Survey on Li-Fi communication networks and deployment

Winnie Mongwewarona, Sajid M. Sheikh and Benjamin C. Molefhi

African Journal of Engineering Research
Published: February 24 2020
Volume 8, Issue 1
Pages 1-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30918/AJER.81.19.036

Abstract

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) is a technology in the field of Visible Light Communications (VLC) that renders transmission of data via illumination by sending data through a Light Emitting Diode (LED) light bulb. This technology uses a photo-detector to receive light signals and a signal processing element to change over the information into a stream-capable substance. Out of this survey paper, we see that Li-Fi technology execution and research has been carried out in patient monitoring systems, vehicle toll gate systems, under roof blind navigation systems and other applications. Limited research has been carried out on Li-Fi communication networks and deployment. Nonetheless, there is a lot of potential to implement it. This includes many applications in sensitive electromagnetic interference environments such as air crafts and power plants where Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is not suitable but fast and interconnected data systems are still required. Li-Fi has potential in areas where secure networks are required and where there is need to track signal availability and transmission radius as in banks and intelligence gatherings like in the military and government special operations. It can also provide high data capacity in heavily populated environments such as colleges, malls and conference centers. There are still unattended scopes like Li-Fi network integration with the mobile network and the optical fiber network. No guidelines have been developed for the efficient deployment of Li-Fi networks to suit different applications such as hospitals, clinics and banks.

Keywords: Access point (AP), light emitting diode (LED), light fidelity (Li-Fi), line of sight (LoS), modulator demodulator (MODEM), radio frequency (RF), visible light communications (VLC), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi).

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