Tiny lights could spark communications revolution

Minute LED lights could deliver Wi-Fi-like internet communications – while displaying information and illuminating homes – thanks to research led by the University of Strathclyde.

The aim is to develop the innovative technology to unleash the full potential of ''Li-Fi'' – the transmission of internet communications using visible light, rather than via the radio waves and microwaves currently in use.

Although the potential possibilities offered by Li-Fi are already being explored globally, this Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded consortium of UK universities is pursuing a radical, distinctive vision that could deliver enormous benefits.

''Imagine an LED array beside a motorway helping to light the road, displaying the latest traffic updates and transmitting internet information wirelessly to passengers' laptops, netbooks and smartphones," says Professor Martin Dawson, of Strathclyde, who is leading the four-year initiative.

"This is the kind of extraordinary, energy-saving parallelism that we believe our pioneering technology could deliver,'' Dawson adds.

To enable the remarkable potential to be realised, the consortium has drawn together a unique breadth and depth of expertise unmatched by any other Li-Fi research team in the world.