pureLiFi and Lucibel plan to collaborate to develop and mass produce a LiFi luminaire. pureLiFi, a light communications technology company that spun off from research at the University of Edinburgh, and Lucibel, a French LED lighting company, have agreed to co-develop and market Europe’s first, fully industrialized LiFi luminaire. Lucibel says its partnership with pureLiFi enables it to offer its customers communications solutions as part of Lucibel’s lighting offering.
Lucibel will produce the off-the-shelf LiFi solution at its industrial site in Barentin in France. The solution will integrate pureLiFi’s technology into a Lucibel LED lighting luminaire. pureLiFi contends that the product reduces the cost of deployment for both communications and lighting services into a single integrated infrastructure. Furthermore, the companies assert that LiFi increases the security, localization and overall capacity of wireless communications systems.
Unlike WiFi systems, LiFi networks can be entirely controlled and contained within a room. LiFi communication uses subtle changes in light intensity to communicate data. These changes are so subtle that humans cannot perceive them. Unlike WiFi, a LiFi signal cannot pass through walls.
Harald Burchardt, pureLiFi’s COO, said, “The numbers demonstrate that LiFi is rapidly moving from a predicted emerging technology to one that has real life applications across multiple sectors.”
The companies intend to bring the product to market by Q3 2016.
The first installation of the LiFi luminaire will be at the headquarters of Sogeprom in La Defense in Paris. Sogeprom, a subsidiary of Societe Generale and a major property developer, wants to use LiFi to provide next generation wireless connectivity for customers. Pierre Sorel, Sogeprom’s Deputy CEO, commented, “We take the challenge on innovation at all levels. The installation of high bandwidth LiFi in our offices fits that vision and perfectly fits with our client’s demands of increased mobility, system security and connectivity.”
Frédéric Granotier, Chairman and CEO of Lucibel, “This partnership with pureLifi, who is the European leading technological actor in LiFi today, allows us to have a real advance regarding innovation and development of new value-added lighting offers for our customers.”
Professor Haas, pureLiFi’s Founder and CSO envisions a wide adoption of LiFi technology around the world. Haas said, “The collaboration with a lighting manufacturer such as Lucibel is an important milestone as it signifies that the lighting industry embraces the new ground-breaking business opportunities that LiFi will enable – these opportunities are on a similar scale as the photography industry’s move from analogue to digital technology.”
