Boston University's College of Engineering is partnering with the National Science foundation to develop
the next generation of wireless communications technology based on
visible light instead of radio waves
Researchers expect to piggyback
data communications capabilities on low-power light emitting diodes, or
LEDs, to create "Smart Lighting" that would be faster and more secure
than current network technology.
"Imagine if your computer,
iPhone, TV, radio and thermostat could all communicate with you when
you walked in a room just by flipping the wall light switch and without
the usual cluster of wires," said BU Engineering Professor Thomas
Little. "This could be done with an LED-based communications network
that also provides light - all over existing power lines with low power
consumption, high reliability and no electromagnetic interference.
Ultimately, the system is expected to be applicable from existing
illumination devices, like swapping light bulbs for LEDs."
This initiative, known as the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (http://smartlighting.bu.edu),
is part of an $18.5 million, multi-year NSF program awarded to Boston
University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of New
Mexico to develop the optical communication technology that would make
an LED light the equivalent of a WiFi access point. This innovative
alternative may one day replace most of today's lighting devices.
Rensselaer
and UNM will work on creating novel devices along with systems
applications to better understand the proliferation of smart lighting
technologies plus materials needed for wireless devices to interface
with the network. Together with BU, the three partners will have 30
faculty researchers plus students, postdoctoral researchers and
visiting industry engineers as regular contributors to the research
conducted by the Smart Lighting ERC.
Boston
University researches will focus on developing computer networking
applications, notably the solid state optical technology that will form
the network's backbone. Funding for the BU portion of the program is
expected to total about $1 million per year for the next 10 years plus
additional funding from industrial partners and possibly the formation
of new businesses by entrepreneurs.
"This is a unique
opportunity to create a transcendent technology that not only enables
energy efficient lighting, but also creates the next generation of
secure wireless communications," Little added. "As we switch from
incandescent and compact florescent lighting to LEDs in the coming
years, we can simultaneously build a faster and more secure
communications infrastructure at a modest cost along with new and
unexpected applications."
Little envisions indoor optical
wireless communications systems that use white LED lighting within a
room - akin to the television remote control device - to provide
Internet connections to computers, personal digital assistants,
television and radio reception, telephone connections and thermostat
temperature control.
With widespread LED lighting, a vast
network of light-based communication is possible, Little noted. A
wireless device within sight of an enabled LED could send and receive
data though the air - initially at speeds in the 1 to 10 megabit per
second range - with each LED serving as an access point to the network.
Such a network would have the potential to offer users greater
bandwidth than current RF technology.
Moreover, since this
white light does not penetrate opaque surfaces such as walls, there is
a higher level of security, as eavesdropping is not possible. LED
lights also consume far less energy than RF technology, offering the
opportunity to build a communication network without added energy costs
and reducing carbon emissions over the long term.
"The
innovative LED-based networking research that Smart Lighting ERC is
conducting has the potential to be extremely positive and disruptive to
the market," said Inder Monga, Leader, Advanced Networking Research at
Nortel. "Nortel believes the era of hyperconnectivity is upon us and
the potential new applications that this visible light-based networking
could enable with its energy efficient qualities, privacy and its
ubiquitous nature is very exciting."
The ability to rapidly
turn LED lights on and off - so fast the change is imperceptible to the
human eye - is key to the technology. Flickering light in patterns
enables data transmission without any noticeable change in room
lighting. And the technology is not limited to indoor lights; its first
real test may very well come outdoors, in the automotive industry.
"This
technology has many implications for automobile safety," Little said.
"Brake lights already use LEDs, so it's not a stretch to outfit an
automobile with a sensor that detects the brake lights of the car in
front of it and either alerts an inattentive driver or actively slows
the car."