Philips’ latest LED innovation; the Li-Fi system, is being
piloted by a number of retailers. Li-Fi uses in-store lighting to transmit
information to the camera on consumers’ smart phones. Customers who have
downloaded the app will be alerted of nearby offers, receive recipes and can be
directed to specific items on their shopping lists.
Li-Fi uses Visual Light Communications (VLC) to communicate
with customers’ smart phones; it is a one way communication system meaning
consumers’ identities are protected. The stores ceiling luminaires are placed
in a positioning grid, communicating with the camera sensors in their smart phones.
Each lighting fixture in the grid communicates by blinking at frequencies so
high they are undetectable to the human eye. Through these fast pulses
information is transmitted relevant to the customer’s location within the
store.
In addition to the energy saving benefits of LED lighting,
this latest invention means retailers do not have to invest in additional
infrastructure to house, power and support location beacons for indoor
positioning. The light fixtures themselves can communicate this by virtue of
their presence all over the store.
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