Germany soccer club first in world to install LiFi

Article posted by Coliseum, September 12^th, 2019

Image: Hamburger SV / Signify

Volkspark Stadium – home to Hamburger SV (HSV) in Germany – has installed LiFi in their press center. Journalists are now filing stories using an ingenious means of wireless communication.

HSV has become the world’s first football club to use LiFi – a groundbreaking technology. Signify, a world leader in lighting, has installed LiFi in the press center.

The system called Trulifi provides newsmen a secure and fast Internet connection and uses light waves instead of radio waves to provide the same. The connection is given through the room’s ceiling lights.

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The Volkspark Stadium, which opened its gates to the public in the year 2000, is a 57,000 capacity one. It is one among the 10 stadiums that will host the European football tournament in Germany in 2024. It is also certified to host other top international tournament matches.

Like most stadiums, the wireless signal in its busy press center was prone to overload due to journalists accessing the network and interference from mobile devices of fans, staff and officials, all pinging the wireless router.

Karsten Vierke, Market Leader for Signify in the DACH region, said, “Journalists who write, edit and file stories under time pressure don’t want the added hassle of finding they can’t get online. Now the club is able to offer them a rock solid, secure and fast Internet connection along with high-quality, energy-efficient LED light that helps to lower the club’s carbon footprint. This is a world first for a football club and helps make the stadium an even more attractive venue for hosting important matches.”

Eighty-four Philips PowerBalance gen2 LED recessed luminaires has been installed at the venue’s press center by Signify. Eight of the luminaires have an integrated Trulifi 6002 transceiver, which modulates infrared light waves to provide an Internet connection of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps).

Journalists using the system receive a USB Access Key, which plugs into their laptop. This picks up the LiFi signal and transmits data back to the luminaire. Free from interference and encrypted, the LiFi system also boasts of an extra layer of security and is built-in as light waves cannot pass through walls.

Daniel Nolte, Segment Leader Area Organization & Infrastructure at the Hamburg football club, shared, “We opted for LiFi given the increasing demand for bandwidth from journalists using our press center. For them a reliable wireless connection is everything. Now they have good quality light to write their stories along with a reliable, fast and highly secure wireless connection.”

Signify’s mastery over leveraging lighting infrastructure is best demonstrated by Trulifi. It unlocks the potential of light in new high-growth segments with LED technology that’s not only innovative but energy-efficient too.

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