BULANADI, Phoebe Katrina D.

October 12, 2019

Article Reviewed:

Haas, Harald, “LiFi is a paradigm-shifting 5G technology”, Reviews in Physics, November

2018, Volume 3, Pages 26-31.

The article, “LiFi is a paradigm-shifting 5G technology”, by Harald Haas seeks to prove

that Light Fidelity (LiFi) is a fundamental change in approach of 5th Generation (5G) technology.

The article demonstrated light technology to have a peak transmission speed of 8 gigabytes per

second (Gbps) from a single light source and its use as a base for cellular networks. Misconceptions

and potential impact of LiFi across existing and emerging industries were illustrated and new

applications this technology can unlock in the future were discussed.

The title of the article is short yet conclusive, it sums up the article well. The abstract is not

specific but it states the parts of the article and the involved topics orderly. The article starts with

the definitions of LiFi. The purpose of the article was not directly stated but it was illustrated by

comparing LiFi to the existing and old technology and on how it is better, from how wide the

spectrum of infrared and visible light comparing to radio frequency up to how the current spectrum

will shortfall in the future due to the mobile data traffic growth. The introduction also discussed

the fiber-optic communication, which introduced light technology, the available lighting

technologies and the different kinds of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that can be used in this LiFi

technology. The subject mentioned in the introduction opened the topic of the research effectively

and increased the readers’ interest about the topic.

 The author then described LiFi networking, where it was illustrated on how it works, its

parts and the concepts involved. There are terms used on this part of the article that were supposed

to be defined and expanded. An example of this is when the parts of the network were stated its

contribution or help to the technology was not elaborated. Another is some terms where really

technical that people will not get, especially those who does not have idea about the topic. The

problems and conflicts that users can encounter and misconceptions about the technology were

also discussed. Some misconceptions mentioned were really the things that you will probably think

in this kind of technology as to why the author’s explanation is really appreciated but one of the

mentioned misconceptions used abbreviation without stating the meaning of it in its discussion

and is on the figure above it whereas some reader can overlook. Cellular generations were also

tabulated to compare their paradigm-shifts, service pulls and impact. The illustrations and tables

that were used in the article are informative, relevant, and helpful in understanding the topic.

The article was then concluded by mentioning that wireless communications showed a

trend that it will use higher frequencies such as light technology due to the limited availability of

the radio frequency spectrum. It was also added that in the recent years significant number of

researches has been made about this kind of technology and its techniques as to why it is already

introduced in the market. Although concluding to proving that LiFi is indeed a paradigm-shifting

5G technology the part where instead of stating examples of the researches done to prove that light

technology is introduced to the market the author should have stated specific examples of known

technologies today where light is used.

The author mainly focused on comparing the old technology to this new one without

covering much of the contributions that LiFi or even just light technology can do in the future as

well as its current impact to the existing industries. The author presented facts but they are so
focused on the cons of the old technology and pros of the light technology without mentioning the

pros of the former and the cons of the latter which makes the author not completely objective about

the topic. Adding and comparing the cost of the old technology, the current technology involving

light technology and LiFi is highly suggested since the costs really matters in the industry

especially in the market.

Overall, the article had a brief abstract, interesting introduction, a body with supporting

facts and details, some confusion and questions but concluded in proving that LiFi is a paradigm-

shifting 5th generation technology.