Wireless data from every light bulb | Harald Haas

Translator: Alvaro Moya Reviewer: Begoña Laka

Do you know

Ba al dakizu

that we have 1.4 million cellular radio masts

telefonia mugikorraren 1,4 milioi antena ditugula

deployed worldwide?

mundu osoan zehar jarrita?

And these are base stations.

Eta horiek base-estazioak dira.

And we also have

Eta badaukagu ere bai

more than five billion

horrelako 5.000 milioi gailu

of these devices here.

baino gehiago hemen.

These are cellular mobile phones.

Hauek telefono mugikorrak dira.

And with these mobile phones,

Eta telefono mugikor horiekin,

we transmit more than 600 terabytes of data

600 terabite datu baino gehiago

every month.

igortzen ditugu hilero.

This is a 6 with 14 zeroes --

Hau da 6 gehi 14 zero --

a very large number.

oso zenbaki handia, benetan.

And wireless communications

Eta haririk gabeko komunikazioak

has become a utility

zerbitzu publiko bihurtu dira

like electricity and water.

elektrizitatea eta ura bezala.

We use it everyday. We use it in our everyday lives now --

Egun guztietan erabiltzen ditugu. Baita eguneroko bizitzetan ere gaur egun --

in our private lives, in our business lives.

bizitza pribatuetan, gure negozioetan.

And we even have to be asked sometimes, very kindly,

Eta noizean behin eskatu behar gaituzte mesedez

to switch off the mobile phone at events like this

gure telefono mugikorrak amatatzeko honelako gertakizunetan

for good reasons.

arrazoi on batzuk direla eta.

And it's this importance

Eta garrantzi hau kontuan hartuta

why I decided to look into the issues

nik erabaki nuen aztertzea

that this technology has,

teknologia honen inguruan,

because it's so fundamental to our lives.

gure bizitzarako funtsezkoa delako.

And one of the issues is capacity.

Eta esparru horietako arazo bat ahalmena da.

The way we transmit wireless data is by using electromagnetic waves --

Haririk gabeko datuak igortzeko era da uhin elektromagnetikoen zehar --

in particular, radio waves.

zehazki, irrati-uhinen zehar.

And radio waves are limited.

Eta irrati-uhin mugatuak dauzkagu.

They are scarce; they are expensive;

Urriak dira, garestiak dira,

and we only have a certain range of it.

eta tarte zehatz bat besterik ez dugu.

And it's this limitation

Eta mugaketa hau

that doesn't cope

ez dator bat

with the demand of wireless data transmissions

haririk gabeko datu-igorketaren eskaerarekin

and the number of bytes and data which are transmitted every month.

eta hilero igortzen diren datuekin eta byte-kopuruekin.

And we are simply running out of spectrum.

Eta espektrotik kanpo gaude oraintxe bertan.

There's another problem.

Badago beste arazo bat.

That is efficiency.

Eraginkortasuna da.

These 1.4 million cellular radio masts, or base stations,

Telefonia mugikorraren 1,4 milioi antena horiek edo base-estazioek

consume a lot of energy.

energia asko xahutzen dute.

And mind you, most of the energy

Eta, aizue, energia horien gehiengoa

is not used to transmit the radio waves,

ez da erabiltzen irrati-uhinak igortzeko

it is used to cool the base stations.

baizik eta base-estazioak hozteko.

Then the efficiency of such a base station

Orduan base-estazio bakoitzaren eraginkortasuna

is only at about five percent.

%5a da soilik.

And that creates a big problem.

Eta horrek arazo handia sortzen du.

Then there's another issue that you're all aware of.

Gero badago beste arazo bat eta uste dut jakitun zaretela.

You have to switch off your mobile phone

Telefono mugikorrak amatatu behar dituzue

during flights.

hegazkinetan

In hospitals, they are security issues.

ospitaletan, segurtasun arrazoiak direla eta.

And security is another issue.

Eta segurtasuna beste arazo bat da.

These radio waves penetrate through walls.

Irrati-uhinek hormak zeharkatzen dituzte.

They can be intercepted,

Norbaitek geldiarazi ditzake,

and somebody can make use of your network

eta gizaki batek zuen sarea erabil dezake

if he has bad intentions.

intentzio txarrekoa bada.

So these are the main four issues.

Orduan hauexek dira lau arazo handienak.

But on the other hand,

Baina beste aldetik,

we have 14 billion of these:

14.000 milioi

light bulbs, light.

foku gori dauzkagu, argia.

And light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Eta argia espektro elektromagnetikoaren zatia da.

So let's look at this in the context

Orduan hau ikus dezagun

of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, where we have gamma rays.

espektro elektromagnetikoaren inguru osoan, non gamma izpiak dauden.

You don't want to get close to gamma rays, it could be dangerous.

Ez da komenigarria gamma izpien ondoan egotea, arriskutsua izan liteke.

X-rays, useful when you go to hospitals.

X-izpiak, oso erabilgarriak ospitaletan.

Then there's ultraviolet light.

Eta argi ultramorea

it's good for a nice suntan,

ona da beltzaran kolorea hartzeko,

but otherwise dangerous for the human body.

baina arriskutsua gizakiaren gorputzerako.

Infrared --

Infragorriak --

due to eye safety regulations,

begien segurtasun arauak direla eta,

can be only used with low power.

behe potentzian erabil daitezke soilik.

And then we have the radio waves, they have the issues I've just mentioned.

Eta, amaitzeko, irrati-uhinak dauzkagu, arestian aipatu ditudan arazoekin.

And in the middle there, we have this visible light spectrum.

Eta hor erdian, argi ikusgaiaren espektroa daukagu.

It's light,

Argia da

and light has been around for many millions of years.

eta argia urte askotan zehar existitu egin da.

And in fact, it has created us,

Eta, egia esanda, berak sortu gaitu,

has created life,

bizitza sortu egin du,

has created all the stuff of life.

bizitzaren materia osoa sortu egin du.

So it's inherently safe to use.

Beraz berezko segurtasuna du.

And wouldn't it be great to use that for wireless communications?

Eta ez litzateke miragarririk izango haririk gabeko komunikazioetarako erabiltzea?

Not only that, I compared [it to] the entire spectrum.

Hori ez ezik, espektro osoarekin konparaketa egiten dut.

I compared the radio waves spectrum --

Irrati-uhinen espektroarekin konparatu nuen --

the size of it --

bere tamaina --

with the size of the visible light spectrum.

argi ikusgaiaren espektroaren tamainarekin.

And guess what?

Eta ezetz asmatu,

We have 10,000 times more of that spectrum,

espektro horren 10.000 mila aldiz gehiago daukagu,

which is there for us to use.

hortxe eskuragarri dagoena.

So not only do we have this huge amount of spectrum,

Eta espektro kantitate handia izan ez ezik,

let's compare that with a number I've just mentioned.

konpara dezagun arestian aipatutako zenbakiarekin.

We have 1.4 million

Badaukagu 1,4 milioi base-estazio

expensively deployed,

modu garestian kokatuak,

inefficient radio cellular base stations.

eraginkor ez diren zelula-irratien base-estazioak.

And multiply that by 10,000,

Eta egin 1,4 milioi bider 10.000,

then you end up at 14 billion.

emaitza da 14.000 milioi.

14 billion is the number of light bulbs installed already.

14.000 milioi da jadanik jarritako foku gorien zenbakia.

So we have the infrastructure there.

Orduan badaukagu azpiegitura han.

Look at the ceiling, you see all these light bulbs.

Begira ezazue sabaia, foku gori guzti horiek ikus daitezke.

Go to the main floor, you see these light bulbs.

Zoazte solairu printzipalera, foku gori horiek ikusten dira.

Can we use them for communications?

Komunikatzeko erabil al ditzakegu?

Yes.

Bai.

What do we need to do?

Zer egin behar dugu?

The one thing we need to do

Egin behar dugun gauza bakarra da

is we have to replace these inefficient incandescent light bulbs,

foku gori ez eraginkor horiek aldatu,

florescent lights,

argi fluoreszenteak,

with this new technology of LED,

LED teknologia berri honekin,

LED light bulbs.

LED foku goriak.

An LED is a semiconductor. It's an electronic device.

LED erdieroalea da. Gailu elektronikoa da.

And it has a very nice acute property.

Eta LEDek oso ezaugarri polita du.

Its intensity can be modulated

Bere intentsitatea mendera daiteke

at very high speeds,

abiadura azkarrean,

and it can be switched off at very high speeds.

eta amatatu daiteke abiadura azkarrean ere bai.

And this is a fundamental basic property

Eta hau da oso funtsezko eta garrantzizko ezaugarria

that we exploit

guk baliatzen duguna

with our technology.

gure teknologiarekin.

So let's show how we do that.

Orduan erakutsiko dizuegu nola egiten dugun hori.

Let's go to the closest neighbor to the visible light spectrum --

Joan gaitezen argi-ikusgaiaren espektroaren auzokide gertuenera, --

go to remote controls.

joan gaitezen urrutiko kontrolera.

You all know remote controls have an infrared LED --

Zuek badakizue urrutiko kontrolek badaukatela LED infragorri bat --

basically you switch on the LED, and if it's off, you switch it off.

funtsean, zuek LED pizten duzue eta amatuta badago, berriro piztu.

And it creates a simple, low-speed data stream

Eta berak behe-abiadurako data-fluxu soila sortzen du

in 10,000 bits per second,

10.000 bits segundoko,

20,000 bits per second.

20.000 bits segundoko.

Not usable for a YouTube video.

Ez da batere erabilgarria YouTubeko bideo baterako.

What we have done

Guk egin duguna

is we have developed a technology

teknologia garatzea besterik ez da

with which we can furthermore

zeinekin guk, gainera, aldatu ahal izango dugun

replace the remote control of our light bulb.

gure foku goriaren urrutiko kontrola.

We transmit with our technology,

Guk gure teknologiarekin igortzen dugu,

not only a single data stream,

datu-fluxu soila ez ezik,

we transmit thousands of data streams

baita mila data-fluxu ere

in parallel,

paraleloan,

at even higher speeds.

eta abiadura azkarragoan.

And the technology we have developed --

Eta guk garatu dugun teknologia --

it's called SIM OFDM.

SIM OFDM deitzen da.

And it's spacial modulation --

Eta espazioko modulatzea da --

these are the only technical terms, I'm not going into details --

termino teknikoak dira, ez dut xehetasun zehatzik azalduko --

but this is how we enabled

baina horrela lortu genuen

that light source

argi iturriek

to transmit data.

datuak igortzea.

You will say, "Okay, this is nice --

Zuek esango duzue: "Aizu, hau oso polita da--

a slide created in 10 minutes."

10 minututan sortutako aurkezpena."

But not only that.

Baina ez da hau bakarrik.

What we've done

Guk egin duguna da

is we have also developed a demonstrator.

prototipo bat garatzea.

And I'm showing for the first time in public

Eta lehenengo aldiz publikoki erakusten ari naiz

this visible light demonstrator.

argi ikusgaiaren igorpenaren prototipoa.

And what we have here

Eta hemen daukaguna

is no ordinary desk lamp.

ez da idazmahaiko argi arrunta.

We fit in an LED light bulb,

LED fokua jartzen dugu,

worth three U.S. dollars,

3$ balio duen fokua,

put in our signal processing technology.

eta gure datu-prozesatzeen teknologiari konektatzen diogu.

And then what we have here is a little hole.

Eta gero hemen daukaguna zulo txiki bat da.

And the light goes through that hole.

Eta argiak zulo hori zeharkatzen du.

There's a receiver.

Hargailu bat dago.

The receiver will convert these little, subtle changes in the amplitude

Hargailuak bihurtuko ditu guk anplitudean

that we create there

sortutako aldaketa txiki eta mehe horiek

into an electrical signal.

seinale elektriko.

And that signal is then converted back

Eta seinale elektriko hori bihurtzen da bueltan

to a high-speed data stream.

abiadura-handiko datu-fluxu.

In the future we hope

Gerorako espero dugu

that we can integrate this little hole

zulo txiki hau integratu ahal izatea

into these smart phones.

smartphone hauetan.

And not only integrate a photo detector here,

Eta fotoi detektagailu integratzea ez ezik,

but maybe use the camera inside.

baita kamara integratua erabiltzea ere.

So what happens

Eta zer gertatzen da

when I switch on that light?

nik argia pizten dudanean?

As you would expect,

Espero genuen bezala,

it's a light, a desk lamp.

argia da, idazmahaiko argia.

Put your book beneath it and you can read.

Jar ezazue liburua azpian eta irakurri ahal izango duzue.

It's illuminating the space.

Espazioa argitzen ari da.

But at the same time, you see this video coming up here.

Baina aldi berean, bideoa ikusten ari zarete hemen.

And that's a video, a high-definition video

Eta bereizmen handiko bideoa da

that is transmitted through that light beam.

argi-izpi horien zehar igorrita.

You're critical.

Eszeptikoak zarete.

You think, "Ha, ha, ha.

Pentsatzen ari zarete: "Ja, ja, ja.

This is a smart academic doing a little bit of tricks here."

Hemen daukagu akademiko azkar bat trikimailuak egiten."

But let me do this.

Baina hau egiten badut.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)

Once again.

Berriro.

Still don't believe?

Oraindik ez duzue sinesten?

It is this light

Argia da

that transmits this high-definition video in a split stream.

bereizmen-handiko bideoa igortzen duena banandutako fluxuan.

And if you look at the light,

Eta begiratzen badiozue argiari,

it is illuminating as you would expect.

argitzen ari da zuek espero zenuten bezala.

You don't notice with your human eye.

Ezin da nabaritu zuen begiekin.

You don't notice the subtle changes in the amplitude

Ezin dira nabaritu aldaketa meheak anplitudean

that we impress onto this light bulb.

zeintzuk guk inprimatzen ditugun foku gorian.

It's serving the purpose of illumination,

Argitzeko baliagarria da,

but at the same time, we are able to transmit this data.

baina aldi berean, datuak ere igor ditzakegu.

And you see,

Eta ikusten duzuen bezala,

even light from the ceiling comes down here to the receiver.

baita sabaiko argia ere hargailura heltzen da.

It can ignore that constant light,

Berak argi iraunkor hori baztertzen du,

because all the receiver's interested in

hargailuari interesatzen zaiona dira

are subtle changes.

aldaketa meheak.

You also have a critical question now, and

Noizean behin galdera kritikoak egiten dizkidate,

you say, "Okay,

eta diote: "Bale,

do I have to have the light on all the time

argia piztuta mantendu behar dut denbora osoan

to have this working?"

hau ibiltzeko?"

And the answer is yes.

Eta erantzuna da baietz.

But, you can dim down the light

Baina, argia moteldu daiteke

to a level that it appears to be off.

maila batera non amatuta dagoela dirudi.

And you are still able to transmit data -- that's possible.

Eta baldintza horiekin datuak igor daitezke -- posiblea da.

So I've mentioned to you the four challenges.

Beraz, lau erronkak aipatu dizkizuet.

Capacity:

Ahalmena:

We have 10,000 times more spectrum,

10.000 mila aldiz baino espektro handiagoa daukagu.

10,000 times more LEDs

10.00 aldiz baino LED gehiago

installed already in the infrastructure there.

azpiegituran jadanik jarrita.

You would agree with me, hopefully,

Espero dut nirekin ados izango zaretela,

there's no issue of capacity anymore.

ez da inondik inora ahalmen arazorik izango.

Efficiency:

Eraginkortasuna:

This is data through illumination --

Argiztapenaren bidez igorritako datuak dira --

it's first of all an illumination device.

lehenengo eta behin argiztapen gailua da.

And if you do the energy budget,

Eta energia-kostua kontuan hartzen baduzue,

the data transmission comes for free --

datu-igorpena dohainik da --

highly energy efficient.

energia-eraginkortasun handia.

I don't mention the high energy efficiency

Ez dut LEDen energia-eraginkortasun aipatu nahi

of these LED light bulbs.

LED foku goriena, hain zuzen ere.

If the whole world would deploy them,

Mundu osoan jarriko balira,

you would save hundreds of power plants.

indar planta asko aurreztu genitzake.

That's aside.

Hori aparte da.

And then I've mentioned the availability.

Eta gero erabilgarritasuna aipatu dut.

You will agree with me that we have lights in the hospital.

Ados egongo zarete ospitaletan argiak dauzkagula.

You need to see what to do.

Beharrezkoa da zer egin ikusi ahal izatea.

You have lights in an aircraft.

Hegazkinetan argiak daude.

So it's everywhere in a day there is light.

Leku guztietan argiak daude.

Look around. Everywhere. Look at your smart phone.

Zuen inguruan. Leku guztietan. Begira ezazue zuen smartphonetan.

It has a flashlight, an LED flashlight.

Flash bat dago, LED flash bat.

These are potential sources for high-speed data transmission.

Hori guztiak abiadura handiko datu-igorpenerako iturria izan daitezke.

And then there's security.

Eta gero, segurtasuna.

You would agree with me

Nirekin ados egongo zarete

that light doesn't penetrate through walls.

argiak ez dituela hormak zeharkatzen.

So no one, if I have a light here,

Orduan argi bat badaukat hemen,

if I have secure data,

segurtasun handiko datuak baditut,

no one on the other side of this room through that wall

gela honetaz bestalde inork ezin du

would be able to read that data.

datu horiek irakurri hormaren zehar.

And there's only data where there is light.

Eta datuak daude argia piztuta dagoenean soilik.

So if I don't want that receiver to receive the data,

Orduan ez badut nahi hargailuak datuak igortzerik,

then what I could do,

egin dezakedana da

turn it away.

horrela mugitzea.

So the data goes in that direction, not there anymore.

Datuak harantz doaz, ez hona.

Now we can in fact see where the data is going to.

Orain ikus dezakegu nora doazen datuak.

So for me,

Orduan, niretzat

the applications of it,

teknologia honen erabilerek

to me, are beyond imagination at the moment.

irudimena gainditzen dute oraintxe bertan.

We have had a century of very nice, smart application developers.

Mende oso bat izan dugu zentzuzko aplikazioen garatzaileekin.

And you only have to notice, where we have light,

Eta orain konturatu behar dugu non dagoen argia,

there is a potential way to transmit data.

badago datuak igortzeko ahalmena.

But I can give you a few examples.

Adibide batzuk eman diezazkizueket.

Well you may see the impact already now.

Agian, ikus dezakezue eragina jadanik.

This is a remote operated vehicle

Hau da urrutiko kontrolaz burututako ibilgailua

beneath the ocean.

itsaspekoa.

And they use light to illuminate space down there.

Eta argia erabiltzen dut hango espazioa argitzeko.

And this light can be used to transmit wireless data

Eta argi hori haririk gabeko datuak igortzeko erabil daiteke

that these things [use] to communicate with each other.

ibilgailuen elkarrekiko komunikazioak errazteko.

Intrinsically safe environments

Berezko ingurugiro seguruak

like this petrochemical plant --

instalazio petrokimika hau bezala --

you can't use RF, it may generate antenna sparks,

ezin da irrati frekuentziarik erabili, antenetan txinpartak sor litezkeelako,

but you can use light -- you see plenty of light there.

baina argia erabil daiteke -- argi asko ikusten da han.

In hospitals,

Ospitaletan,

for new medical instruments;

medikuntzaren gailu berrietarako;

in streets for traffic control.

kaleetan trafikoa kontrolatzeko.

Cars have LED-based headlights, LED-based back lights,

Kotxeek badituzte LED argiak aurrean eta atzean,

and cars can communicate with each other

eta kotxeek elkarrekiko komunikazioa izan dezakete

and prevent accidents

eta istripuak saihets ditzakete

in the way that they exchange information.

haien arteko informazioa trukatzen.

Traffic lights can communicate to the car and so on.

Semaforoek kotxeari informazioa eman ahal diote, eta abar.

And then you have these millions of street lamps

Eta badago kaleko milioika argi

deployed around the world.

mundu osoan zehar jarrita.

And every street lamp could be a free access point.

Eta kaleko argi bakoitza doaneko sarbide-puntu bat izan liteke.

We call it, in fact, a Li-Fi,

Egiatan Li-Fi deitzen dugu,

light-fidelity.

argi-fidelitatea.

And then we have these aircraft cabins.

Eta badaude hegazkinen kabina horiek.

There are hundreds of lights in an aircraft cabin,

Ehunka argi daude hegazkinaren kabina batean,

and each of these lights

eta argi bakoitz hori

could be a potential transmitter of wireless data.

haririk gabeko datuen igorle potentziala izan liteke.

So you could enjoy your most favorite TED video

Beraz zuen gustukoen TED bideoak gozatu zenitzakete

on your long flight back home.

zuen etxerako bidaia luzeetan.

Online life. So that is a vision, I think, that is possible.

Online bizitza. Beraz, posible den ikuspegia dela uste dut.

So, all we would need to do

Beraz, guk egin beharko duguna da

is to fit a small microchip

mikrotxip txiki bat egokitzea

to every potential illumination device.

argiztapen potentzialaren gailu bakoitzera.

And this would then combine

Eta honek elkartuko lituzke

two basic functionalities:

bi funtsezko eginkizun:

illumination and wireless data transmission.

argiztapena eta haririk gabeko datu igorpena.

And it's this symbiosis that I personally believe

Eta hau da sinbiosia. Nik uste dut

could solve the four essential problems

lau funtsezko arazoak konpon litzakeela

that face us in wireless communication these days.

haririk gabeko komunikazioko esparruan.

And in the future,

Eta geroan,

you would not only have 14 billion light bulbs,

14.000 milioi foku gori izan ez ezik,

you may have 14 billion Li-Fis

14.000 milioi Li-Fi ere izango dituzue

deployed worldwide --

mundu osoan zehar jarrita --

for a cleaner, a greener,

etorkizun garbiago, berdeago

and even a brighter future.

baita argiagoa ere eskuratzeko.

Thank you.

Mila esker

(Applause)

(Txaloak)