In a famous rant on late-night talk show with host Conan O'Brien, comedian Louis CK talked about those people on planes that want faster Internet. "Give it a second! It’s going to space! Can you give it a second to get back from space?"
His comments are well-put -- after all, Internet on airplanes was pretty laughable five to 10 years ago -- but in all seriousness, it is hard to get fast Internet while you're travelling. Airport networks are often less than reliable. Hotels continually try to upgrade their bandwidth, but it seems they can't get ahead of our constant need today to stream videos and download vast reams of data. And for sure, not all of it is leisure activities; think of the number of videoconferences we do today over Skype for business or school.
It calls for a quantum leap, so to speak, in how to make our networks even faster. One vision from Oregon State University proposes using LED lights to send information over the airwaves, into computers and by proxy better fuel our brains.
We like to get Internet no matter where we are these days -- even in airports or on planes. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
"The technology could be integrated with existing WiFi systems to reduce bandwidth problems in crowded locations, such as airport terminals or coffee shops, and in homes where several people have multiple WiFi devices," Oregon State wrote in a press release. "Experts say that recent advances in LED technology have made it possible to modulate the LED light more rapidly, opening the possibility of using light for wireless transmission in a “free space” optical communication system."
Here's how the system works. The prototype (no, it's sadly not ready for commercial use yet) makes use of light-emitting diodes that shine in wavelengths that the human eye can't see. The LED lights have a range of about one meter square around their bulbs, which allow data to be received. It's a tiny area, researchers acknowledge, but it can easily integrate between the LED transmitters (which could be mounted on a ceiling) and a wi-fi network already in place.
While this is all being tested, the hope is to have speeds of up to 100 megabits per second with less need to split the bandwidth between users. This would be pretty amazing in the typical household, where it's hard to watch in HD on Netflix at the same time as your teenager is having a group call with friends over Skype.
The Internet has integrated itself into our lives in ways that we can't imagine. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel
Where perhaps this could have the best application is in education. I remember how hard it was to find wi-fi on campus a decade ago when I was in full-time university, and how often the system would crash due to demand. I'm pretty sure the situation is the same in a lot of schools today, even though wi-fi is more widespread and faster than it used to be.
With distributed wi-fi access points such as this, students would be able to get the data they need more quickly. This would reduce the need for them to commute on and off campus during the day in search of wi-fi, increasing the strain on local coffee shops and libraries and other areas that offer the service. Potentially, this could also increase collaborations between them on campus since the students would be more willing to stay.
If you get ultra-fast wi-fi in your household or business, what sorts of changes could be made? What kind of data would be shared?
Top image: We do much of our work on the go right now, which means fast wi-fi is a boon where we can find it. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
