Ceiling Lights Are Delivering the Web

[The_Dude 1,142]

Ceiling Lights Are Delivering the Web

It’s simple: instead of radio waves or cables, these ceiling lights are transmitting information via flickering binary code (basically) at a special photosensitive modem. The company’s called LVX System and it’s already installed the tech, which is on par with home DSL speed-wise, in six municipal buildings in Minnesota.The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is, likely, next.

Of course, there’s also sorts of issues with something like this—like, quit standing over my modem—but, weirdly enough, the LED lighting is a big money-saver in the long-term, just because of energy efficiency. It pays for itself, and the whole internet aspect is a “bonus.” As for speed, researchers at Penn State have already developed an experimental system that’s six to 14 faster than any existing Wi-Fi, and LVS System itself is promising a next-generation product that kicks up to at least Wi-Fi speeds.

Also, very notably, this is tech that’s back from the dead. Alexander Graham Bell had this idea in 1880 with his “photophone,” a transmission system that sent voice information via a modulated light beam. I’d say it never caught on, but the photophone is basically the precursor to fiber-optics. And what is this but regressive fiber-optics—minus the fiber and a whole lot slower (so far).

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