Signify launches Li-Fi gear for industry, office use

Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) launched Trulifi Li-Fi products that use light waves to provide secure two-way wireless communications at up to 250 Mbps. 

Three versions of the Trulifi products were introduced that leverage existing and future Philips luminaires, including LED lights.  The Trulifi branded products use optical wireless transceivers that can be retrofitted into Philips lighting products

Li-Fi products have been on the market since 2015 but have been priced too high for many customers. Signify claims it makes the world’s fastest and most reliable Li-Fi system that is commercially available. One advantage of such products is that they can provide quality light and data transmission at the same time, thus providing a substitute for crowded radio spectrum communications.

Li-Fi relies on a visible light communications principle that switches the current to the lighting fixture off and on at a speed too quick to be noticed by humans.

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Potential applications include connecting robots or other machines in harsh environments such as industrial plants or hospitals where RF communications may not be permitted.

The company has posted a video on how Li-Fi works

Signify named two Trulifi customers including an office landlord in Poland and Romania named Globalworth.  The company installed 18 Trulifi-enabled Philips luminaires in three meeting rooms in Warsaw to provide highly secure communications for corporate clients.

The result has been energy-efficient lighting with wireless connectivity of up to 150 Mbps, up from 5 Mbps, according to a statement from Globalworth.

In the other use case, a Belgian marketing company, Claerhout Communication, is using Trulifi products retrofitted into four Philips LED luminaries in a large meeting room in Ghent, Belgium.

Signify has adopted the ITU G. 9991 Li-Fi standard for its products.  Signify didn’t announce pricing, but Navigant Research analyst Krystal Maxwell said pricing will be attractive enough to overcome budget limits faced by many companies.