Future LEDs Could Transfer Data, Light Up Your Room
Researchers believe they've found a solution to these problems in LEDs. Those tiny lights that are popping up in desk lamps and flashlights may represent the next generation of wireless networking. (They've got to be LEDs; fluorescent and incandescent bulbs won't work.) By flickering the lights in a room, scientists were able to transfer data at up to 230 Mbps, about the same speed as high-end 802.11n routers. This was accomplished using commercially available bulbs and flickering them millions of times faster than the human eye could perceive. Researchers believe that doubling that rate should be a fairly simple task.
Of course, there are limits. While it's theoretically possible to network an entire home with the flickering lights, the signal would vanish as soon as you stepped outside. So don't expect Wi-Fi to completely disappear any time soon. [From: Science Daily, Via: PopSci]
