What is LiFi ?

LiFi provides a completely new layer of wireless connectivity within existing heterogeneous radio frequency (RF) wireless networks. LiFi supports multiuser access and enables roaming. It is, therefore, a truly mobile system. Multisuer access and mobility support in LiFi require unique building blocks as outlined in the figure below.  Techniques developed for RF systems cannot be applied direct as the signal propagation and information encoding techniques are different. However, the differences diminish as higher frequencies in RF are used such as mm wave bands. The paper also describes the first LiFi transmitter and receiver ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) developed at the University of Edinburgh as part of the UP-VLC project.

These ASICs allow real-time data transmission of 1 Gbps as well as support multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) operation and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). LiFi fulfils many key performance indicators (KPI) postulated for 5G systems.

How fast can LiFi be?

LiFi could transmit up to 100 Gbps and possibly higher, but this would require a change

 in lighting technology.

Recent news report that LiFi is 100 times faster than WiFi.

 The assumption was that the average WiFi speeds are 10 Mbps,

 and that LiFi can be as fast as 1 Gbps. It is important to highlight that 1 Gbps 

transmission speeds from an off-the-shelf commercial LED light bulb have not

 been demonstrated, yet. In this discussion, it is important to compare like-for-like