LI-FI Demonstration

Here is the actual demonstration of Harald Haas's LI-FI technology concept. The video speaks for itself but the low down is Haas streaming a video using LED bulbs. He also demonstrates what happens when you step in front of the receiver from the light emitting data source. The demo should provide a glimpse of a possible future where light gives information out to people as apposed to what we have today. The video's website gives a more descriptive summary of the video if you wish to visit it.
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/08/new-wireless-technologies-lifi-and-dido.html

Harald Haas and Some LI-FI history

Harald Haas continues to wow the world with the potential to use light for communication. LI-FI technology has the potential to change how we access the internet, stream videos, receive emails and much more. The technology truly began during the 1990's in countries like Germany, Korea, and Japan where they discovered LED's could be retrofitted to send information. This type of light would come in familiar forms such as infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light. While the project is facing early challenges such as finding ways to get devices to receive data from affixed light sources, Harald Haas is confident the the technology has future prowess.
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/02/features/the-lightbulb-moment?page=all

What makes a Fiber Optic Cable?

Typically, fiber optic cables are made up of various parts depending on what cable you want. To better understand, imagine looking at a bulls-eye, the outer most circle would be the cable jacket or what you see on the outside of a fiber optic cable. The core is where the data is sent as light from one end of the cable to another. One key important fact is that the light is reflected off of mirrors inside the cable which helps get the light waves to its destination. Light is turned on and off rapidly translating to 1's and 0's that are received and interpreted as data.
http://www.arcelect.com/fibercable.htm

Fiber Optics 101

Generally, fiber optic cables are wires that transmit data through an extremely thin layer of glass or plastic threads. These threads are the actual fibers in a fiber optic cable. The relationship to LI-FI technology is in the regard that data travels through the fiber in the form of light which is then translated into 1's and 0's, the data part. One of the key advantages to using light as a data transmitter is its massive bandwidth which is what makes fiber optics popular today. However, fiber optics are notoriously expensive but may soon replace most existing traditional metal cables.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/fiber_optics.html

Harald Haas's Research

Harald Haas's research seems to look at Optical wireless communication. Generally, the best way to describe how a typical LI-FI situation might work is LED light bulbs attached to the ceiling of an area. An individual with a wireless device and some kind of optical receiver can gather and receive data from the LED bulbs.

 http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/wordpress/hxh/

LI-FI closer than you think

There are certain implications of Light transmission technology that are in use today. For example, fiber optic cables have components that involve using light to receive and send data through the wiring in fiber optic cables. Typically, fiber optic cables have three components which are the core, cladding and buffer coating. In all, this early implication of LI-FI, is be used by many different companies and areas of study including medical areas, for its ease of use and reliability compared with other alternatives.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic4.htm

Data Transmission Via LED Lights

Harald Haas, a professor at the University of Endinburgh, was demonstrating transmission of data using LED lights. LED lights, in general, are more cost effective and capable of great speeds. Harald Haas has achieved speeds of about 10 megabits per second but hopes to increase that speed to about 100 megabits per second. Using light as communication could also avoid problems found in regular radio waves, for instance communication would easier on oil rigs, underwater ventures, and airplanes where radio waves can cause all sorts of problems. Klipsch, a manufacturer of speakers, had developed speakers which could receive music data sent through LED bulbs.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/using-light-to-send-data-across-the-room/

Wireless Internet to be replaced with Light Internet?

In this article, the author Jamie Condliffe talks about using something as common as a light bulb to send data from one place to another. Not only is the dubbed "Li-Fi" cheaper than traditional Wi-Fi, it has a much greater bandwidth and has, so far, proved to be able to handle speeds greater than what most internet services provide. In basic terms, Li-Fi would work by sending data through flickering LED lights which would then be captured by a sensor of some sort. This Flickering would actually not be bothersome because light moves very quickly, the flickers can be done at a rate where the human eye would not even notice it. Some of the early challenges involve the basic concept that light requires a direct line of sight to the source. Even something like smoke from a near by building, can disrupt the data stream from Li-Fi if it happens to block the sensor reading the data. However, this system still has potential to change the way we access and view things on the internet.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128225.400-will-lifi-be-the-new-wifi.html