Transmitting data over light beams is not a new idea, we've even covered flourescent light LANs in the not too distant past, however these solutions have tended to be expensive. Over at Hack a Day is news about a project working on a less expensive solution, beaming data over infrared light.  They use Raspberry Pi powered machines with motorized lenses in a 3D-printed chassis to project the signal.  A green light is used for rough aiming of the devices, once they are pointed at each other a web interface allows you to fine tune the IR emitter and receiver, with real time feedback to show how the signal is changing.  As with other LiFi networks you are limited by line of sight and people walking in between the transmitter and receiver can cause dropped packets but it is still a lot cheaper than running fibre optics through your building.  Check out this project and several other similar solutions over at Hack a Day.

"The Koruza project is an open-source, “inexpensive” system that aims to transmit 1 Gb/sec over distances around 100 meters, using modulated infrared light. The intended use-case is urban building-to-building communication at speeds that would otherwise require laying fiber-optic cables."

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