LiFi — The path to a new way of communication

Important research efforts have been directed over the past ten years, towards exploring alternative parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that could potentially offload a large portion of the network traffic from the overcrowded radio frequency (RF) domain. Due to the latest improvements, the optical wireless communication (OWC) proves to be a viable alternative solution to the issues of forthcoming radio frequency RF spectrum crisis, especially in certain places and situations. Currently, most mobile data traffic is consumed indoor, where light fidelity (LiFi) which is related to visible light communication (VLC) offers lots of specific advantages, and effective solutions to the many issues of wireless communication. The current paper summarizes most of the research, developments and applications achieved so far and looks at the different aspects of the strengths and weaknesses, implementations, challenges, VLC IEEE standard and data modulation techniques of the VLC and specific LiFi's new coined optical wireless communication technology.