In the workshop “The Mobile Communications Revolution: From WiFi to LiFi,” taking place on Friday, November 11th at the UC3M Madrid-Puerta de Toledo campus, university researchers will explain how mobile communications work and how they have evolved. “We will use laboratory equipment that attendees can operate to experience the processes of text, voice, and video transmission in a practical way, as well as understand concepts such as digitization and spectrum,” explains Ana García Armada, professor in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at UC3M.
The workshop, sponsored by the Official College of Telecommunications Engineers, focuses on radio communication technologies and will feature a low-speed LiFi transmission prototype that allows participants to understand the practical aspects of the technology. In LiFi, information is sent through variations in light intensity: “In simplified terms, by turning the light on and off, we can transmit a “1” or a “0,” and we do so at such a speed that it is imperceptible to us,” explains Professor García Armada.
LiFi has several advantages, but the most important is speed: the rapid blinking of the LEDs, imperceptible to the eye, allows for theoretical transmission speeds on the order of gigabits per second (Gbps), that is, between 100 and 1,000 times faster than current Wi-Fi networks. “LiFi products with speeds of hundreds of megabits per second already exist, but we will have to wait about two more years for truly high speeds,” the expert comments. “Achieving very high speeds requires advanced signal processing algorithms, the use of multiple simultaneous LED sources, and interference management,” she states.
This event is part of UC3M's Science Week, which this year offers more than twenty free science outreach activities from November 7 to 20, 2016, including guided tours, workshops, open days, talks, etc.
Activity Title: The Mobile Communications Revolution: From WiFi to LiFi
Date: Friday, November 11
Time: 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Location: UC3M Madrid-Puerta de Toledo Campus, Room 2.A.02, Ronda de Toledo, 1. How to get there?
Capacity: 80 people. Registration required
