Monthly Archives: December 2015

What Are IP Markings and IP Ratings?

With so many IP ratings, it is easy to be confused about their actual meaning. However, published by IEC or the International Electro technical Commission, their standard 60529 details all the ratings. IP ratings are also known as Ingress Protection Ratings or International Protection markings. They classify and rate the degree of protection that mechanical casings and electrical enclosures offer against dust, water, accidental contact and intrusion by body parts such as hands and fingers.

Typically, IP ratings indicate the protection level offered by the enclosure of a device. Two or three numbers in the rating indicate the protection level. Within the IP marking, the number in the first position indicates protection from solid objects or materials. The number in the second position indicates protection from liquids, including water. The number in the third position indicates protection from mechanical impacts. However, the third number is commonly omitted as not being a part of IEC 60529. For example, IP65 denotes protection from solid objects to the level of 6 and from liquids to the level of 5. The levels, ranging from 0-9, represent increasing amounts of protection from different solids and liquids, with the level 0 representing no protection at all from either contact or ingress.

For protection from solids, level 1 denotes protection from any object larger than 50mm. This could be any large surface of the body such as the back of a hand, but not offering any protection against a deliberate contact with a body part. Level 2 represents protection against objects of size greater than 12.5mm, but less than 50mm, such as fingers or similar objects. Level 3 represents protection against intrusion from objects of size between 2.5-12.5mm, such as tools, thick wires, etc. Level 4 represents protection against objects of size between 1mm and 2.5mm, such as most wires, screws and so on. A level 5 enclosure will protect against ingress of dust, but not entirely prevent it from entering. That means although the dust protected enclosure will offer complete protection against contact, it will not allow dust to enter in quantities that may interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment. If your equipment needs to be dust tight, only an enclosure with a level of 6 will ensure there is no ingress of dust including complete protection against contact.

The second number in the IP rating denotes protection from liquids. For instance, level 1 represents enclosures offering protection from dripping water. Level 2 denotes protection from dripping water when the enclosure is tilted by 15 degrees. An enclosure with a rating of level 3 will not allow the ingress of water sprayed on it, while a level 4 enclosure protects against water being splashed on it. If you want the equipment to remain protected against water from jets, you must go for a level 5 enclosure. If the water jets are really powerful, only a level 6 or above enclosure will help. However, if you expect equipment to work even when immersed in water up to a depth of 1m, you need to go for an enclosure with a rating of level 7. For equipment expected to work even beyond an immersion depth between 1-3m, only an enclosure with a rating of 8 is to be used.

HACK3R: The Black HAT for your Raspberry Pi

Have you ever wondered whether it is possible to use two HATs at the same time on your single board computer, the Raspberry Pi (RBPi)? Alternatively, how to access the GPIO pins with the HAT sitting atop your RBPi? People who design HATs also faced the same problems and as a solution designed Hack3r, the Black HAT for the RBPi. Initially, this was a tool for debugging HATs under design, but later on, the debugging tool took on the form of another useful HAT.

HATs for the RBPi are Hardware Attached on Top boards with special design. One of their specialties is automatic detection by the host RBPi when the HAT is plugged in. Depending on the settings indicated by the particular HAT plugged on, your RBPi can adjust its hardware and software settings to allow the HAT to function properly. That is, if the HAT functions as intended.

Trouble starts when the functioning of the HAT and your expectations of its functioning do not match. As the design of the HAT makes it sit firmly atop the RBPi, there is practically no access to the pins of the RBPi underneath, making troubleshooting an impossible task. With the Hack3r available, you plug in your HAT into it, while connecting the Hack3r to your RBPi with a flat ribbon cable and connectors. Not only this, the Hack3r has additional pins, two sets of 40 pins each mirroring the 40-pin GPIO set of the RBPi.

This nifty little tool comes unsoldered. Therefore, you will need a good soldering iron, one preferably with a fine tip and a fair amount of solder. You will also need plenty of patience while soldering the 120 points, which include the two sets of 40 pins for the GPIO, and one set of 40 pins for the ribbon cable. The pins supplied are individual pins, and you must make sure to solder them in straight. In case this looks tough for you, substitute the individual pins with three strips of 2×20 pin male headers. Use open type headers as there is no polarity involved and the plastic base holds the pins upright and straight.

The Hack3r board comes with all the GPIO pins labeled neatly with their function, the BCM pin number and the physical pin number. Therefore, while troubleshooting the board, one look at it is enough to tell you a lot about the signal you are accessing. There is no need to keep another reference diagram for cross checking the signal source.

If you have two Hack3r boards, they will help when you need to use two HATs at the same time. Of course, you must make sure the HATs are not using the same GPIO pins simultaneously. One of the Hack3r boards connects to the RBPi with a ribbon cable, while the second Hack3r connects to the first Hack3r board with the second ribbon cable. Now you can plug in one HAT on to the first Hack3r and the second HAT on the second Hack3r.

In conclusion, the Hack3r is a wonderful and nifty little debugging tool for the RBPi to help you at times when you are developing or troubleshooting your HAT.

Increasing the Accuracy of Peristaltic Pumps

There are vast applications of peristaltic pumps because of their simple construction and ease of use. The construction of peristaltic pumps does not allow the liquid being pumped to be exposed to the pump’s mechanism. That helps hospitals using these pumps to circulate blood during bypass surgery as a critical part. Used in heart-lung machines, the design of these pumps prevents significant hemolysis – the rupture of destruction of red blood cells. The chief advantage of the design is the compressible polymer tube through which the dispensing liquid passes.

For fluids that must be isolated from the environment, this simple arrangement works very well. For example, it allows pumping slurries with a high solid content and other aggressive chemicals. However, rollers inside the peristaltic pump produce pulsations as they move an on and off a pressure shoe that compresses the tube. These pulsations prevent accurate dispensing.

Drug development and delivery depends largely on accurate dispensing. For example, accurate dispensing and aspirations are extremely important for addressing safety concerns related to tremendously expensive high-potency compounds such as biotech designer molecules used by leading-edge pharmaceuticals. The proteins and synthetic molecular chains composing these compounds are very fragile and highly susceptible to tear. That calls for short setup times and the dispensing tube meeting or exceeding the safety and contamination concerns. The peristaltic pump finds wide applications because it is able to address the above requirements.

One simple method of reducing the pulsations from the peristaltic pump is to increase the number of rollers. However, that is not a very practical idea. A pump with three rollers can greatly reduce its fluid-dispensing variance provided it has one roller in the same starting position when starting each dispense – the pump repeats its starting position every 180 degrees.

An integrated motor solution with signal inputs and outputs for roller positioning makes this a possibility. The design allows the pump to dispense volumes made from multiple revolutions plus some fraction of a revolution. With roller positioning, it is possible to take into consideration the fraction of the revolution and ignore the complete revolutions. External valves help with the dispensing of fluid from the peristaltic pump to control the starting position of the next roller without dispensing.

In practice, the motor allows the pump to dispense and then operates the valve, allowing the rollers to be positioned to the same starting point for the subsequent dispense cycle. The process ensures a precise and repeatable quantity of dispensing. Usually, drip retention is also used to bring back the fluid into the tube. This is to prevent a drip of the fluid when closing the dispense valve. Usually, that causes a small amount of fluid to be wasted. This can be prevented by repositioning the next roller in a positive or a negative direction to minimize the fluid waste.

Another method is to use multiple tube peristaltic system. The rollers in this system are intentionally offset and the output of the tubes combined. This effectively increases the total number of rollers, minimizing pulsations. Here, one of the legs becomes the waste tube and the dispense valve is positioned after the combined outlet.

Pi-DAC+ — An Audiophile’s HAT for the Raspberry Pi

Earlier, you may have faced problems with sound cards for your single board computer, the Raspberry Pi (RBPi). It is time to look for a DAC or Digital to Analog Converter that is simple to use and easy to set up to work with your RBPi. The IOAudio HAT fits the bill very well and you can use it to learn your way around the audio capabilities of the RBPi.

The earlier cards for the RBPi had a long series of compiling issues that left their users yearning for a simpler card. The Pi-DAC+ HAT from IOAudio is compatible to RBPi models A+, B+ and RBPi 2. It brings to the RBPi the ability of playing back full-HD audio up to 24-bits/192KHz. Additionally, the HAT is compatible with RuneAudio, Volumio, Moode and many others.

The Pi-DAC+ HAT from IOAudio is fully HAT compliant. It meets all the requirements for the Hardware Added on Top board specifications including the auto-detection by the RBPi. The Pi-DAC+ takes the digital audio signals from the RBPi and passes them through the onboard PCM5122 DAC from Texas Instruments. The output from the DAC is an analog audio signal that can be picked up from the phono connectors onboard the Pi-DAC+. The DAC also consists of a built-in electronic volume control. This eliminates the need for a physical potentiometer based volume control, which is likely to introduce noise in the audio path.

You do not need any soldering to use the Pi-DAC+ HAT with your RBPi. Simply plug it on and you are ready to go. When used for the first time, the Pi-DAC+ requires setting some configuration with the existing setup of the RBPi. If you mess up or are unable to get through, a visit to the manufacturer’s website will give you different pre-configured operating systems for your RBPi. Use them and you will find excellent sound quality from the HAT. The resulting audio output is certainly louder than and clearer than the default audio from the RBPI.

The Pi-DAC+ offers leading audio with a signal to noise ratio of 112dB and a total harmonic distortion of -93dB. The PCM5122 is a 32-bit/384KHz DAC from Texas Instruments. The board has advanced ESD protection to prevent it from handling damages. It requires no external power supply, taking all it wants from the RBPi.

If you do not have an amplifier at present, you can listen to the audio output using a headphone through the 3.5mm audio jack on the board. The board has a built-in high quality audio headphone amplifier, the TPA6133A, also from Texas Instruments. For volume control, RBPi can use ALSA, which gives a full range of control.

If you are an audiophile and an RBPi enthusiast too, the Pi-DAC+ will certainly combine both the worlds for you. You can use raw Linux, RuneAudio, Volumio, SqueezePlug, MDP, AirplaySync or similar on your RBPi and Pi-DAC+ combination for listening to internet radio, streaming music services such as Spotify or your own digital music library, in magnificent audio quality.

Why do Speakers use Ferro-fluids?

Speakers reproduce sound by moving a diaphragm to displace air. The mechanism resembles a permanent magnet electric motor. The major difference is the voice coil in a speaker moves linearly instead of in a circular motion. As the coil moves back and forth in step with the electrical signals fed to it, it moves the attached diaphragm. To prevent spurious movements and unwanted oscillations of the diaphragm, conventional speakers generally use a damper. To produce sound from such speakers, extra energy is necessary to overcome the resistance of the damper.

Additionally, the damper has its own natural frequency of vibration that restricts the speaker from reproducing sound accurately at all frequencies. A new technique using a magnetic fluid to replace the damper claims to correct this anomaly by reducing energy consumption and allowing louder and clearer sound across the entire range of frequencies the speaker is capable of reproducing. To quantify the advantages, the new speaker reduces energy consumption by 35% for reproducing the same loudness of sound as from conventional speakers and the improvement in sound quality is nearly 3dB.

NASA originally developed the magnetic fluid in the 1960’s, using it for space exploration and called it Ferro-fluid. It responds to applied magnetic fields because the fluid is infused with Nano-sized magnetic particles. They do not agglomerate or cluster together because of a coating of suitable surfactants. The unique characteristic of ferro-fluids makes them useful in a range of applications. Using applied magnetic fields to control flow or movement, ferro-fluids can replace mechanical parts such as vehicle suspensions, flow of fuel in a reactor and more.

In a conventional speaker, the damper holds several components such as the diaphragm and spring in place, even when the speaker is vibrating. However, the damper causes friction while moving, thereby distorting the original sound waves with secondary vibrations, which are manifest as noise. To overcome the friction requires additional energy while driving and that reduces the speaker’s total volume output by a few decibels.

When replacing the damper in a speaker, the ferro-fluid used has a thickness of only a few microns. The magnets of the speaker create a permanent magnetic field to which the ferro-fluid responds by holding the diaphragm and the coil in place while allowing them to move linearly without any friction. As there are no secondary vibrations from the ferro-fluid, the sound is clearer. The lack of friction allows the speaker to save about 35% of the energy as compared to conventional speakers with dampers.

Ferro-fluids used for the audio field are usually based on two classes of carrier liquids – synthetic enters and hydrocarbons. Both oils are low in volatility and high on thermal stability. The environmental considerations dictate the choice of the fluid used, along with the best balance of viscosity values and magnetization for optimizing the acoustical performance.

Using different carrier liquids and by varying the quantity of magnetic material in the ferro-fluid, it can be tailored to meet different needs. The saturation magnetization depends on the nature of the suspended magnetic material and its volumetric loading. Care is taken to use material whose density and viscosity correspond closely to that of the carrier fluid.

ARDUINO 101: The Curie-Powered Sensor-Packed Arduino

Intel and Arduino have teamed up to generate a new single board computer, the Arduino 101. Scheduled for market availability in the first quarter of 2016, the Arduino 101 is powered by the Curie module from Intel. Aimed at educating youngsters in the emerging technologies, the SBC is packed with sensors, yet affordably priced.

Arduino 101 has the input and output capabilities of the classic Arduino UNO, but also includes hardware for Bluetooth wireless communication. In addition, Arduino 101 comes with a gyroscope and a 6-axis accelerometer.

Intel and Arduino are promoting their cobranded board for furthering their initiative, Arduino 101 in the Classroom. This is a computer science and design curriculum meant for educating students in the age group 11-14 years in emerging technologies. The Arduino 101 will also be following the hardware configuration of the Curie module. Contestants will be using this board during the upcoming reality television show, America’s Greatest Makers, by the Intel and Turner Broadcasting System.

Those familiar with the Arduino UNO will find Arduino 101 has the same form factor of 70x55x20mm. Differences are an on-board antenna on the bottom right-hand corner of the circuit board and a new main processor. This is the Intel Quark, a low-power 32-bit micro-controller also known as the Curie module. The specialty of this particular Quark is the Bluetooth communication hardware, the gyroscope and the 6-axis accelerometer are on its die.

Users can program the Arduino 101 in the same process they followed for the Arduino UNO. You write your code and compile it with the Arduino IDE, before uploading it to your board. To allow programmers utilize the unique features of the Curie module, Intel is expected to offer special libraries. Initially, Intel had packaged the Curie module in the size of a tiny button and it was supposedly meant for wearable projects. Later, they changed direction towards the Curie-powered Arduino.

Intel is following this go-to-market strategy for its system-on-chips. Intel also packaged an earlier SOC, the Edison. Intel also designed accessory boards for the Edison and Sparkfun produced these boards for Intel. Intel and Arduino had teamed up earlier for the Intel Galileo – the micro-controller board certified by Arduino had Arduino-compatible headers.

The specifications of the Curie indicate it is powered by 1.8V, the popular voltage of a coin-cell battery. However, to power the IO on the Arduino 101 properly, the voltage requirements as dictated by the Arduino ecosystem are at least 3.3V. Limitations imposed by the Arduino 101 design rule out the possibility of a coin-cell battery powering the Curie.

The Curie module also has a 128-node neural network built into it, which users could use for machine-learning applications. However, Intel will not be providing software support for the technology at the time of Arduino 101 launch. They may support it later.

David Cuartielles, the co-founder of Intel’s marketing of Arduino, will be using Arduino 101 in their Creative Technologies in the Classroom or CTC. Earlier, the curriculum used the Arduino UNO for teaching students in a playful way. Now, they will be using the Arduino 101 for teaching basic programming skills in electronics and mechanical design.

The 64-RGB Unicorn HAT for the Raspberry Pi

Using an RGB LED connected to the single board computer RBPi (Raspberry Pi), one can generate most of the colors of the rainbow. If one RGB LED has so versatile uses, imagine what you could do with 64 of them. Agreed, it takes more programming effort to play with 64 RGB LEDs, but with some help from the Pimroni GitHub repository and using their 64-RGB Unicorn HAT, this could be a fun project with Python scripts.

The Unicorn is a HAT or Hardware Attached on Top board for the RBPi. That means it has means to let the RBPi detect the GPIO pins required to drive it. Once plugged into the GPIO connector of the RBPi, the Unicorn becomes functional. You can program the matrix of 8×8 RGB LEDs on the Unicorn using Python scripts in many imaginative ways.

For those sensitive to different types of light, there is a word of caution. RBPi is capable of flashing, strobing and creating patterns of light with the RGB LEDs and this may cause epileptic seizures in those who are photosensitive. LEDs are strong point sources of light and directly gazing into a bright LED may cause eye-damage.

The GPIO interface on the RBPi can control each individual LED of the matrix. This includes assigning a level of brightness to each LED in addition to choosing its color. The Unicorn board comes with 64 RGB LEDs and its own Python library that Pimroni has provided. That makes it every easy for developers to control the board with its extensive capabilities. The LEDs may seem too bright if you operated them at their full brilliance.

Operating them at about 20% brightness is generally enough for most purposes. So many LEDs require a lot of energy, and as the board derives its energy from the RBPi, it is advisable to use at least a 2A power supply for powering the duo.

The Unicorn HAT uses the PWM hardware and the GPIO 18. Although this does not affect the HDMI output, it does interfere with analog audio playback. HATs are only compatible with the newer models, as HATs plug on to the 40-pin GPIO connector of the RBPi, model B+.

Although the RGB LEDs look great when working without a cover, a diffuser can soften the light output and mix neighboring colors, presenting a uniform display. You can use the matrix to present static or dynamic information. This pocket aurora, the Unicorn HAT, can present a wash of controllable color, which you can use for mood-lightening, pixel art, status indication or for simply blasting your surroundings with color.

The human eye has persistence of vision. That means it briefly remembers the image it has seen for about one-sixteenth of a second after the image is removed. You can use this feature to present information on the LED matrix of the Unicorn to make it look as if the image is moving continuously.
With all the colors of the rainbow at your disposal, this 8×8 RGB LED matrix can present countless hours of enjoyment and fun while teaching programming.

Low-Power GPU for IoT

The Mali Graphical Processing Units or GPUs from ARM are popular because of their cost efficiency. ARM has optimized them to provide energy efficient, high performance graphics in the smallest possible area of silicon. As a result, not only low- to mid-range smartphones, but also tablets and DTVs are also using Mali cost efficient GPUs as ARM offers a diverse selection of scalable solutions involving both graphics-only and graphics plus GPU Compute technology.

ARM offers the Mali-400MP, which is the first OpenGL, ES 2.0, multi-core GPU with leading area efficiency and the Mali-450MP, which offers approximately twice the performance of the Mali-400MP. However, these are not suitable for the Internet of Things, as these devices require extremely low levels of energy consumption. For the IoT, ARM has released a new low-power GPU. Useful for wearable and other IoT gadgets, the new 32-bit Mali-470MP from ARM claims smartphone-quality graphics, while requiring only half the power used by the Mali-400MP, using the same process geometry.

For cutting the power consumption in the Mali GPUs, ARM targeted three prime areas and made a range of micro-architectural optimizations. They updated most of the processing blocks within the chip to a scheduling pipelines operating on quads. They reduced the frequency of control and state-update operations. They also increased the amount of clock gating in areas including LI caches and completed the bypass blocks.

In general, most graphic processors use floating-point arithmetic for better performance. However, using floating-point arithmetic consumes a lot of power. In Mali-470MP GPUs, ARM prefers using fixed-point arithmetic in places where it does not affect performance. By scrutinizing every milli-watt across the entire SOC, ARM was able to tune the efficiency of Mali-470MP, making it relevant for devices operating with low power budgets, but requiring sophisticated graphics such as wearables, IoT devices and entry-level smartphones.

According to Dan Wilson, Product Manager of ARM, the Mali-470MP is highly power-efficient because it is optimized for the OpenGL ES 2.0 API and its drivers. As most of the devices using Android, Android Wear and Tizen devices use the OpenGL ES API, Mali-470MP can replace the previous generation of GPUs from ARM. Additionally, there is no need to re-optimize the applications for the new GPU.

Just as users are accustomed to vibrant displays and touch interfaces on smartphones, Mali-470MP is expected to bring immersive experiences to wearables, because of its greater power efficiency and support for the OpenGL ES 2.0.

Designers have the freedom of using the multi-core configurable Mali-470MP with both 32- and 64-bit CPUs. These include processors such as the ARM Cortex-A7 and the Cortex-AS3. As IoT devices do not need to address more than 4GB or memory, ARM has designed the new CPU as a 32-bit device. However, Mali-470MP offers optimal energy efficiency when used for screen resolutions up to 640x640p in single-core configurations and up to 1080p for multi-core configurations.

However, the new GPU from ARM is not available in the market yet, and licensees will most likely be able to ship products based on the new Mali-470MP only by the end of 2016.

Infrared Thermopile Sensor for the Raspberry Pi

The usual process for measuring temperature is to place the probe directly touching the surface whose temperature is to be measured. That assumes the sensor is placed on the tip of the probe and must be in contact with the surface of interest. However, heat is a radiation and as infrared rays emanating from the surface carry information about how hot the surface really is, it should be possible to measure temperature remotely. Texas Instrument has designed a contact-less infrared thermopile sensor, the TMP006, and Adafruit is offering this on a breakout board suitable for the popular single board computer, the RBPi or Raspberry Pi.

Therefore, using this Infrared Thermopile Sensor with the RBPi, you can measure temperature of an object without touching it. The TMP006 is an embedded thermopile sensor that absorbs Infrared radiation emitted by a surface towards which you point it. It generates a small voltage proportional to the radiation falling on it, which the RBPi substitutes in a polynomial equation. The RBPi solves the equation, thereby converting the voltage into degrees, either Centigrade or Fahrenheit, as the user requires. TMP006 is capable of measuring over an area, so it is handy for determining the average temperature of an object.

As the TMP006 sensor comes in an ultra-small package, a BGA with 0.5mm pitch, it is impossible to solder manually. That is why Adafruit is offering this sensor already soldered on an easy to use breakout board. As the sensor works with three or 5V logic, no logic shifting is necessary to interface it with the RBPi. The sensor IC has two address pins and works with the I2C protocol. Therefore, you can hook up eight such TMP006 sensors to the RBPi, should you need to expand on the measurement. The Adafruit board has a 0.1” breakaway header to allow easy soldering, making it easy for using the sensor on a breadboard. The board also has two mounting holes for attaching it to an enclosure.

Users must note that TMP006 works by measuring the emissivity of an object. The sensor is suitable for measuring the temperature of a surface that has an emissivity greater than 0.7. The surfaces of most polished and shiny metal objects have an emissivity value too low for use with the TMP006. However, for measuring the temperature of surfaces with low emissivity, you can paint it with lampblack paint, which has an emissivity of 0.96.

The TMP006 accurately detects signals in almost the entire field of view of the sensor. For calculation of the final temperature, the sensor integrates all the signals present in the field of view. Therefore, more the signal that the IR sensor can capture from the target better is the accuracy of its measurement.

The percentage of signal absorbed by the IR sensor depends on the angle of incidence of the signal with respect to the sensor. Therefore, for best results, you must place the TMP006 directly underneath the target object. This will make the surface of the target parallel to the TMP006, and the angle of incidence between them will then be zero degrees, allowing the sensor to capture the maximum amount of signal.

Wi-Fi or Li-Fi, What Should You Choose?

Although difficult to believe, but Wi-Fi is running out of steam, or more technically speaking, running out of spectrum. With almost all devices connected with Wi-Fi, our consumption of ever-increasing amounts of information is actually pushing the capacity of Wi-Fi to handle data, to its limits.

Presently, we use radio waves for transmitting information using Wi-Fi, but this method has its limits and it can only transfer so much at a time.

According to the latest estimates, by 2019, we will be exchanging roughly 30-35 quintillion bytes of data each month. We are already consuming huge chunks of radio frequencies and these are heavily regulated. That means Wi-Fi will be starved of bandwidth as data transfer amounts shoot up.

However, work is already underway at providing better technology for increased data transfers. Light Fidelity or Li-FI is showing great promise using light waves to transmit information. Scientists at Tallinn, Estonia, have conducted field tests to achieve speeds of 1GB per second. Although that is only about 100 times faster than traditional Wi-Fi, scientists in their labs claim to have achieved speeds up to 224 GB per second.

Apart from limited capacity, Wi-Fi arrangements are notoriously inefficient. For example, the base station responsible for generating the radio waves works only at about 5 percent efficiency, with the major part wasted as heat. A second part of the problem involves security, as Wi-Fi can penetrate solid objects such as doors and walls, raising concerns for those transmitting sensitive data.

Although light waves are a part of the same electromagnetic spectrum to which radio waves also belong, the difference lies in their wavelengths. Light waves use wavelengths more than 10 thousand times smaller than the wavelengths of radio waves. That means light waves have the capacity to carry enormous amounts of information as compared to radio waves, a fact already established by improved data transmission rates using fiber-optical technology.

However, Li-Fi uses a slightly different method of transmitting data. It works by flashing an LED light on and off at incredibly high speeds when sending data to a receiver. This is essentially sending binary code, only at ultra-high speeds. You will not see any flashes because the LED switches so fast. The communication is primarily line-of-sight, as light from the LED will not penetrate walls and other solid structures. That makes the technology endearing to those looking for security. A person sitting on the other side of the wall cannot eavesdrop on communication using Li-Fi, as they can with the one using Wi-Fi technology.

We already use illumination devices in our homes, and this could double up as potential communication devices as well. What is necessary is to fit a small microchip to every light bulb to convert it into a wireless data communication hub, while also providing the necessary illumination. In other words, we already have the infrastructure in place. The LED bulbs in use in our homes and offices, with some tweaking, can work as incredibly high-speed high volume data transmission and receiving devices.