Light bulbs could be soon used to broadcast wireless Internet, a physicist has claimed.
Professor Harald Hass, of the school of engineering at Edinburgh University in the UK has developed a technology which can broadcast data through a normal lamp.
By simply turning on the light in the room you could also switch on your Internet connection.
"The way we transmit wireless data is inefficient electromagnetic waves, in particular radio waves which are limited, they are sparse, they are expensive and only have a certain range. It is this limitation which does not cope with wireless data. Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum...wouldn't it be great to use it for wireless communications?" Professor Hass said.
By replacing old fashioned incandescent models with LED bulbs he claimed he could turn them all into Internet transmitters.
The device can send data faster than 10 megabits per second, which is the speed of a typical broadband connection, by altering the frequency of the ambient light in the room.
"Everywhere that there is light, these are potential sources for data transmission. All we need to do is to fit a small microchip to every potentialillumination device," added Professor Hass.


据英国《每日邮报》23日报道，一位物理学家称，灯泡可能在不久之后被用于无线网络传输。

英国爱丁堡大学工程学院的哈拉尔德-哈斯教授研发出了一项技术：通过一盏普通灯泡就可实现数据传输。
只要打开房间里的灯，互联网也就连接上了。


哈斯教授说："我们传输无线数据的方式是低效的电磁波，尤其是有限的无线电波。无线电波稀少、昂贵并且波谱范围有限，这种限制无法满足无线数据的传播需求。而光线是电磁波谱的一部分，将其用于无线通讯不是很好吗？"

他说，只要用LED灯泡代替老式的白炽灯，他就可以将灯泡转变成网络（信号）发射器。


通过改变屋内环境的光照频率，该设备发送数据的速度就可以超过每秒10兆，这相当于标准宽带连接的速度。

"只要是有光的地方，就是数据传输的潜在源头。我们所要做的就是把一小块微晶片安装到每一个可能的照明设备上，" 哈斯补充说。

• normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
• expensive [ik´spensiv] a.费钱的，昂贵的 (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中英语单词)
• connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
• broadcast [´brɔ:dkɑ:st] v.&n.散布 a.广播的 (高中英语单词)
• engineering [,endʒi´niəriŋ] n.工程技术；工程学 (高中英语单词)
• switch [switʃ] n.开关 v.转换 (高中英语单词)
• limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
• limitation [,limi´teiʃən] n.限制；限度；局限 (高中英语单词)
• typical [´tipikəl] a.典型的；象征的 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• edinburgh [´edinbərə] n.爱丁堡 (英语四级单词)
• transmit [trænz´mit, træns-] vt.传送；播送；发射 (英语四级单词)
• frequency [´fri:kwənsi] n.频繁；周率 (英语六级单词)
• transmission [trænz´miʃən, træns-] n.传送；播送；发射 (英语六级单词)
• illumination [i,lju:mi´neiʃən] n.照明；阐明 (英语六级单词)