新技术：开灯就有无线宽带

 　　新技术：开灯就有无线宽带

　　Bulbs could soon be used to broadcast household broadband

　　英国爱丁堡大学的一位教授研究出了一项新技术，能够让普通的电灯泡作为无线网络信号传输器，只要开灯，就能无线上网。据介绍，这项发明被命名为D-light，只要将房间里传统白炽灯换成LED灯，便可让灯泡变成无线网络发射器。它通过改变房间照明光线的频率进行数据传输，每秒传送速度超过10兆，与典型的宽带连接不相上下。它可以应用于医院、机场、军队甚至于水下。从理论上说，飞机乘客甚至能够利用机舱内发出的光照信号上网冲浪。除此之外，这项技术还可用于从空白电视信号频段或者未被使用的卫星信号发送无线数据。

　　Light bulbs could be soon used to broadcast wireless¹ Internet, a leading physicist² has claimed.

　　Harald Hass said he has developed a technology which can broadcast data through the same connection as a normal lamp.

　　By simply turning on the light in the room you could also switch on your Internet connection, he said in a speech.

　　Other possibilities of the device - which he has dubbed³ 'Li-fi', or Light Fidelity⁴ - include sending wireless data from the 'white space' in your television spectrum⁵ or unused satellite signals.

　　Professor Hass, of the school of engineering at Edinburgh University in the UK, said that currently we use radio waves to transmit data which are inefficient⁶.

　　With mobile phones there are 1.4 million base stations boosting the signal but most of the energy is used to cool it, making it only five per cent efficient.

　　By comparison there are 40 billion light bulbs in use across the world which are far more efficient.

　　By replacing old fashioned incandescent⁷ models with LED bulbs he claimed he could turn them all into Internet transmitters.

　　The invention, dubbed D-Light, 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.

　　It has new applications in hospitals, airplanes, military, and even underwater. Aeroplane passengers could in theory be able to surf the Internet from signals beamed out of the lights on board.

　　'The way we transmit wireless data is inefficient electromagnetic waves, in particular radio waves which are limited, they are sparse⁸, they are expensive and only have a certain range,' Professor Hass said.

　　'It is this limitation which does not cope with wireless data...and we are running out of efficiency.

　　'Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum...wouldn't it be great to use it for wireless communications?'

　　He added that the visible light spectrum had 10,000 more times the space than radio waves, making it the ideal range to use.

　　During a lecture professor Hass showed off a desk lamp which had been fitted with an LED light bulb which transmitted data to a receiver on the table below it.

　　Whenever he put his hand in the beam of light the video, which was beamed onto a screen behind him, stopped playing as the signal was being blocked.

　　Professor Hass said the technology has not yet been integrated with smart phone but he hopes that soon it will be.

　　'Everywhere that there is light, these are potential sources for data transmission,' he said.

　　'For me the applications of it are beyond imagination...all we need to do is to fit a small microchip to every potential illumination device and this would combine illumination and data transmission, and this could solve the problems facing us in wireless communication.'

1 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

2 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

3 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 fidelity   

n.忠诚，忠实；精确

参考例句：

• There is nothing like a dog's fidelity.没有什么能比得上狗的忠诚。
• His fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion.他的尽职及勤奋使他很快地得到晋升。

5 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

6 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

7 incandescent   

adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的

参考例句：

• The incandescent lamp we use in daily life was invented by Edison.我们日常生活中用的白炽灯，是爱迪生发明的。
• The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen.他炽热的语言点燃了他本国同胞的勇气。

8 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。