Global LiFi technology firms pureLiFi and Fraunhofer HHI are celebrating IEEE 802.11bb, a new standard for light-based wireless communications that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) released today. According to a primer from the official LiFi site, LiFi boasts speeds of up to 224 GB/s, making it 100 times faster than WiFi. “The more light you put in a room, the faster your connection will be.”
“The release of the IEEE 802.11bb standard is a significant moment for the wireless communications industry,” said pureLiFi’s VP of Standardisation, Nikola Serafimovski, who chaired the 802.1bb Task Group. “Through the activity of the 802.11bb task group, LiFi attracted interest from some of the biggest industry players ranging from semiconductor companies to leading mobile phone manufacturers. We worked with these key stakeholders to create a standard that will provide what the industry needs to adopt LiFi at scale. I would like to thank the support of Tuncer Baykas as Vice-Chair, and Volker Jungnickel as technical editor for helping make this process so successful.”
LiFi is a wireless technology that uses light rather than radio frequencies to transmit data. By harnessing the light spectrum, LiFi can unleash faster, more reliable wireless communications with unparalleled security compared to conventional technologies such as WiFi and 5G. The Light Communications 802.11bb Task Group was formed in 2018 chaired by pureLiFi and supported by Fraunhofer HHI, two firms which have been at the forefront of LiFi development efforts. Both organisations aim to see accelerated adoption and interoperability not only between LiFi vendors but also with WiFi technologies as a result of these standardisation efforts.
The IEEE 802.11bb standard defines the physical layer specifications and system architectures for wireless communication using light waves. This new standard sets the foundation for the widespread adoption of LiFi technology and paves the way for the interoperability of LiFi systems with the successful WiFi standard. Ratification of the standard was concluded in June 2023.