This Firm To Produce New Smart Lightbulb That Beams Data Via Light Instead Of WiFi

Signify has just made an official announcement on its new smart lightbulb called the Trulifi, which can make use of light to beam data. In other words, the device can work as a WiFi network.

In the company’s press release, the Chief Innovation Officer Olivia Qiu was committed that

Li-Fi is the name of the technology developers used to design the smart lightbulb. According to the manufacturer, it is capable of sending data from a ceiling light to any laptop or smartphone at the speed of up to 150 Mbps. This speed is similar to that of a common WiFi router.

The major difference between this smart lightbulb and a WiFi router is that Signify’s product uses light waves while the second device uses the radio signals. To transmit and receive a signal, you will have to own both a USB access key and a bulb transceiver.

The most outstanding advantage this smart device brings to users is that they don’t need to access the Internet from the same frequency spectrum of radio signals anymore – the situation often happens to those who work at crowded working space such as an office or a hospital.

The idea was first introduced in 2011. In a talk with TED, the Li-Fi inventor Harald Haas gave the idea that light bulbs could send data, similar to a Wi-Fi router, in the future.

However, this kind of smart lightbulb has its own disadvantages. For example, only a shadow can easily block it. On the other hand, it may be a good option for many security applications, especially when users need more control over the spreading scope of the network.