A Korean research team successfully developed a method to remotely control lightning by storing digital information to LED light. The convergence of LDE lightening technology and the ICT is expected to open the lightning communications era.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on May 19 that its research team succeeded in developing Visible Light Communication (VLC) Networking technology capable of delivering information through LED light.
This technique enables people to receive information through network transmission devices by storing and sending digital information when LED lightening blinks. LED light blinks 3 million times per second. Currently, a transmission board for LED communication is name card-sized, but ETRI predicts that it will be possible to reduce the size and use the board in smartphones. Existing communication technologies using lightening can send data at 250kbps, and thus it is difficult to send and receive video data. Moreover, communications networks do not have lightening-controlling feature.
However, it will be possible to control the brightness of lightning, send videos via wireless communications, measure various types of sensors, and remotely-monitor power consumption, if network transmission devices are attached to existing communications networks using the new technology. Download speeds of 3Mbps will also be possible, which is similar to the speed provided by DMB service. In other words, the new technology will make it possible to deliver the large amount of information very fast, like the Internet service. Controlling lightening and transmitting data using LAN, Wi-Fi, and other communications methods will be possible as well.
Related technology was already transferred to a LED lightening company, and it will be transferred to mobile carriers, too.
Kang Tae-kyu, a researcher at ETRI explained, "This technology is useful for finding a way in underground space with lightening or searching for information. It is possible to identify location by attaching a transmission device to a robot." The researcher added, "The method is also expected to be used at home for controlling electronic devices like TVs, computers, and smartphones, and letting those devices communicating with each other, using LED lightening."