Below is my contribution to the June issue of tED Magazine, the official publication of the NAED. Reprinted with permission.
LiFi is a revolutionary, emerging wireless communication technology that embeds data in visible light, specifically light produced by LEDs. Its first major introductions enabled indoor positioning and targeted marketing, an application ideal for big box retail stores, museums, airports, and similar facilities. Meanwhile, the technology continues to develop for bi-way communication allowing users to connect to the Internet using luminaires. As such, LiFi would offer an ideal complementary technology to the popular WiFi, expanding bandwidth and providing connectivity in applications where WiFi is difficult or impossible to implement.
To get an idea of how LiFi will impact the industry, I talked to four industry thought leaders to ask the question: “How do you see LiFi impacting the lighting industry and, in terms of opportunities and challenges, specifically electrical distributors?”
Michael Skurla: Though still in its infancy overall, we have seen glimmers of visible light communications (VLC) technologies rapid emerge within our industry through indoor positioning services. This emergence is merely a toe in the water to services that lighting can enable. LiFi as another service of VLC stands to shake the path to market as well as throw off-kilter the historical strategic focus of the illumination industry.
LiFi stands to solves a myriad of issues that face the telecommunications world and the providers of these services. More than just a passive interest exists from serious telecommunications companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and Samsung into the technology to overcome these hurdles as 5G emerges.
Businesses—from big to small—and even individuals run on communications in this day and age. Lighting will be pulled into operational technology in organizations as data provided and consumed by Internet of Things technology continues to infiltrate day to day activities, coupled with mobile enablement. This will give rise to lighting becoming more than just a one-time purchase for building infrastructure and move it to a vital part of the communications infrastructure for buildings, cities, and homes. This shift stands to move parts of the lighting infrastructure to a Lighting as a Service model that is managed, operated, aggregated, and potentially installed by telecommunications and IT providers on a reoccurring basis.
This change offers massive opportunity for distributors, designers, and engineers willing to enter, learn, and partner in the communications space. Lighting still requires the fundamentals, code compliance, and diversity of aesthetics we provide through our trade. Saying this, given the rise and stickiness of communications and analytics, it’s apparent that those who are unwilling or apprehensive to take on new avenues of this merger of trades will struggle over the next seven to 10 years as this matures.
Mike Skurla, LEED AP O+M & BD+C, MIES, ASHRAE, is director of product strategy for BitBoxUSA.
Mark Lien: Invention is fusion. In 2011, Harold Haas, the inventor of LiFi, combined technologies using light to transmit data. The timing comes as bandwidth regulations limit other wireless technologies, and wireless devices are increasing at an exponential rate. The light spectrum is 10,000 times larger than radio frequencies and there are no bandwidth regulations. LiFi will not replace WiFi. It will enhance existing WiFi when signals are weak. It will work in some applications that WiFi cannot such as underwater. Expect data heavy applications like AR/VR & MR to benefit from LiFi. Streetlighting, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and Internet of Things-intensive applications all will use LiFi. Even 5G will be able to shift heavy data loads to LiFi. Hacking light waves is not an issue, so security concerns are minimized. There is very little impact from electromagnetic interference, so healthcare, airports, retail spaces, and exhibit areas will embrace LiFi. Market expectations are for a CAGR of 71 percent from 2018 to 2028 when over $35 billion in sales is projected.
Electrical distributors will be selling these products and need to understand the technology now to best prepare and bring value to their customers. The market applications cited above and the benefits noted will drive this technology. European lighting manufacturers embraced LiFi sooner, and some have second-generation product families available. Multiple lighting companies in North America are now committed to the success of LiFi. Products are moving past early adopters into general market awareness and acceptance. Adapting quickly to new technologies like LiFi will distinguish distributors as progressive and contribute to their success.
Mark Lien is Industry Relations Manager for the Illuminating Engineering Society.
Ed Huibers: We’re seeing a fast growing interest in LiFi technology across multiple industries—from financial services to government and healthcare facilities—where LiFi has been both cost effective and a solution to existing concerns with communication and security.
In 2019, we expect larger LiFi installations, and these deployments will help develop the technology further and expand the applications and use cases. As the technology becomes more commonplace, we’re working with all our channel partners, including our community of electrical distributors to raise awareness around the benefits of LiFi, including:
1. Security: Wireless connectivity cannot travel through walls and barriers, so the network can’t be accessed by external users.
2. Stability: LiFi connections are more stable than radio-communication and offers an alternative to radio connections in busy or noisy environments.
3. Speed: Optimal speed in areas where radio waves may not be permitted, or the radio spectrum is already overloaded.
In addition to driving LiFi education, we’re committed to furthering LiFi technology to promote standards development, which will enable seamless integrations of LiFi into larger installations. As we are expanding to the market of wireless data, we also anticipate new partnerships in our channels in the near future.
Ed Huibers is head of business development, LiFi systems, for Signify.
Randy Reid: There are two types of LiFi, bi-directional and mono-directional. Bi-directional is where data is sent and received through beams of light, think of WiFi, but through light. We are probably a few years away from this technology going mainstream. But bi-directional LiFi-enabled lights are available now and should be sold to early adopters. The cost has dropped by roughly 50 percent in the past year.
Mono-directional technology is ready right now and is commercially viable. This technology receives data from luminaires (but cannot send data). It is also referred to as indoor GPS and is perfect for museums that want to use lights to tell the story of specific paintings. The best thing about mono-directional LiFi is that existing fixtures can be retrofitted with a LiFi device about the size of a small candy bar.
An enterprising electrical distributor might work with a contractor and sell these as a turnkey solution.
Randy Reid is president of LumEfficient and editor of EdisonReport.
