CEA-Leti’s LiFi-multicell system is the first-ever smart interference orchestrator to automatically detect interference between lighting zones in networks and which optimises data transmission rates for nearby devices. The system also manages uplink/downlink interference asymmetrically and independently.

The system offers additional advantages in addition to eliminating interference and supporting large-area coverage, including uninterrupted connectivity for users moving in a network and fair allocation of resources between users who are experiencing interference and those who are not.

When, for example, a computing device enters an interference zone, the orchestrator detects its presence and optimises the time slots allocated to nearby devices to mitigate that interference. The orchestrator can be hosted automatically by one of the light sources in the network. The CEA-Leti technology is able to provide data-transmission rates up to 150Mb/s over distances up to three meters by LED.

LiFi, or visible-light communication, has significant advantages over Wi-Fi in data transmission speed and security, since light does not penetrate walls. But wide adoption is constrained primarily because of interference between devices using LiFi networks and LiFi’s resulting poor performance in large areas. CEA-Leti’s orchestrator promises to manage all this.

Its LiFi multicell will be demonstrated at CES 2020 this month.