Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Scottish Ingenuity Sold to the American Military

 The li-fi system harnesses the light spectrum rather than radio frequencies to transmit data securely. Li-fi - short for "light fidelity" - is an emerging technology first developed in Edinburgh. The term was coined by Prof Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, who In 2011 demonstrated how an LED bulb equipped with signal processing technology could stream a high-definition video to a computer. While radio frequencies can be "detected and targeted", its technology cannot be detected outside of its defined "cone" of coverage.

Scottish high-tech firm pureLiFi has announced a multi-million dollar deal to supply the US military with an optical wireless communication system. The deal with the United States Army Europe and Africa is the world's first large-scale deployment of li-fi technology, according to the company. PureLifi said its Kitefin system would be deployed by the US military in "real tactical and strategic environments"

Andrew Foreman, chief technology officer with the US Army in Europe and Africa, said: "Including optical wireless in the commander's toolbox is imperative to the survival of communications, command and control systems and, more importantly, soldiers."

Chief executive Alistair Banham said: "If one of the most significant and advanced defence organisations in the world can rely on li-fi for the most critical of communications, li-fi can offer unprecedented benefits to the consumer. Li-fi, like so many technologies before it, is on a classic journey of adoption in defence to widespread acceptance in the consumer market and eventually li-fi in everyone's home. This first major deployment with the US Army Europe and Africa is just the beginning."


Light technology firm strikes deal with US Army - BBC News


Socialist Courier can only say how sad it is that a new technology must be sold to help make war and killing more efficient as a measure of it success. 

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