1.

Introduction

The increasing ability to transmit a higher amount of information over

longer distances more quickly has expanded the boundaries of our
technological development. Data networks, wireless and satellite
communications, and cable utilities are among the areas that have
experienced this high-tech surge, thanks to the use of fiber optics. These
industries will continue to grow, and fiber optics applications expand.
Fiber optics, also known as optical fibers, are microscopic strands of very
pure glass with about the same diameter of a human hair. Thousands of
these optical fibers are arranged in bundles in optical cables, which are
used to transmit light signals over long distances. Each of these bundles
are protected by a jacket, which is the cable's outer covering.
The single optical fiber consists of the core which is the thin glass center
of the fiber where the light travels. The buffer coating is the plastic
coating that protects the fiber from moisture and damage. That coating is
additionally the outer optical material that surrounds the core and reflects
the light back into it is the cladding.
Single mode and multimode are the two types of optical fibers.
The single mode type is used for long distances, has small cores, and
transmits infrared laser light. The multimode, normally used for short
distances, has large cores and transmits infrared light.
2. Structure of fiber
An optical fiber cable is a complex structure designed to protect fragile
glass fibers that transmit digital data using light signals. This advanced
cabling solution allows fast, secure data transfer and telecom over long
distances. Understanding the components within a fiber optic cable
enables proper selection for installation needs. A fiber cable contains up
to hundreds of incredibly thin glass fiber cores within protective layers.
Surrounding layers cushion from crushing forces and prevent moisture
damage during handling or underground burial. Cables installed outdoors
or spanning kilometers also have reinforcing strength members to bear
tension loads. Additional enhancements like ripcords facilitate jacket
removal for splicing or repairs.
Five vital components comprise a fiber optic cable:
1. Core
2. Cladding
3. Coating
4. Strength member
5. Cable jacket

Figure 1. Components of fiber cable.

4. Types of fiber
There are two primary types of fiber – multimode and single mode.

Figure 2. Single and multimode fiber.

Multimode fiber
can carry multiple light rays (modes) at the same time by having varying
optical properties at the core; essentially light travelling the shortest path
(down the middle) travels the slowest. The larger core simplifies
connections and takes advantage of the lower cost LED & VCSEL
technologies which operate in the 850nm window. Due to dispersion the
range is limited so it tends to be used as premises cabling when less than
a kilometer. It comes in two core sizes, 62.5 and 50 microns.

Single mode fiber

has a much smaller core size of 9 microns and has a single light path and
can travel much longer distances of up to 100km. These require more
expensive electronics which operate in the 1310 and 1550nm windows
and are typically used in longer distance LAN’s, Cable TV and telephony
applications.

What is a Step-Index Fiber?

In the case of step-index fiber, the refractive index of the core and
cladding is fixed or constant. The light ray passes through optical fiber
and crosses the fiber axis in every reflection that occurs in the core-
cladding boundary. In the case of step-index fiber, the light wave passes
in the form of a zigzag shape according to the phenomenon of total
internal reflection. The incident light and input light of optical fiber have
a difference in the time of reaching the output of the optical fiber. This
difference is called model dispersion. Due to this effect, light pulse wide
severely and spreads more while traveling along the optical fiber. Digital
communication uses these light pulses to communicate long distances
with the length of the optical fiber.
When a light pulse will transmit many modes in optical fiber, it will more
spread out due to the dispersion effect. So, its bandwidth will decrease.

What is a Graded-Index Fiber?

In the case of graded-index optical fiber, the refractive index is a bit
higher at the surface of the core as compared to the core-cladding surface.
It decreases from the core surface to the core-cladding surface. For more
clarity, we should say, it decreases from its center.

Here, the process of change in refractive index cause refraction instead of

total internal reflection in step-index mode. Because when the light will
enter with a lower refractive index, it will be folded back to the fiber axis.
Hence due to the folding back property, the total internal reflection will
not be produced.
 You can see light is traveling in the form of a sin wave. The speed of light
varies due to changes in refractive index. When the light will move away
from the center, its speed will increase more. For long distances, speed
differences can be neglected or compensated. Hence the mode of
dispersion is nullified or reduced to a great extent in graded index fiber.
So, the graded index has large bandwidth as compared to step-index fiber.
The graded index can be used for medium or longer distances with a
higher speed as compared to step-index fiber.

Advantages of Optical Fiber

• Optical fibers are light in weight
• Optical fibers are cost-effective
• Optical fibers protect the data that is transferred through them.
• Optical fibers can transfer large amounts of data
• No harmful radiations are released from optical fibers.
Disadvantages of Optical Fiber
• Joining two optical fibers is difficult.
• The individuals working with optical fibers need to be skillful.
• Initial installation of optical fibers is expensive.
• For analyzing the transmission of light in optical cable specific instruments
are required.
Applications of Optical Fiber
1. Telephone
Telephone calls are made between different two locations that are near or far
away from each other. Implementation of such communication between two
different places is a difficult task. Therefore optical fibers are used that make
this connection and communication between two far places easy and clear.
2. Medical Applications
The structure of the optical fibers is very flexible and is of small size.
Therefore optical fiber is used in medical applications to view the internal
body parts. During the surgery of internal body parts, there is a need to
transmit light, therefore, optical fiber is required.
3. CCTV cameras
Installation of CCTV cameras requires a high initial investment. So CCTV
cameras and the applications that make use of them need to work properly
for a long period of time. CCTV cameras are therefore installed using fibers
optic cables for long use.
4. Computer Networking
In a network multiple systems are connected together. These systems are
connected with the help of fiber optic cables. Fiber optic cables can connect
the devices together that belongs to same network or another network. In
these connected networks fiber optic cables can transmit the data Fastly and
efficiently as compared to other copper wires.
Introduction to LiFi

LiFi known as light fidelity was introduced first time by Prof. Harald Haas
on July 2011 at TED Global Talk. LiFi is based on Visual Light
Communication (VLC) that using light emitting diodes (LEDs) to fully
networked wireless system . LiFi enables the electronic device to connect to
the internet with no wire. In order to make a communication line between
node, a LiFi will need a transceiver to transmit and receive the data. This
transceiver will have a modulation technique to make the LED enable to
carry the data using the light. The emergence of LiFi is to overcome the
shortage of the current technology. We all know that right now WiFi is the
most used technology to connect many devices to the internet. As time
comes by, the use of internet based devices is increased. This increasing
made the capacity of WiFi is reduced due the limitation of radio frequency
resources. , LiFi and WiFi has the difference related to the congestion,
density, security, safety, and speed. The more WiFi enabled device is exist,
the congestion may occur. In the technology of WiFi we can’t add more
routers if the user is increased, while we can add the light in LiFi. Efficiency
and safety of the internet are the dominating issues right now. The
performance of LiFi is claimed that more better than the performance of
WiFi. The rate speed of LiFi is 1000 times faster than WiFi . For safety of
the internet, LiFi is more secure than the WiFi based on the spread of the
signal. LiFi has a light characteristic that light cannot go through the wall. It
is different from the signal of WiFi can go through anywhere. Based on
those two technologies, in a simple conclusion is LiFi has more secure
communication rather than the WiFi. The vulnerability exists if there are
leakage in the wall while having an indoor communication. Security threat
that may exist is an intruder can spoof the data using the leakage wall.

Principle of LiFi

According to figure 1, LiFi technology consist of LED Lamp as the media

transmission and photo detector as a receiver of transmitted data. Lamp
driver is needed to make LED working properly. While amplification and
processing are responsible to manage the signal that comes from the photo
detector.

Basic concept for working principle in LiFi Technology are pointing into:
Transceiver and Light as a media transmission. Figure 2 is a basic concept
block diagram for LiFi. This basic concept indicates as a duplex
 communication. The rates of LiFi is 14Gbps using three off- the- shelf laser
diodes (red, green, and blue) and predict the rate until 100Gbps when the
whole visible spectrum is used. According to [3] LiFi and VLC used a
similar medium as a data communication that is light. The difference
between LiFi and VLC is VLC has a unidirectional, point-to-point light
communication at low data rates. While the LiFi technology is fully
networked, bidirectional, and high-speed wireless communication. Others
said LiFi is the incorporation of WiFi and VLC.

Architecture of LiFi

Advantages of Li-Fi technology include:

• Efficiency: Li-Fi works on visible light technology. Since homes and offices
already have LED bulbs for lighting purposes, the same source of light can
be used to transmit data. Hence, it is very efficient in terms of costs as well
as energy. Light must be on to transmit data, so when there is no need for
light, it can be reduced to a point where it appears off to human eye, but is
actually still on and working.
• Availability: Wherever there is a light source, there can be Internet. Light
bulbs are present everywhere – in homes, offices, shops, malls and even
planes, meaning that high-speed data transmission could be available
everywhere.
• Security: One main advantage of Li-Fi is security. Since light cannot pass
through opaque structures, Li-Fi Internet is available only to the users within
a room and cannot be breached by users in other rooms or buildings.

Disadvantages of Li-Fi technology include:

• Internet cannot be used without a light source. This could limit the locations
and situations in which Li-Fi could be used.
• Because it uses visible light, and light cannot penetrate walls, the signal's
range is limited by physical barriers.
• Other sources of light may interfere with the signal. One of the biggest
potential drawbacks is the interception of signals outdoors. Sunlight will
interfere the signals, resulting in interrupted Internet.
• A whole new infrastructure for Li-Fi would need to be constructed.

Applications of LiFi

1. Li-Fi and Live Streaming

According to a Go-Globe report, 82% of consumers prefer to watch live
videos from a brand than posts, 80% of brand audience prefer to watch live
video from a brand than read a blog and live videos are watched three times
longer than videos that are not live anymore. Because of the rapid rates Li-Fi
can reach, it can be made available in big shopping malls, sports stadium,
street lights, airplanes, trains including underground, train stations, airports
and hence. This allows any user to consume rich content media like videos
as well as live streaming from their smartphones or other mobile devices
nearly anywhere they are like in stadiums, trains and planes provided they
are exposed to Li-Fi enabled LEDs. Li-Fi live streaming can also be
beneficial for the following type of events:
-Conferences
-Seminars
-Meetings
-Team Building events
-Trade shows
-Business dinners
-Press conferences
-Networking events
-Opening Ceremonies
-Product launches
-Theme parties
-Award ceremonies
-Weddings
-Funerals
-Birthday parties
-Concerts
Li-Fi live streaming has a lot of potentials in many years to come.

2. Li-Fi in Hospitals
Because of the non-interference of Li-Fi with radiofrequency devices, Li-Fi
can be safely used in many hospital applications. For example, in corridors,
waiting rooms, patient rooms and operating theatres, Li-Fi technology will
allow a light communication network, which will remove electromagnetic
interference issues from smartphones and the use of Wi-Fi in hospitals. Li-Fi
can be used for real-time monitoring and report of patient movement and
vital signs without the need for wires.

3. Li-Fi in Pharmacies and the Pharmaceutical Industry

In hospital pharmacies and specifically in aseptic manufacturing sites, Li-Fi
could be used by pharmacists for receiving and screening electronically
approved prescriptions directly in the unit. Li-Fi can be used for real-time
tracking of prescribed aseptic drugs like cytotoxic drugs, Parenteral drugs
and centralized intravenous additive services (CIVAS) in the unit and nurses
and other healthcare professionals from the ward can check the status
without the need of calling or going directly to the aseptic unit.

4. Li-Fi in the Workplace

Li-Fi will not offer illumination but secure wireless connectivity in
workspaces. As well as the networking capability, people will be able to take
a Skype video conference call and move from one room to another without
that conference call being interrupted. Workers and visitors will have a
constant internet speed connection from the Li-Fi networks in the
workspace. Through light, network access can also be controlled more
effectively. For example, the overhead lighting in an office can provide
access to the guest network, while desk lamps can provide access to specific
parts of a corporate system with access rights assigned on a desk-by-desk
basis.
5. Li-Fi in Schools
The right wireless network is a crucial component to provide new learning
experiences by connecting students and teachers to smart technology,
enabling learning applications on any mobile device. Li-Fi can also provide
seamless network connectivity and security throughout the whole school,
from the classroom through to university dorms. Some schools have even
started trialing Li-Fi technology in classrooms.

6. Li-Fi in Retail
Li-Fi can help to direct shoppers from the time they enter the shop. It can
also help them to locate specific products in the store, collect digital
coupons, check store promotions, check stock availability of some products
on the shelves, engage in-store online services through their smart devices
and improve their store experience.
7) Li-Fi and Airplanes
According to a report carried by Inmarsat, 67% of passengers would be more
likely to rebook with an airline if inflight internet connectivity were
available. 70% of passengers would be likely to recommend inflight
connectivity having tried it previously. 66% believe inflight connectivity is
necessary. 65% of passengers that have had access to inflight internet
connectivity in the last year used it, and 54% of passengers agreed that if
only poor-quality Wi-Fi was on offer, they would prefer not to have it at all.