Sometimes we take for granted that things “just work”. The technology is there, and you don’t care how it works. Sometimes curiosity gets the better of us, and we want to know “How” or “Why?” You may be familiar with scientific and medical applications, as well as the use of infrared in night vision goggles. We thought it was time for a simple explanation of “Infrared” technology, and how it’s alive in your home.

There is probably not a day where you don’t use infrared technology. Infrared light is made of electromagnetic energy, is longer than visible light rays which means that it is invisible to the human eye. Infrared technology is a form of “wireless” communication which allows information to be sent by one device (transmitter) and captured by another device (receiver). Let’s use the common remote control as our example, because it’s easy to understand.

1. 1.  You point your remote control toward your television and push a button on your remote to turn the volume down. The button touches the contact on the circuit board beneath.

 

1. 2.  The circuit detects being touched and sends a command to the LED (laser emitting diode)at the front of the remote control. This command is sent in electromagnetic waves using binary code. Binary code is a way of representing text or computer processor instructions by the use of the binary number system's two-binary digits 0 and 1. For example the code for volume down could be 001 0011. The LED transmitter in the remote control creates an energy wave sending the information to an appropriate receiver.

 

1. 3.  The electromagnetic energy waves are captured by the receiver, in this case the television, then convert the waves back into their original form of 001 0011 and the television volume goes down. Each time the button is pressed this happens again. When you stop, the volume will stop decreasing.

 

There are numerous applications for infrared technology, and you will see them often. As it is such a simple technology, it is also possible to create your own custom systems which allow all your devices to be stored out of sight, and accessed via Infrared extender kits. Check out the range of possibilities here online.