the technology will also provide illumination for homes

Another significant market for sapphire is Silicon-on-Sapphire (SoS) Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs). SoS RFIC chips deliver high RF performance with low power consumption, a small form factor, and significantly reduced crosstalk in antenna applications that are pervasive in smart phones and other consumer devices.

British scientists are working on tiny LED lights that could deliver Wi-Fi-like internet communications, while simultaneously displaying information. At the same time, the technology will also provide illumination for homes, offices and a whole host of other locations.

Over the next four years, with Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding, a consortium of UK universities LED high bay light by the University of Strathclyde will be developing this innovative technology to help unleash the full potential of 'Li-Fi'—the transmission of internet communications using visible light rather than the radio waves and microwaves currently in use.

Although the potential possibilities offered by Li-Fi are already being explored all over the world, the EPSRC-funded consortium is pursuing a distinctive vision that could deliver enormous benefits, the scientists promise: Underpinning Li-Fi is the use of LEDs, a rapidly spreading lighting technology which is expected to become dominant over the next 20 years. Imperceptibly, LEDs flicker on and off thousands of times a second. By altering the length of the flickers, it is possible to send digital information to specially adapted PCs and other electronic devices—making Li-Fi the digital equivalent of Morse Code. This would make the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum available for internet communications, easing pressure on the increasingly crowded parts now used.