Harald Haas has major issues with current wireless data capacity. In his TED Talk, Wireless data from every light bulb, he brings us a radical solution to solve the problem.
Five billion mobile devices exist in the world, serviced by 1.4 million radio towers. More than 600 terabytes of data are transmitted every month. Radio waves are scarce and expensive, and current capacity and wavelength will not keep up with the demand for data.
Harald's solution is to transform the fourteen billion light bulbs currently in use to transmit wireless data along with light. Visible light exists along with radio waves in the electromagnetic spectrum, but has ten thousand times more capacity than radio waves.
The first step is replacing incandescent light bulbs with LEDs. LED intensity can be modulated and turned on or off at very high speeds. LEDs can transmit thousands of signals at once using spatial modulation.
Transmitting the data along with the light will greatly improve efficiency. In current radio towers most of the energy is used to cool the tower itself, and efficiency can be as low as five percent.
Security issues can be alleviated because light will not pass through walls. If wireless data needs to be secured, the light can be turned off or blocked and the signal will stop.
Haas demonstrates the concept using a desk lamp and an LED bulb to play high definition video on a screen. When his hand blocks the light beam the video pauses and when the path is cleared the video resumes playback. The human eye doesn't perceive the changes in the light's amplitude, and other light sources don't affect the performance.
Current applications are underwater exploration using a Remote Operated Vehicle, and petrochemical plants where radio frequency waves cannot be used. Haas' company, pureVLC, is currently streaming light wave data at speeds up to six Gbps.