The LiFi, is a light wave communication mean to replace the radio waves. The ever more explored system has been introduced at the Paris Air Show by Latécoère, in collaboration with Air France.

“We developed the LiFi for 2 years in collaboration with AFI and the start-up Oled which set up the Modem. With this system, you only require a modem emitter, relayed over a fibre optic which connects the light emitter lens, placed beneath the seat, and the receiver lens which is located on the top of the seat and return to a receiving modem” explains Serge Bérenger, Director of Innovation and R&T at Latécoère. He added: “Until we stay in the light cone the connexion is optimal. The best advantage is to have an individual access to the bandwidth, contrarily to the Wi-Fi with which passengers have to share the access. So the connexion is a 100 times faster (100 Mb/s) than the classic Wi-Fi, and at the end of the year, we should be able to offer 1 GB per second”.

“The Li-Fi technology is very interesting since with the fibre optic it saves important wiring costs. It is also set for the entire life of the aircraft, which means almost 30 years. This means saving very significant amounts for maintenance. This system could interest the whole aeronautics’ stakeholders: airlines, MRO (Maintenance, Repairs and Operations) stakeholders, IFE systems suppliers, among others. As a consequence of the system being based on fibre optic and lenses without electronics, there is no need for very complexe certifications. Lastly, with this technology there are no electromagnetic wave emission, meaning it cannot create inconveniences for people”.