Login or Register    Join The IEE   Shop    Help    A-Z    Contacts    Home 
The IEE
ENGINEERING COMMUNITIES
Power
IEE services supporting the growth of knowledge in engineering and technology
 
 
 
LED lighting could deliver wireless broadband, researchers claim
Published on 13 January 2006

US engineers have combined light emitting diodes with powerline communication technology to give you domestic lighting with broadband access at the flick of a switch.

By combining LEDs with powerline communications, the engineer say they have created a data-transmission system for buildings that is faster than digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable and more secure than using radio frequencies.

The researchers at Penn State University used white LEDs to illuminate a room as uniformly as possible. Data delivered through the building’s electrical network can then be transmitted to wireless-enabled devices by ‘piggybacking’ on the light. Since light doesn’t penetrate walls in the same way that microwaves do, the white LED system is more secure than RF techniques, it is claimed.

Describing the technique at the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference in Las Vegas, Dr Mohsen Kavehrad of the University’s Centre for Information and Communications Technology Research claimed that it can deliver secure, wireless bit rates of a gigabit per second.

“In the future, when you turn on the lights for indoor low-cost lighting, you could receive broadband via the same white light LED,” said Kavehrad.

“Optical path differences can cause signal distortion in high-speed data transmission,” he added. “This distortion is highly dependent on the room's dimensions and system configuration. However, if a system is designed appropriately, this distortion can be minimised. For example, in our proposed system, at worst, distortion limits the data rate to one gigabit.”

Although white LEDs are not yet commercially available for this type of application, Kavehrad is confident that they will be by 2010 saying: “Their low-energy consumption will make them especially attractive.”

> Latest Power News
Highlights from the latest news relevant to the Power sector.

> RSS news feed
You can set up the IEE Industry News as an RSS feed direct to your desktop.

Take our Poll
How should the UK ‘plug the energy gap’ up to 2020?
Clean coal generation
Nuclear power
Renewable generation
Import more gas
Better energy efficiency
We need a balanced mix



© 2006 IEE
The Institution of Electrical Engineers is a not for profit organisation, registered as a charity in the UK.
Privacy Troubleshooting and feedback Cookies