Oledcomm Appeared On The BFM Business Podcast Tech & Co
Credit to BFM Business
By LiFi Tech News Team
In a recent appearance on the BFM Business podcast Tech & Co, Benjamin Azoulay, CEO of Oledcomm, laid out a comprehensive roadmap for the future of optical wireless communications. The wide-ranging conversation covered the company's strategic pivot from consumer electronics to high-stakes defense applications, culminating in their ambitious new frontier: inter-satellite laser links.
The highlight of the interview was the presentation of LUCI, Oledcomm's new optical space terminal, which has officially been selected by the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES).
The Consumer Hurdle and the Defense Pivot
Azoulay began by addressing the "elephant in the room" regarding LiFi's mass adoption. While industry enthusiasts once dreamed of LiFi replacing WiFi in every smartphone, Azoulay offered a pragmatic view of why this hasn't happened yet.
He noted that major chipset manufacturers such as Intel and Qualcomm have not yet integrated LiFi capabilities into their standard chips. "As long as that is not the case, we will not be able to reach the general public," Azoulay admitted. He also acknowledged that WiFi has made tremendous strides in speed and reliability (with WiFi 6 and 7), satisfying most average consumer needs.
However, this hurdle drove Oledcomm to identify sectors where WiFi is fundamentally insufficient. The answer was found in Defense, where "discretion" is more valuable than convenience.
Tactical Superiority: The 'Invisible' Link
Oledcomm has successfully equipped two armored brigades and a division of the French Army with LiFi technology, with Azoulay revealing a specific deployment of 44 mobile command posts.
In modern warfare contexts, such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the electromagnetic spectrum is a battlefield. Azoulay explained that emitting radio frequencies (RF) can lead to enemy detection in as little as seven seconds.
"We are looking, in contested electromagnetic environments... to find solutions to communicate discreetly, without using cables," Azoulay explained.
LiFi offers a distinct tactical advantage here. Unlike RF signals which pass through walls and can be intercepted, light stays confined within the command tent. It provides high-speed data transmission that is physically impossible to hack from the outside and remains invisible to electronic warfare sensors.
From Cabling to Constellations: The Evolution of Space Photonics
Oledcomm’s journey into space did not start with inter-satellite links. It began inside the chassis.
Azoulay detailed the success of Satellife, a product designed to replace heavy copper cabling inside satellites with light-based data links. This technology was rigorously tested aboard a OneWeb satellite launched by SpaceX in 2023. After two and a half years of flawless operation in orbit, Oledcomm’s R&D teams felt confident enough to take the next step: moving the light outside the spacecraft.
This evolution led to LUCI, a terminal designed for Inter-Satellite Links (ISL). As mega-constellations like Starlink grow, satellites must communicate directly with one another to form a mesh network, routing internet traffic through the vacuum of space rather than bouncing it back to Earth at every hop.
Technical Deep Dive: Hitting a Moving Target
While the fundamental principle of LUCI is similar to terrestrial LiFi, modulating light to carry data, the engineering challenges are exponentially higher.
Speed of Modulation: While terrestrial LiFi modulates light at roughly 30 million times per second, the laser technology in LUCI modulates at billions of times per second to achieve speeds of 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps).
Precision Engineering: The laser beam has an extremely low divergence of just a hundredth of a degree, required to bridge distances of 8,000 kilometres.
Astronomical Velocities: The most daunting challenge is tracking. The satellites move at approximately 15 kilometres per second relative to one another. "You have to synchronise," Azoulay noted.
To address the fragility of optical links in such a dynamic environment, Oledcomm has developed rapid re-acquisition protocols. If the link is broken, due to an obstacle or alignment loss, the system is designed to re-establish the connection in less than 10 seconds.
The Weight Game: Ousting the Competition
Why did CNES select Oledcomm over established players? The answer comes down to physics and economics.
Azoulay explicitly mentioned the competitive landscape, citing German heavyweights like Tesat and Mynaric. However, Oledcomm has achieved a significant engineering breakthrough in miniaturisation.
While competitor terminals typically weigh around 20kg, Oledcomm’s LUCI weighs just 10kg.
"Since there are up to four [terminals] per satellite, you can imagine what a gain of 30 to 40 kilos per satellite represents," Azoulay said.
In the space industry, where launch costs are calculated per kilogram, this weight saving is massive. Azoulay estimated that for large constellations, the weight reduction provided by LUCI could save the operator the cost of an entire launcher vehicle.
A European Champion
Inspired by Starlink’s vertical integration but carving out its own niche, Oledcomm aims to become the French and European champion of optical spatial communications. With the backing of CNES and top photonic experts, the company is preparing to see LUCI go into orbit, with hopes for launch as early as the end of this year or early next year.
For the LiFi community, this interview confirms that the technology has graduated from "smart bulbs" to critical infrastructure, securing communications on the battlefield and forming the backbone of the next generation of space internet.
