New breakthrough could let smart windows replace Wi-Fi in your home

By Matthew Griffin Connected Society 26th November 2022

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

To get a signal in the future all you might need is a window and some fancy tech …

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A long time ago there was a lot of chatter about a technology called LiFi, that transmitted data via light from light bulbs, but in the past few years there haven’t been very many updates on the tech. Now though a Saudi Arabian team has created a less energy-intensive alternative that could modulate sunlight to replace traditional Wi-Fi.

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Currently in development at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the system utilizes Smart Glass elements known as Dual-Cell Liquid Crystal Shutters (DLSs). These rapidly alter the polarity of sunlight passing through them, and could conceivably be used in the plate glass windows of large rooms such as offices.

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The back-and-forth changes in polarity serve the same purpose as the 1s and 0s in binary code, and are reportedly not perceptible to the human eye … although tests have shown that they can be detected and decoded by smartphone cameras. By contrast, changes in the intensity of artificial light – utilized in some other proposed systems – can be visually perceived as an unpleasant flickering effect if the frequency of the changes is too low.

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Importantly, while traditional Wi-Fi routers use between 5 and 20 watts of electricity, the DLSs use just 1 watt and could be embedded into glass everywhere to literally smother areas with connectivity. According to the scientists, this amount could be supplied by a small solar panel. Of course, the system would only work while the sun was shining, so it might be used to save energy during the day, with the Wi-Fi kicking in once the sun had set.

Calculations indicate that in the setup’s present form, it could transmit data at a rate of 16 kilobits per second – but that’s just for the time being.

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“We are now ordering the necessary hardware for a testbed prototype implementation,” said the lead scientist, Assoc. Prof. Basem Shihada. “We would like to increase the data rates from kilobits to mega- and gigabits per second.”

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal IEEE Photonics.

Source: KAUST via AlphaGalileo

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.