Professor Hai-Han Lu and two students

Professor Hai-Han Lu of Electro-Optical Engineering and his research team at Taipei Tech (National Taipei University of Technology) spent 2 years developing an ultra-high speed visible light wireless network that is 1,000 times faster than 4G. With this new technology, downloading a full length film will take less than a second.

The ultra-high speed visible wireless network features two breakthroughs: 10Gbps transmission rate and up to 17.5 meters in transmission distance. Taiwan will be the first country to propose ultra-high speed red light communication. The technology is expected to inspire vast entrepreneurial opportunities.

Professor Lu pointed out that visible light is able to transmit freely in space thus not only does the new technology solve the last mile problem of optical fiber internet, but it also reduces radiated electromagnetic interference without having to install cables, making the home environment tidier and more comfortable. In the future, visible light can be applied to signal transmission in different settings, such as hospitals, refineries, aircraft cabins, etc., as well as resolve accidental signal disconnection problems in the high speed rail system.

For example, in the future, all people need to do is to turn on the power and target the laser light to enjoy cable-free super speed internet access. In addition, it will only take 0.45 second to download a 4GB file and the same technology can be applied to cloud computing. The technology is scheduled to launch next year and is estimated to worth over USD3,000,000 in value.

Professor Lu said that the most expensive part is the transmitter, which costs about USD322. The whole system, however, only costs less than USD 1,600. The connection fee will cost about USD33 per month after the transmitter is commercialized and users can install the system at home or in the office.

The research and development of this project spanned across electro optical engineering and communication technology, creating many successful stories in photonics. Its success also contributes to R&D in the visible light communication field.

Professor Lu and his team published 6 articles related to the newly discovered visible light red laser transmission from 2012 to 2014 in the journals Optics Express and Optics Letters, and one article was the most downloaded article in the May 2012 issue of Optics Express. In 2014, Professor Lu’s team was invited to become a member of SPIE (Society for Optics and Photonics). Their pioneering work has garnered recognition and attention internationally and helped promote Taiwan as a hub for development and research.