I think this is the holy grale to internet connection. I played with light transmission in Uni from a friends project. He was transmiting sound in PCM @ CD 1.411Mbs quality over multiple colour led just as a visual demonstration of Channel / Bands. It worked very nice, but i never thought of using it as broadcasting. That idea of using it to broad cast is genius.
Please visit my channel for the unpopular truth about homosexuality.
A person does not need hatred or any kind of phobia in order to acknowledge important differences between heterosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption and homosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption. Even non-religious people know this.
Homosexual activists, with support from the media, have succeeded at framing themselves as noble victims; it's an effective way to push a social agenda.
But what about transmitting the data back again for a two-way connection? How would you differentiate between multiple people using the same Li-Fi? Or differentiate between both of their signals?
I wonder how many people would be able to access the network simultaneously in the same room before "lines" get crossed. Also would it not be possible to contain the light in a small device that both transmits and reads without any light escaping if you are hardwired wired into it individually? Probably defeats the purpose though...
if you were videotaping 20 friends, all together in a group shot. They are all holding blinking LEDs.
The video will be able to see all 20 individual blinking LEDs, it's no problem as long as it's in focus. eg: watch?v=SoZTWBGPGvE
Also when you add into the mix a camera's ability to zoom, it helps even more. You could be in a room full of BILLIONS of blinking LEDs - and zoom the camera onto just one of them.
@roidroid I said "about" yes you can get highspeed 1000FPS camera but no one realy uses it. So if most people are up to the 60 FPS mark. Light Data transmission is at the 10000Hz mark. They will never effect each other.
@Neojhun i'm not really sure how your "no-one really uses it" is relevant.
If you need a 1000fps camera to capture the data you want, then you'll use a 1000fps camera. That tech is old & it's thus not a limitation.
I'm not giving you instructions on howto reproduce this technology in your basement with what you have lying around, i'm giving an example showing why crosstalk between different LEDs doesn't negatively effect the system.
one additional point is that this new data transmission illumination technology is not to replace existing data communications infrastructure, but to complement what we already have to expand on potential applications.
this technology seems some how backwards, i can see conspiracy theorists lapping this up with the government is spying on us as they only have to modulate up to RF and it becomes more than just transmitted light, which is what Bluetooth does anyway.
strange cause he only stressed as an example one use smart phone data transmission for photo detecting and use of camera with inside the phone--why would this be the most important feature of led light data transmission--hmmmm
@chhabrakadabra There are tiny holes in between the threads in fabric, I'm sure that's plenty of space for enough light to get through. That's not the point though. The point is that since it uses extremely cheap, efficient, and long lasting LEDs, universal adoption of this could probably cut the world's electricity use in half. Did you miss the part where he transmitted HD video wireless using a $3 lightbulb?
@dasraiser no no no. Bluetooth was never developed in the light spectrum or any spectrum that a wall could block.The developers goal was to be wall penetrable. Bluetooth is the name of a historical Nordic King.
@majsbullen Not visible to humans, but it has the same limitations, like walls and obstacles that are in a room. In order to communicate across multiple rooms this kind of communication device would have to be installed in every single room. There is also a plausibility of unwanted access through windows.
@ShawnTheTouched The logarithmic scale does matter. Radiowaves have a frequency range between 300 khz and 300 mhz, while electromagnetic radiation is considered visible light between 468 thz and 789 thz. So the frequency range is more than 300 thz while radio waves don't cover 1 thz. So if you'd need frequency channels of lets just say 100 khz, you could have almost 3000 parallel channels within the radio spektrum, but 3000000 parallel channels with visible light.
the cool thing about it, is that you can focus it - to just look at one light (and therefore data) source.
If you stand on a hill you look down and can possibly see tens of thousands of street-lights. If each of those carried a separate data signal, you could "tune in" to which ever one you wanted by simply using a telescope
You could erect a tall tower covered in millions of separate little lights (each a different data stream), and the whole city could aim their telescope at it to "tune in"
Ok...couple problems, UPLOAD...every laptop, phone etc would have to have a bulb in it. Secondly...this doesn't replace cell phones, this is an indoor only device, it's not in any way going to help us walk around outside and still get reception...there is a reason we use radio waves and not light waves. Anyway, I can see it being useful in certain cases but not to replace cell towers as he states.
It's a genius idea for data transmission, but how come he didn't talk aout the receiver at all? For all we know, there could be some enormous machine hidden in that podium to receive and translate the data.
@habbitz It very well might be an enormous machine hidden in that podium...but that's using today's technology, and like every thing else we can expect miniaturization over time.
@habbitz I doubt it, light or IR data transmision is old tech. Some old phones and laptops have 26Kbs IR transiever. Those devices are tiny. This is just a amped up version of it. But the idea of using it for broadcasting is the genius. Because everywhere humans are active Light is there. Only problem is Day Light.
@LazyOtaku: The funny thing is he mixes German with English words. “We also have more than 5 billion ot these devices here, dieser (engl.: of these) cellular mobile phones.”
jhill609, it's not a one size fits all technology and will certainly have a line of sight problem (by the look of it), but if we use our imagination, we should be able to apply it to good use, e.g. on planes or as he was saying for cars to communicate with each other.
You're supposing that this technology will supplant existing cellular tech, yet indicate that by moving all transmission is cut off. How do you intend on having the light beam track movements of a mobile phone user while walking, riding a bicycle, or riding in a car? As far as being secure, what is to stop someone from detecting the modulation from ambient light? Some issues others mentioned: Distance and Upload. Interesting proof of concept, but a long way off from use. Keep up the good work :)
It's already been invented. Called fiber optic wires. Sure, it's not wireless, but there aren't really times when it is applicable to receive the data from the lights. Not in everyday use at least. Still, great work. Might be useful some day.
This guy has his facts backwards at 3:30. The visible light spectrum is a tiny sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum, and is smaller than the frequency range of radio waves by several orders of magnitude. Perhaps he was confused because diagrams usually show the visible light spectrum enlarged as he shows it here, so that people can see it.
@ShawnTheTouched Those diagrams also use a logarithmic scale to make it easier to see the whole em spectrum. Visible light has a frequency which is 100,000 times higher than microwaves, which is where the extra bandwidth is coming from.
@Weaverish I thought he was making a point of there being a wider range of frequencies in visible light than in radio waves, since he was saying "we're running out of frequencies", not a point about bandwidth.
@ShawnTheTouched I'm glad someone finally mentioned this...I thought I was going crazy because I was pretty sure visible light is just a sliver of the EM spectrum compared to the longer radio waves...
No matter how you slice it, the implications AND applications of this technology is simply incredible! Certainly enough so to make the patent holder very rich indeed!!
Harald Haas appears to be extremely excited about this topic and probably with lots of reason. There is always a new idea that shines through and his definitely catches one's attention. I just hope I live long enough to see something like this working. Kind of gives a person a reason to want to live a long life!
Visible light is just one short segment of all the types of radiation. Visible and infrared light cannot travel through most solid objects ( such as tv remote signals). Depending on what type of radiation you use, a signal can bounce around solid objects to reach its destination (such as radiowaves).
@drche420 the technology in this video is visible light, and possibly IR. Not radiowaves (that's what we call "wifi", it's not really new and worth making a TED video about).
it doesn't work if you stand between the lamp and the object you want data streamed to.
You're right, these bulbs are indeed operating in visible light spectrum. I thought your point was that this signal was like a tv remote, in that its signal is a vector instead of a parallel stream of radiating signals like the bulbs in question. A bulb emitting signals in a wide range of directions at once is very different from a tv remote.
I thought this was using multiple LEDs of varying frequencies at once so as to increase the data bandwidth. The demonstration sure didn't look multidirectional, but it's easy enough to do with lenses/mirrors.
@drche420 Yes i understand that. But you started off by saying that this tech is not like a TV remote, because it (unlike TV remotes) can send signals through solid objects. But that's not accurate, it can't do that - but it can bounce data around (as you apparently now understand, but didn't before? wtf).
It's limits in this regard are (surprise surprise): "exactly like a TV remote".
@GTpoot considering if you're streaming video, the ratio of upload/download would require very low speed transmission on the receiver's part. Probably over a bluetooth type connection. (low range low data rate)
@GTpoot Attatching a small led-light to whatever application your wish and voilà. You have yourself a device that can upload. The tricky part is really to place receivers so that it can track the light source and won't be blocked. I'm SO EXCITED!
@GTpoot By having a microreceiver in the bulb assembly (aka: a little camera, like you have in your cellphone), and my using the cellphone's built-in LED light as a transmitter, it's not hard to imagine a fully bidirectional communication path.
What about transmission of data to the light bulb? Power Line Connections were proven not always effective and causing a lot of interferences (especially long power lines which act as an antennas). Beside of that you need some low-pass filters to filter standard 50Hz current and this cuts the performance. Great idea but it will take a lot of time before it comes to live.
@moleszczuk True, true. I think in the future we'll see an increase in fiber optic wiring throughout our homes (much in the same way that houses started being built with more and more electrical wiring over the years). If each ceiling light had a fiber optic wired to it in addition to the power, li-fi could be viable. Perhaps all standard power cords and wiring will eventually be replaced with combo power/data cables so that all your appliances can be integrated with your PC/mobile device!
Sounds like the biggest problem they'd have would be line of sight. That and he glossed over how big the equipment needed to translate between data and light and vice versa would have to be.
Remember when in late 90s and 00s there was a popular fad to attack a very small solar panel to all sorts of portable devices like calculator, PDA, cellphone, battery chargers? No one used that and threw them away.
Exactly what another poster asked, how does the data get into the light bulb circuit? And how does it get the data back to it. I understand if this worked to show tv where no feedback is required, but otherwise every device would need a led flasher to give data back.
and how exactly do you transmit the data back to the lightbulb?
will we need a light sensor no in every lightbulb as well?
you have multiple lightbulbs in the same room, with a minute time delay between them how does the device clear the noise of having several lightbulbs transmitting the same data out of sync?
How do the lightbulbs then themselves transmit information to the web when the power fluctuations in power cables are known to produce far too much noise to send information along them?
i think this needs a lot of fine tuning. such as your phone would need to be in the lights path and stuff. BUT its a fantastic idea, and this is definitely a good idea to bring us to the future. What probably makes this the most unique idea is that its SO easy to implement since lights bulbs ARE everywhere.
Wiring it all together to make it work will be a logistical nightmare. Routing all the relevant signals to the lamp you are closest to, etc. 2 more observations: 1. If cars can signal each other to avoid hazards, a cop will be able to stop any (and all) vehicles with a flash of light. 2. Will all shops soon add data streams to their lighting to get even more advertisements crammed down our throats?
I can see the merit in this idea, but there are definite problems, not yet addressed.
We have had communication channels based on light before, any one remember infrared ports on cell phones? ya this is the same except now the light is in the visible spectrum with may be higher data throughput.
I believe modern communication devices have a duplex communication channel. Your cell phone for example is not just receiving data, it is transmitting and receiving data, forget the street, how would this work in a plane with lights again, do you have to hold up your phone to the light?
@firebladeharsha no the light will spread across the entire airplane. i think each light would have a unique signature so nobody could access your data and stuff. it needs fine tuning, but its very cool
If the consumers essentially create their own cellular infrastructure with light bulbs, will the price of cellular plans will decrease? Carriers spend a large amount of money to build, maintain and run their towers. If the towers are replaced by light bulbs; the carriers will have fewer outgoings (because the consumers are responsible for running and maintaining their bulbs). The carriers will be providing fewer services, they will have lower outgoings - so they should have lower prices.
One of the largest drawbacks I can see with this is that you have to have a direct line of sight with the light source... like he demonstrated, a simple flick of the hand between the source and receiver stopped the stream. Furthermore, every light bulb would have to have a connection to the data, so that is an additional wire for every light? I like the idea though.
@kzh910 Maybe you could have a light sensor on every bulb so they could act as some network bridges. That could maybe reduce the number of wires needed in some cases.
I'm so impressed , i like the idea
meeed023 17 hours ago
I still believe Gamma rays should be used... HULK SMASH
hedgehobb 3 weeks ago
Thats crazy, soon it will be like the movie Demolition Man with the computer spitting out fail tickets only way worse.
WirelessTortureDevi 1 month ago
Amazing. I'll be damned if this isn't the future of wireless internet.
I3L4NK 2 months ago
I think this is the holy grale to internet connection. I played with light transmission in Uni from a friends project. He was transmiting sound in PCM @ CD 1.411Mbs quality over multiple colour led just as a visual demonstration of Channel / Bands. It worked very nice, but i never thought of using it as broadcasting. That idea of using it to broad cast is genius.
Neojhun 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Please visit my channel for the unpopular truth about homosexuality.
A person does not need hatred or any kind of phobia in order to acknowledge important differences between heterosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption and homosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption. Even non-religious people know this.
Homosexual activists, with support from the media, have succeeded at framing themselves as noble victims; it's an effective way to push a social agenda.
lightandbeautiful 3 months ago
But what about transmitting the data back again for a two-way connection? How would you differentiate between multiple people using the same Li-Fi? Or differentiate between both of their signals?
ross817 4 months ago
@ross817 Public Key encryption? Anyone?
ORENoctis 2 months ago
I like unicorns
owcrap 5 months ago
@owcrap me too, but they don't return my calls :(
roidroid 5 months ago
My ISP in the boondocks of Alabama sucks. I am in envy of this setup.
slimlogic 5 months ago
he have just shown one side(receiving part) & what abt transferring back data
krisgopal 5 months ago
I wonder how many people would be able to access the network simultaneously in the same room before "lines" get crossed. Also would it not be possible to contain the light in a small device that both transmits and reads without any light escaping if you are hardwired wired into it individually? Probably defeats the purpose though...
OhThatJason 5 months ago
@OhThatJason Think of it like this:
if you were videotaping 20 friends, all together in a group shot. They are all holding blinking LEDs.
The video will be able to see all 20 individual blinking LEDs, it's no problem as long as it's in focus. eg: watch?v=SoZTWBGPGvE
Also when you add into the mix a camera's ability to zoom, it helps even more. You could be in a room full of BILLIONS of blinking LEDs - and zoom the camera onto just one of them.
roidroid 5 months ago
@roidroid I don't think so, video is about 30 FPB or 30 HZ. Those lights are flashing at 1000s HZ. It's just way to fast to catch it.
Neojhun 3 months ago
@Neojhun video is whatever frame per second you want to record it at.
roidroid 3 months ago
@roidroid I said "about" yes you can get highspeed 1000FPS camera but no one realy uses it. So if most people are up to the 60 FPS mark. Light Data transmission is at the 10000Hz mark. They will never effect each other.
Neojhun 3 months ago
@Neojhun i'm not really sure how your "no-one really uses it" is relevant.
If you need a 1000fps camera to capture the data you want, then you'll use a 1000fps camera. That tech is old & it's thus not a limitation.
I'm not giving you instructions on howto reproduce this technology in your basement with what you have lying around, i'm giving an example showing why crosstalk between different LEDs doesn't negatively effect the system.
roidroid 3 months ago
simply brilliant idea...
one additional point is that this new data transmission illumination technology is not to replace existing data communications infrastructure, but to complement what we already have to expand on potential applications.
quentinxavier 5 months ago
This sounds good, but really the applications are quite limited.
diegopmc 5 months ago
7:44 oh oh let me see that *quickly runs with camera*
TheKjex 5 months ago
this technology seems some how backwards, i can see conspiracy theorists lapping this up with the government is spying on us as they only have to modulate up to RF and it becomes more than just transmitted light, which is what Bluetooth does anyway.
dasraiser 5 months ago
strange cause he only stressed as an example one use smart phone data transmission for photo detecting and use of camera with inside the phone--why would this be the most important feature of led light data transmission--hmmmm
HouseofVespucci 5 months ago
this is ridiculous.... so I can't put my phone into my pocket anymore?
chhabrakadabra 5 months ago
@chhabrakadabra There are tiny holes in between the threads in fabric, I'm sure that's plenty of space for enough light to get through. That's not the point though. The point is that since it uses extremely cheap, efficient, and long lasting LEDs, universal adoption of this could probably cut the world's electricity use in half. Did you miss the part where he transmitted HD video wireless using a $3 lightbulb?
andybpiano 5 months ago
@chhabrakadabra where do you think the term Bluetooth comes from, it was a blue LED modulated at 2.4Ghz.
dasraiser 5 months ago
@dasraiser no no no. Bluetooth was never developed in the light spectrum or any spectrum that a wall could block.The developers goal was to be wall penetrable. Bluetooth is the name of a historical Nordic King.
Neojhun 3 months ago
@Neojhun cool, my bad , thx
dasraiser 3 months ago
It's just like infra red communication on old mobile phones and nobody uses that anymore. I don't see it catching on.
DenyTheMan 5 months ago
@DenyTheMan Not at all, Infra red is not visible light
majsbullen 5 months ago in playlist Videoklipp från TEDtalksDirector
@majsbullen Not visible to humans, but it has the same limitations, like walls and obstacles that are in a room. In order to communicate across multiple rooms this kind of communication device would have to be installed in every single room. There is also a plausibility of unwanted access through windows.
DenyTheMan 5 months ago
@ShawnTheTouched The logarithmic scale does matter. Radiowaves have a frequency range between 300 khz and 300 mhz, while electromagnetic radiation is considered visible light between 468 thz and 789 thz. So the frequency range is more than 300 thz while radio waves don't cover 1 thz. So if you'd need frequency channels of lets just say 100 khz, you could have almost 3000 parallel channels within the radio spektrum, but 3000000 parallel channels with visible light.
bremerthefirst 6 months ago
Gay idea
HeilNizar 6 months ago
wow
MrNaqvi8 6 months ago
NO MORE SUNGLASSES !
DOCT0RT 6 months ago
wow this is very exciting technology!
melodyintrance 6 months ago
wouldn't this destroy the economy part of (greedy) mobile companies earning money ?
I mean with this principle, light is cheap and unlimited data transmitter
just look how much mob companies eat our money with those stupid networks for surfing wireless alone
not to mention sending videos or MMS
this would crush them
snuhr 6 months ago
IF ONLY WE CAN HOOK IT ON THE SUN!
MrChannnnnnnnnnnnnnn 6 months ago 18
@MrChannnnnnnnnnnnnnn careful icarus
sneakertri 4 months ago in playlist More videos from TEDtalksDirector
@MrChannnnnnnnnnnnnnn Maybe on the Moon.
SilasPiacenti 3 weeks ago
the cool thing about it, is that you can focus it - to just look at one light (and therefore data) source.
If you stand on a hill you look down and can possibly see tens of thousands of street-lights. If each of those carried a separate data signal, you could "tune in" to which ever one you wanted by simply using a telescope
You could erect a tall tower covered in millions of separate little lights (each a different data stream), and the whole city could aim their telescope at it to "tune in"
roidroid 6 months ago
9:20 Your smartphones has WHAT?
qkn30989 6 months ago
@qkn30989 flashlight.
when you take a photo, it flashes.
roidroid 6 months ago
wow, it's owesome technology !!!
arifasda 6 months ago
Great idea overall, but wrong applications, as many stated before.
zydomason 6 months ago
Ok...couple problems, UPLOAD...every laptop, phone etc would have to have a bulb in it. Secondly...this doesn't replace cell phones, this is an indoor only device, it's not in any way going to help us walk around outside and still get reception...there is a reason we use radio waves and not light waves. Anyway, I can see it being useful in certain cases but not to replace cell towers as he states.
Figilswif 6 months ago 3
WooOowo damn it - Great idea and awesome presentation ;)
Loved it !
dukesphiltre 6 months ago
It seemed he was just swtich on/off some of individual LEDs to transfer the data, i guess thats probably why it has to be led based.
Anyway, visible light communication was worked on by a number of perople particularly from japan for a number of years.
eaauk 6 months ago
@Rahlorkahn: That’s possible. “these are”, the German way: “dese are”. Many Germans got problems pronouncing the English “th”.
albedoshader 6 months ago
Honey, close the curtains I need to do some internet banking.
jaminunit 6 months ago
This would be awesome, but I don't see this being deployed in 10 to 15 years
MrMimsicle 6 months ago
It's a genius idea for data transmission, but how come he didn't talk aout the receiver at all? For all we know, there could be some enormous machine hidden in that podium to receive and translate the data.
habbitz 6 months ago
@habbitz It very well might be an enormous machine hidden in that podium...but that's using today's technology, and like every thing else we can expect miniaturization over time.
kkj072146 6 months ago
@habbitz I doubt it, light or IR data transmision is old tech. Some old phones and laptops have 26Kbs IR transiever. Those devices are tiny. This is just a amped up version of it. But the idea of using it for broadcasting is the genius. Because everywhere humans are active Light is there. Only problem is Day Light.
Neojhun 3 months ago
7:45 The cameraman: "Oh man, I've gotta get some footage of this!" it's a lamp on a pedestal with a hole in it, dude.
rick4318 6 months ago 13
SETI are you watching?
musicincubator 6 months ago
His heavy German accent made it fun to watch. lol
LazyOtaku 6 months ago
@LazyOtaku: The funny thing is he mixes German with English words. “We also have more than 5 billion ot these devices here, dieser (engl.: of these) cellular mobile phones.”
albedoshader 6 months ago
Bravo
delerium2k 6 months ago
RIP fiber optics.
Shezmu 6 months ago
this is jst coooool!!! we'll soon b surfing da net @ Tbps speeds! 100G??! lol
isalovell 6 months ago
jhill609, it's not a one size fits all technology and will certainly have a line of sight problem (by the look of it), but if we use our imagination, we should be able to apply it to good use, e.g. on planes or as he was saying for cars to communicate with each other.
jzhuo 6 months ago
@jzhuo: Line of sight problem — you mean a problem like known from seeing, photo/video cameras and infrared devices? :)
albedoshader 6 months ago
Comment removed
AxeHomeless 6 months ago
Tousands of streams! :D
HarrisSariFilms 6 months ago
This is amazing technology from the 1920's, only with an LED.
Audinos 6 months ago
You're supposing that this technology will supplant existing cellular tech, yet indicate that by moving all transmission is cut off. How do you intend on having the light beam track movements of a mobile phone user while walking, riding a bicycle, or riding in a car? As far as being secure, what is to stop someone from detecting the modulation from ambient light? Some issues others mentioned: Distance and Upload. Interesting proof of concept, but a long way off from use. Keep up the good work :)
jhill609 6 months ago
@jhill609 - why do think this person will respond to your queries? This is a channel of lectures by various people not this person.
RocktheStageNYC 6 months ago
@jhill609 penIS~
flyingchimp99 6 months ago
beautiful, smart idea....when can I use it?
silvercoin1111 6 months ago
FUCKING HAXS
1chigo3000 6 months ago
I found this TED video extremely ..illuminating.
vivifyer 6 months ago 34
and after lightbulbs, what's next? brainwaves?
nomusician 6 months ago
@nomusician what?
roidroid 6 months ago
So this is optical data transmission without the cable…interesting. Stenography will be pretty easy with this.
computerjero 6 months ago
Comment removed
computerjero 6 months ago
What happens when a speck of dust flies in the way? :P
gregaaron89 6 months ago
@gregaaron89 CRC-->resend data
computerjero 6 months ago
perfect, let's go back to infrared guys. it sounds so convenient!
giankyr 6 months ago
Doesn't scattering render this ineffective at a distance ?
1isaacmusic 6 months ago
interesting concept but line of sight data connections have always been really annoying.
MickGalt 6 months ago 6
It's already been invented. Called fiber optic wires. Sure, it's not wireless, but there aren't really times when it is applicable to receive the data from the lights. Not in everyday use at least. Still, great work. Might be useful some day.
codyrdy15 6 months ago
no but i really liked this (y)
Mwz92 6 months ago
ok i know this is fucked up but its 5:40am and as im watching this im just waiting for him 2 raise his left hand :P
Mwz92 6 months ago
This guy has his facts backwards at 3:30. The visible light spectrum is a tiny sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum, and is smaller than the frequency range of radio waves by several orders of magnitude. Perhaps he was confused because diagrams usually show the visible light spectrum enlarged as he shows it here, so that people can see it.
ShawnTheTouched 6 months ago 2
@ShawnTheTouched Those diagrams also use a logarithmic scale to make it easier to see the whole em spectrum. Visible light has a frequency which is 100,000 times higher than microwaves, which is where the extra bandwidth is coming from.
Weaverish 6 months ago
@Weaverish I thought he was making a point of there being a wider range of frequencies in visible light than in radio waves, since he was saying "we're running out of frequencies", not a point about bandwidth.
ShawnTheTouched 6 months ago
@ShawnTheTouched I'm glad someone finally mentioned this...I thought I was going crazy because I was pretty sure visible light is just a sliver of the EM spectrum compared to the longer radio waves...
Radjehuty 6 months ago
No matter how you slice it, the implications AND applications of this technology is simply incredible! Certainly enough so to make the patent holder very rich indeed!!
joeguitargod 6 months ago
Out of picture thinking ). Nice.
FedyaFL 6 months ago
Very neat idea, but doesn't seem very practical.
2011GeekTech 6 months ago
@2011GeekTech did you actually watch the video?
jofx 6 months ago
@jofx No I just looked at the title and made a comment I thought would be relevant.
2011GeekTech 6 months ago
We want TED in HD!
Thimmet 6 months ago
Especially Light Emitting Diode bulbs, and then they could explore how to make that healing DNA Music... Haven't seen it yet...
usertogo 6 months ago
Ummmmm Phone in Pocket ??? Should we all wear transparent pants ???
JOJOMAAN 6 months ago 2
Harald Haas appears to be extremely excited about this topic and probably with lots of reason. There is always a new idea that shines through and his definitely catches one's attention. I just hope I live long enough to see something like this working. Kind of gives a person a reason to want to live a long life!
2661960 6 months ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
And God saw the light, that it was good (for transmitting data).
sdrawkcabgnipytmi 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Do we really need or want every single thing in our homes to be "smart" or interactive?
drche420 6 months ago
Does this mean you can be standing between the lamp and the object you want the data streamed to?...
Mortenvemmelund 6 months ago
@Mortenvemmelund
It's not a tv remote..
drche420 6 months ago
@drche420 it's exactly like a TV remote
roidroid 6 months ago
@roidroid
You must not have read our short convo. In the sense that it is not like a tv remote, it can send a signal through solid objects.
drche420 6 months ago
@drche420 Perhaps i'm not quite understanding what you're saying.
Because it sounds like you're saying that light goes through solid objects.
roidroid 6 months ago
@roidroid
Visible light is just one short segment of all the types of radiation. Visible and infrared light cannot travel through most solid objects ( such as tv remote signals). Depending on what type of radiation you use, a signal can bounce around solid objects to reach its destination (such as radiowaves).
drche420 6 months ago
@drche420 the technology in this video is visible light, and possibly IR. Not radiowaves (that's what we call "wifi", it's not really new and worth making a TED video about).
it doesn't work if you stand between the lamp and the object you want data streamed to.
it's exactly like a TV remote.
it cannot send data through solid objects.
So i'm not sure what you are talking about.
roidroid 6 months ago
@roidroid
You're right, these bulbs are indeed operating in visible light spectrum. I thought your point was that this signal was like a tv remote, in that its signal is a vector instead of a parallel stream of radiating signals like the bulbs in question. A bulb emitting signals in a wide range of directions at once is very different from a tv remote.
drche420 5 months ago
@drche420 ...
I thought this was using multiple LEDs of varying frequencies at once so as to increase the data bandwidth. The demonstration sure didn't look multidirectional, but it's easy enough to do with lenses/mirrors.
roidroid 5 months ago
@roidroid
Even if the device used is an array of LEDs of varying frequencies, how is it like a tv remote?
drche420 5 months ago
@drche420 TV remotes use infrared LEDs to transmit data digitally (just short codes) line-of-sight from the remote to the TV, it's how they operate.
roidroid 5 months ago
@roidroid
line of sight doesn't seem like a problem since light (like longer waveslengths) can reflect off objects to reach its final destination.
drche420 5 months ago
@drche420 Yes i understand that. But you started off by saying that this tech is not like a TV remote, because it (unlike TV remotes) can send signals through solid objects. But that's not accurate, it can't do that - but it can bounce data around (as you apparently now understand, but didn't before? wtf).
It's limits in this regard are (surprise surprise): "exactly like a TV remote".
roidroid 5 months ago
@roidroid
Oh ok big misunderstanding. My fault.
drche420 5 months ago
HOLY FUCK
ebichuhamster 6 months ago
Nah. You're just being silly now. Would only work if the data was to be multicast and one-way.
UncleKennybobs 6 months ago
wireless data from every cranberry juice!
CRAN-FI!
xjustamem0ryx 6 months ago
no thanks... i'd rather trust my RJ45 than a flashlight to get my torrents
Valca000 6 months ago
12:34 bet that's his wife :) Seriously though - interesting talk.
LAnonHubbard 6 months ago
Briljant ... but how does the UPLOAD work?
GTpoot 6 months ago 68
@GTpoot considering if you're streaming video, the ratio of upload/download would require very low speed transmission on the receiver's part. Probably over a bluetooth type connection. (low range low data rate)
SobaniForce 6 months ago
@GTpoot Attatching a small led-light to whatever application your wish and voilà. You have yourself a device that can upload. The tricky part is really to place receivers so that it can track the light source and won't be blocked. I'm SO EXCITED!
mog89 6 months ago
@GTpoot a sensor on the lamp? just like the one reciving the infromation from the light?
jofx 6 months ago
@GTpoot By having a microreceiver in the bulb assembly (aka: a little camera, like you have in your cellphone), and my using the cellphone's built-in LED light as a transmitter, it's not hard to imagine a fully bidirectional communication path.
kkj072146 6 months ago
Do you guys see how EVERYTHING is fulfilling Star Trek's prophecy ?
This is LITERALLY the Optical Network in Star Trek!
Bracerjack 6 months ago
@Bracerjack
Oh yeah. The only disappointing thing is that we aren't alive 300-400 years from now.
drche420 6 months ago
@drche420
This is unacceptable!
I need me those skin tight shirts with no pockets!
Bracerjack 6 months ago
@Bracerjack
I need to be a member of Starship Enterprise. Fuck Wesley Crusher I'll take his place haha.
drche420 6 months ago
What about transmission of data to the light bulb? Power Line Connections were proven not always effective and causing a lot of interferences (especially long power lines which act as an antennas). Beside of that you need some low-pass filters to filter standard 50Hz current and this cuts the performance. Great idea but it will take a lot of time before it comes to live.
moleszczuk 6 months ago
@moleszczuk True, true. I think in the future we'll see an increase in fiber optic wiring throughout our homes (much in the same way that houses started being built with more and more electrical wiring over the years). If each ceiling light had a fiber optic wired to it in addition to the power, li-fi could be viable. Perhaps all standard power cords and wiring will eventually be replaced with combo power/data cables so that all your appliances can be integrated with your PC/mobile device!
RGBpulsar 6 months ago
Sounds like the biggest problem they'd have would be line of sight. That and he glossed over how big the equipment needed to translate between data and light and vice versa would have to be.
zangetsujoo 6 months ago
Using lights to transmit data for a brighter future, eh?
justicetrooper 6 months ago
LI-FI, eh? I quite like the sound of that :)
Great talk.
DeadWhiteButterflies 6 months ago
WOW!!! Nice!!!
sebsunda 6 months ago
I like it when a TED talk goes like:
"We're being careless with our technology and as a result will soon be severely fucked, BUT..."
MarkArandjus 6 months ago
Remember when in late 90s and 00s there was a popular fad to attack a very small solar panel to all sorts of portable devices like calculator, PDA, cellphone, battery chargers? No one used that and threw them away.
StopFear 6 months ago
Exactly what another poster asked, how does the data get into the light bulb circuit? And how does it get the data back to it. I understand if this worked to show tv where no feedback is required, but otherwise every device would need a led flasher to give data back.
StopFear 6 months ago
Amazing
SantyAwesome 6 months ago
Imagine, light that gives you the internet and charges your device!
DonaldCollis 6 months ago
TED, why don't you have one of your guests speak on the subject of "TURNING DOWN THE INTRO VOLUME"!
All these brilliant minds, and you can't seem to solve a simple problem.
eluap 6 months ago
Brilliant!
iampriteshdesai 6 months ago
How does the data get to the light bulbs, and how does your mobile device transmit data back?
tenalpoen 6 months ago 2
Accent & Volume please Thanks
jaysean911 6 months ago
I can do that...Seen it done before and has many many disavanteges
superfunny1972 6 months ago
how would the data come to your phone/laptop? more radio waves? lol...
connektion 6 months ago
I'm confused. VLC ("visual light communication") showed up in the research literature decades ago and has been implemented time and time again.
How can you really use the word "first" in the description of the device mentioned here?
TedliMan 6 months ago
19 RF engineers disliked
prabhatpalpal 6 months ago
is this some form of retro fiber optics?
Seannyskillz 6 months ago
WTB: HD video and a LOWER VOLUME INTRO
rsanchez112789 6 months ago
Dear TED: You need to normalize your video's to 0dB, or if the actual intro volume is a problem, consider changing the intro music at video 1000?
serfox1 6 months ago
Ooouch! My ears - turn the intro down!!
urcritic 6 months ago
and how exactly do you transmit the data back to the lightbulb?
will we need a light sensor no in every lightbulb as well?
you have multiple lightbulbs in the same room, with a minute time delay between them how does the device clear the noise of having several lightbulbs transmitting the same data out of sync?
How do the lightbulbs then themselves transmit information to the web when the power fluctuations in power cables are known to produce far too much noise to send information along them?
Saul1T 6 months ago
Internets complaining about the lack of HD and the loud (meh?) intro - calm the fuck down
SobaniForce 6 months ago
@SobaniForce
srsly complaining about TED volume/intro/HD is like complaining about Einstein's hair instead of marveling at his ideas.
xjustamem0ryx 6 months ago
lol i think he is too consumed with the interest of the transmitter. wad will happen if the receiver is covered? consistent data no more
xlade 6 months ago
brilliance !!!! XD
Pshaurk 6 months ago
How is the signal transmitted to the sending device? Otherwise, this is a glorified harddrive.
david0aloha 6 months ago
Yay they can transfer viruses threw my lights :D Joking, this is actually a great idea :]
ItzzAngel 6 months ago
Get HD TED.
musicspinner 6 months ago 25
Turn down the intro man. Too long.
Yojimbo413 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i wish they would do a ted talk about exterminating niggers.
heeh2 6 months ago
@heeh2 ...or racist trolls.
Hopefulfilment 6 months ago
i think this needs a lot of fine tuning. such as your phone would need to be in the lights path and stuff. BUT its a fantastic idea, and this is definitely a good idea to bring us to the future. What probably makes this the most unique idea is that its SO easy to implement since lights bulbs ARE everywhere.
cheetah219 6 months ago
Wiring it all together to make it work will be a logistical nightmare. Routing all the relevant signals to the lamp you are closest to, etc. 2 more observations: 1. If cars can signal each other to avoid hazards, a cop will be able to stop any (and all) vehicles with a flash of light. 2. Will all shops soon add data streams to their lighting to get even more advertisements crammed down our throats?
I can see the merit in this idea, but there are definite problems, not yet addressed.
GottaReboot 6 months ago
We have had communication channels based on light before, any one remember infrared ports on cell phones? ya this is the same except now the light is in the visible spectrum with may be higher data throughput.
I believe modern communication devices have a duplex communication channel. Your cell phone for example is not just receiving data, it is transmitting and receiving data, forget the street, how would this work in a plane with lights again, do you have to hold up your phone to the light?
firebladeharsha 6 months ago
@firebladeharsha no the light will spread across the entire airplane. i think each light would have a unique signature so nobody could access your data and stuff. it needs fine tuning, but its very cool
cheetah219 6 months ago
lol what happens when you put your phone in your pocket and someone tries to call you.
zm177 6 months ago
If the consumers essentially create their own cellular infrastructure with light bulbs, will the price of cellular plans will decrease? Carriers spend a large amount of money to build, maintain and run their towers. If the towers are replaced by light bulbs; the carriers will have fewer outgoings (because the consumers are responsible for running and maintaining their bulbs). The carriers will be providing fewer services, they will have lower outgoings - so they should have lower prices.
MrBarneyDinosaur 6 months ago
wow great idea.
I also just made a video about LED's but not for data transmission.
electrodacus 6 months ago
One of the largest drawbacks I can see with this is that you have to have a direct line of sight with the light source... like he demonstrated, a simple flick of the hand between the source and receiver stopped the stream. Furthermore, every light bulb would have to have a connection to the data, so that is an additional wire for every light? I like the idea though.
kzh910 6 months ago
@kzh910 Maybe you could have a light sensor on every bulb so they could act as some network bridges. That could maybe reduce the number of wires needed in some cases.
cemath 6 months ago
amazing...:)
FelipeZucchetti 6 months ago