iPhone 7 could include cutting-edge ’LiFi’ technology that is 100 times faster than WiFi
干掉WiFi?iPhone 7 或支持LiFi技術
Apple’s future iPhones could include a cutting-edge technology that is capable of transmitting information at 100 times the speed of WiFi.
未來的蘋果手機有可能支持尖端技術LiFi, 其數據傳輸速率可高達WiFi的100倍。
Developer Chase Fromm made the discovery while browsing a section of code for Apple’s iOS 9.1 update, which began rolling out to iPhone users in October 2015.
Buried in the code was a reference to "LiFiCapability", suggesting that future versions of the iPhone will support LiFi - a technology that uses light to transmit data through the air rather than radio waves.
While traditional Wi-Fi is capable of transmitting data at around 7 gigabits per second (Gbps), tests show that LiFi can transfer information at 100 Gbps, and could theoretically reach speeds of 224Gbps.
This means that high-definition films could be downloaded to an iPhone over a LiFi connection in a matter of seconds.
這意味著我們用LiFi網絡把一部高清電影下載到手機中只需要幾秒鐘。
Although Fromm suggests that LiFi could feature in the iPhone 7, this is unlikely, given that it is still in the early stages of development. Researchers expect it to be ready for commercial use by the end of the decade.
The biggest drawback to the technology is that it cannot travel through walls, because it requires a direct line of sight between the transmitter and the user’s device.
這項技術最大的缺點是不能穿透墻壁,因為它要求發射器和用戶設備可以通過直線連接。
The device also need to be within a three metre radius of the transmitter to pick up the signal.
另外,設備只有在距離發射器三米的半徑范圍內才能接收到信號。
Researchers at universities including Strathclyde, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Cambridge are all currently working to make LiFi more practical and accessible to electronics companies like Apple.
Light is already used to transmit data across fibre optic networks at high speed. These work by guiding the light along glass tubes so that no information is lost along the way.
However, transmitting information by beaming light through the air is more difficult, because there are no tubes to guide the signal to where it needs to go.