be
switched on and off faster than the human eyes can detect since the operating speed of LEDs is less
than 1 microsecond. This invisible switching activity enables data transmission using binary codes. If
the LED is on, a digital signal ‘1’ is transmitted and if the LED is off, a digital signal ‘0’ is
transmitted. Also these LEDs can be turned on and off very quickly which gives us a very nice
opportunity for transmitting data through LED lights, because there are no interfering light
frequencies like that of the radio frequencies in Wi-Fi. Li-Fi is thought to be 80% more efficient,
which means it can reach speeds of up to 1Gbps and even beyond. Li-Fi differs from fibre optic
because the Li-Fi protocol layers are suitable for wireless communication over short distances (up to
10 meters).This puts Li-Fi in a unique way of extremely fast and efficient wireless communication
over short distances.(1)
ADVANTAGES OF LIFI TECHNOLOGY

1.Capacity

The most important feature of the LiFi technology is, the ability to provide high data rate. The upper
bound on the data rate in communication systems is called channel capacity. According to Shannon-
Hartley theorem, the maximum data rate (Rmax) is proportional to the available bandwidth as follow:

Rmax = B*log2ð1+ SNRÞ (1)

Operating in the visible light band means higher oper- ating frequency, which provides higher
potential band- width (B), and yields eventually higher data rate. In fact, the visible light band is
10,000 times wider than the radio band, as demonstrated in Figure 4, light band in the range (1014–
1016) Hz, while the range of the radio band is (104–1012) Hz. Therefore, by utilizing this
technology, we could achieve data rate in the gigahertz range or more.(3)

2. Free spectrum

Due to the excessive amount of wireless applications and users, which causes large demand for the
bandwidth, there is spectrum scarcity problem.

Figure 4: Frequency spectrum

Most of the spectrum in the radio range has been fully utilized, and it is almost difficult to get wide
bandwidth there. In addition, you have to have a license to access most of the bands in the RF range.
However, the visible light band is free spectrum band that we use it normally to see things. Utilizing
this band for wireless communication will mitigate the spec- trum scarcity problem.
3.Efficiency

Conventional RF communication systems consume a lot of energy and most of this energy is used to
cool base sta- tions (BSs) or APs. However, LiFi communication systems are based on LED lamps
which consume less energy and provide communication in addition to the illumination function. Thus,
LiFi is more energy-efficient.(2)
4.Availability

The wireless communications in the RF band have some restrictions for use in some places, such as
hospitals and airplanes, whereas lamps are available everywhere and can be used in any place.
Therefore, by replacing the typical fluorescent lamps with LED lamps, we will make the wireless
communications available everywhere.
5.Security

Unlike the radio waves, light waves cannot penetrate through the walls. As a result, the data will be
securely confined around the light source, and cannot be accessed by intruders for bad intentions.(1)
6.Complexity

LiFi is a very simple technology in comparison with the radio technology. It is based on direct
modulation and direct demodulation, and a light source in the transmis- sion side, and a
photodetector in the receiver side. However, any radio technology system, WiFi for example,
requires a complex RF circuit for modulating the informa- tion and an antenna to transmit the data.
Also, the radio receiver is more complex since it requires synchronous demodulation circuit with a
receiver antenna [3].
7.Safety

A large number of studies in the literature tried to examine the effects of the electromagnetic waves
in the radio bands to the human body, and many of these studies concluded that the radio signals,
such as WiFi and mobile signals, can negatively affect overall human body health, espe- cially in
children(3)
8.Cost-effective

Besides all the previous benefits, the cost of a LiFi system is much less than a WiFi system or any
radio comparable system. This is because the LED light bulbs and the required circuit components in
a LiFi system are cheaper than the required components in a radio system. In fact, no need for
special LEDs for a LiFi system. Any LED can be used for data transmission, but practically
excellent results can be achieved by using COTS LED devices [2].
LIMITATIONS OF LIFI TECHNOLOGY

For every technology, besides knowing its advantages, we have carefully to realize its limitations in
order to better suggest possible applications of this technology. In this section, a brief description of
some challenges of LiFi technology compared to radio technology will be presented. Some possible
solutions for these limitations will be introduced.[3]
1.High path loss

The path loss of any communication system is propor- tional to the square of the operating frequency (PL α
f 2Þ. The frequency of visible light waves is much higher.[3]
2.Blockages

The light signal is more sensitive to blocks and obstacles than the radio signal. In indoor situations,
unlike radio signals, light signals cannot pass through walls. This is coverage disadvantage, but security
advantage at the same time. In outdoor communication environments, the quality degradation of data
transmission will be severely affected by using light waves instead of radio waves. .[3]
3.NLOS issues

The LiFi system will be less reliable when there is no line- of-sight between transmitting source and
receivers. Therefore, the number of transmitters should be increased in order to increase the possibility
of LOS between trans- mitters and receivers. .[3]

Table 2: Comparison of Wi-Fi and Li-Fi.[3]

Parameter Li-Fi Wi-Fi

Spectrum Used Visible Light RF

Standard IEEE 802.15.7 IEEE 802.11

Based on Radio
Range Based on Light Intensity (< 10m) propagation &
interference ( < 300 m)

Very
Data Transfer Rate high ( ~1 Low (100 Mbps-1 Gbps)
Gbps)

Power consumption Low High

Cost Low High

Bandwidth Unlimited limited

APPLICATIONS OF LIFI TECHNOLOGY

Because the distinct features of LiFi technology, this new emerging technology will have useful real-
life applications.In this section, authors briefiely described some suggested appli- cations .[1,2,3]
1.Hospitals

Generally using the WiFi network or the mobile network in hospitals is restricted, especially beside
medical monitor- ing devices. This is because the radio electromagnetic transmissions may interfere
with medical devices and cause problems. By incorporating the LiFi technology in such places,
wireless communications and accessing the Internet will be easy and safe for all people inside [23].
Furthermore, we could have access to the Internet even in operation rooms, since they are equipped
with lamps. As a result, doctors and experts may be consulted online during critical operations, or
maybe operations can be broad- casted online for educational and medical purposes.

2.Airplanes

Using cellphones or WiFi network to access the Internet is banned on airplanes, due to the fears of
interference with sensitive airplane devices. In just few years ago, several air- lines offered limited
access to the Internet using WiFi with very high charges. However, LiFi can utilize each seat’s reading
light to provide access to the Internet with a very high data rate, and without any concerns of interference
[24].
3.Sensitive plants

The RF communications are prohibited in sensitive plants, such as power plants, petrochemicals plants
and nuclear plants, because of the ignition risks in these environments. However, since the light is safe
in these places, the LiFi system can provide easy coverage and data transmission in such environments.
Consequently, monitoring the plants or detecting faults can be done remotely [25].
3.Traffic management
If the cars’ headlights and backlights are replaced by LED lamps, the LiFi network can be
established between cars. Cars can communicate each other in order to reduce chances of car
accidents [25] (Figure 5).
Also, the street lamps can be equipped with cameras to monitor the roads and detect any
congestion or emer- gency cases, and then send the information directly through LiFi technology to
the traffic management center to take quickly the possible action.
 Figure 5: The communication between cars to reduce chances of accidents.

4.Underwater applications

For underwater remotely operated vehicles, radio com- munications such as WiFi fails completely.
Such vehicles use long cables for communications. By using high pow- ered lamps with LiFi
technology, we can get rid of these cables and thus the vehicles can move easily to explore larger
areas, and send the data wirelessly [26].
5.Outdoor access to the Internet

Nowadays, the only possible option for accessing the Internet outdoors is through the cellular
network. WiFi is limited for indoor environments, and cannot be used outdoors in most practical
situations. But, the LiFi tech- nology will use the outdoor lamps to enable accessing the Internet
easily. Therefore, if someone is walking on the street, sitting at the beach, or playing in the park, he
could have easy access to the Internet as long as he has lamps around him.
6.Educational purposes

Since LiFi provides high data rate and has a very wide bandwidth, it may replace the WiFi systems in
educational institutions in order to serve a large number of students, professors, and other institution
staff with very high data rate [25, 28]. Thus, researching and accessing the informa- tion will be fast
and easy. In addition, it will be quite simple and fast to download or upload lectures, or any high
definition video streaming activity.

Combination of WiFi and LiFi technologies

Taking into consideration the advantages and disadvan- tages of LiFi technology, some proposed
scenarios that combine the WiFi with the LiFi technology are introduced in several references, such
as [2,3] . The com- bined system has many new interesting features. These features include security
enhancement, high data rate, wider coverage region and improved indoor positioning. The first three
features come from the LiFi technology, whereas the coverage feature comes from the WiFi
technology.[lewi thomas]
CONCLUSION

Although there’s still a long way to make this technology a commercial success, it promises a great
potential in the field of wireless internet. A significant number of researchers and companies are
currently working on this concept, which promises to solve the problem of lack of radio spectrum, space
and low internet connection speed. By deployment of this technology, we can migrate to greener,
cleaner, safer communication networks. The very concept of Li-Fi promises to solve issues such as,
shortage of radio- frequency bandwidth and eliminates the disadvantages of Radio communication
technologies. Li-Fi is the upcoming and growing technology acting as catalyst for various other
developing and new inventions/technologies. Therefore, there is certainty of development of future
applications of the Li-Fi which can be extended to different platforms and various walks of human life.

However, there are some challenges for this

technol-
ogy. It is difficult to use for long distances
because it has
high path loss. Also, the LiFi system
performance is very
sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or
outdoor. Further, the communication
quality will degrade
significantly if there is no LOS between the
transmitter
and the receiver. In addition, the uplink
communication
could be the biggest issue for LiFi systems,
since it is
practically difficult to transmit light signals
from UDs to
the AP. It is suggested to use either infrared
or normal RF
signals for uplink communication
However, there are some challenges for this
technol-
ogy. It is difficult to use for long distances
because it has
high path loss. Also, the LiFi system
performance is very
sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or
outdoor. Further, the communication
quality will degrade
significantly if there is no LOS between the
transmitter
and the receiver. In addition, the uplink
communication
could be the biggest issue for LiFi systems,
since it is
practically difficult to transmit light signals
from UDs to
the AP. It is suggested to use either infrared
or normal RF
signals for uplink communication
However, there are some challenges for this
technol-
ogy. It is difficult to use for long distances
because it has
high path loss. Also, the LiFi system
performance is very
sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or
outdoor. Further, the communication
quality will degrade
significantly if there is no LOS between the
transmitter
and the receiver. In addition, the uplink
communication
could be the biggest issue for LiFi systems,
since it is
practically difficult to transmit light signals
from UDs to
the AP. It is suggested to use either infrared
or normal RF
signals for uplink communication.
However, there are some challenges for this
technol-
ogy. It is difficult to use for long distances
because it has
high path loss. Also, the LiFi system
performance is very
sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or
outdoor. Further, the communication
quality will degrade
significantly if there is no LOS between the
transmitter
and the receiver. In addition, the uplink
communication
could be the biggest issue for LiFi systems,
since it is
practically difficult to transmit light signals
from UDs to
the AP. It is suggested to use either infrared
or normal RF
signals for uplink communication
However, there are some challenges for this technology. It is difficult to use for long distances because it
has high path loss. Also, the LiFi system performance is very sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or outdoor. Further, the communication quality will degrade significantly if there is no LOS
between the transmitter and the receiver. In addition, the uplink communication could be the biggest
issue for LiFi systems, since it is practically difficult to transmit light signals from UDs to the AP. It is
suggested to use either infrared or normal RF signals for uplink communication[Lewi Tomas]

deployments of the optical APs. The last

discussed appli-
cation is the multiuser access in LiFi.
NOMA technique can
be used to serve many users with high data
rates.
This technology stills in her early ages, and
more real
applications will emerge in the future.
However, due to its
limitations, it will not replace conventional
radio systems,
but they will cooperate together to satisfy
the large
demand for high data rates caused by the
increasing num-
ber of wireless devices
This technology stills in her early ages, and more real applications will emerge in the future.
However, due to its limitations, it will not replace conventional radio systems, but they will cooperate
together to satisfy the large demand for high data rates caused by the increasing number of wireless
devices[Lewi Tomas]
However, there are some challenges for this
technol-
ogy. It is difficult to use for long distances
because it has
high path loss. Also, the LiFi system
performance is very
sensitive to any obstacles whether they are
indoor or
outdoor. Further, the communication
quality will degrade
significantly if there is no LOS between the
transmitter
and the receiver. In addition, the uplink
communication
could be the biggest issue for LiFi systems,
since it is
practically difficult to transmit light signals
from UDs to
the AP. It is suggested to use either infrared
or normal RF
signals for uplink communication
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