Cleansky2 is a European research programme whose objective is to develop innovative technologies with the aim of reducing CO2 and gas emissions as wells as noise levels produced by aircraft.

As part of this programme, Factem has created a consortium comprising a Scottish company (Purelifi) and a French lab (XLIM), with the goal of responding to a call for proposals on equipping cockpits with LiFi communication on behalf of AIRBUS.

It is this Factem-Purelifi-Xlim consortium who has responded to this call, with a project called ALC: Aircraft Light Communication.

The objective of the ALC project is to prove over several prototypes (Pilot headset, tablet, connected headset, other applications) that LiFi technology can be just as effective and reliable as a wired connection. To do this, Factem has given itself the challenge of creating a lifi audio headset, as well as a wired headset. The goal being to finish the prototype over the course 2019 in order to test it in the A350 simulator, before a possible test flight.

This challenge is a big opportunity for us thanks to our partners with whom we’re working, but also thanks to the engineering and scientific advances which we will produce throughout the project. Factem hopes to show you LiFi in its rightful place in aviation.

Lifi: Wireless communication technology, based on the use of LEDs transmitting digitally data. Faster, more eco-friendly, more secure than WiFi, LiFi uses the visible light spectrum. LEDs can turn on and off more than one million times a second. Contrary to WiFi, light is harmless. It uses radio waves 10x higher bandwidth than WiFi. Light being unable to pass through walls is much safer and the risks of eavesdropping are lower.

This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 737645.

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