We’ve all most likely been annoyed by blinking florescent lights in an office building. It seems those stark, harsh lights are designed to drive us all to migraines and make work even more frustrating. But the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota is looking to turn those lights into the next generation of wireless networks.
St. Cloud municipal offices will pilot a new technology from LVX that uses LED lights to transmit signals to special modems attached to the computers below. These modems interpret the blinking (much like a tonal modem interprets dial-tones) and then sends back messages from the computer to the lights, which are equipped with a receiver as well. Current tests show that this system can achieve speeds comparable to home DSL service (roughly 3 Megabits per second). While this performance seems to suggest that Wi-Fi would be a better fit, the point of these LED based networks is to work in Tandem with Wi-Fi to reduce the congestion on over-crowded office networks.
The really cool thing about these LED network systems is that they may actually make it cheaper to light your office. Because LEDs are so much more energy efficient than traditional office lighting. Additionally, add-ons are available to sense ambient light and dim the LEDs to save more energy. You could also change the color to direct people around the office (i.e. “Follow the green lights to the xyz meeting”). That seems pretty cool.
But what about headaches? Constantly blinking lights (blinking in code no less) sounds like a recipe for seizures and migraines. But, remember, current CFL lighting blinks at a much lower rate (about 60 times per second). These lights will blink much faster, meaning you should actually be less likely to notice the blinking (and therefore less likely to be bothered by it).
I think it’s awesome that we’re looking at different ways to communicate beyond Wi-Fi.
Good Talk,
Tom
[Sources: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101227/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_via_lighting, http://dvice.com/archives/2010/12/flickering-offi.php]
St. Cloud municipal offices will pilot a new technology from LVX that uses LED lights to transmit signals to special modems attached to the computers below. These modems interpret the blinking (much like a tonal modem interprets dial-tones) and then sends back messages from the computer to the lights, which are equipped with a receiver as well. Current tests show that this system can achieve speeds comparable to home DSL service (roughly 3 Megabits per second). While this performance seems to suggest that Wi-Fi would be a better fit, the point of these LED based networks is to work in Tandem with Wi-Fi to reduce the congestion on over-crowded office networks.
The really cool thing about these LED network systems is that they may actually make it cheaper to light your office. Because LEDs are so much more energy efficient than traditional office lighting. Additionally, add-ons are available to sense ambient light and dim the LEDs to save more energy. You could also change the color to direct people around the office (i.e. “Follow the green lights to the xyz meeting”). That seems pretty cool.
But what about headaches? Constantly blinking lights (blinking in code no less) sounds like a recipe for seizures and migraines. But, remember, current CFL lighting blinks at a much lower rate (about 60 times per second). These lights will blink much faster, meaning you should actually be less likely to notice the blinking (and therefore less likely to be bothered by it).
I think it’s awesome that we’re looking at different ways to communicate beyond Wi-Fi.
Good Talk,
Tom
[Sources: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101227/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_via_lighting, http://dvice.com/archives/2010/12/flickering-offi.php]
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