5 GHz Wireless Networking With CMOS Transceivers

cthugha writes: "On the back of IPv6 and fat pipes, we Aussies have been at it again. Radiata, a company set up by a couple of Sydney-based researchers, has achieved wireless networking for LANs in the 5 GHz band using CMOS-based transceivers. This means (i) low power consumption, (ii) high bandwidth (currently, 54 Mbps with a view to getting up to 100 Mbps) and (iii) low cost. Unfortunately, like most Australian inventions, this one has only found serious commercial backing overseas, specifically from Cisco (government/big business over here has no brain)." Products, please? For half a billion dollars' investment, I hope Cisco plans to start selling some toys, fast.

Comments

Re:Cloud, point-to-point, or both ?

[Kibo]

At 5GHz it's still low microwave. Which means most everything will screw with it. You'd get more speed with less humidity etc. It wouldn't be limited to line of sight, but the less you have in the way the better. Others asked if it would be IEEE 802.11 compliant, it will (check their PDFs or white sheets).

Radiata Product Briefs

At 5GHz, and certainly with low power, they'll probably be local to an area of a few hundred feet. But it also depends on how wide a spectum they need. (I think the FCC is auctioning a band near 5GHz.) I'm getting my guess of a few hundred feet from assuming they'll use frequency hopping spread spectrum techniques similar as to what's available now.

For a look at the US spectum allocation, as it was in 1999 at least, check this.

US FCC Spectrum allocation as of 1999.

Still 54Mb at duplex isn't bad. 11Mb or 44Mb and somtimes 54Mb?

But since they use (2) bands at 20MHz they're gonna need a Jeff Bezos ego sized chunk of spectrum to make it fly. To make it worse for both Cisco and their young(er) charge every damn countries spectrum is chopped up seperately, and they're getting kinda crowded. Given that the spectrum these puppies go at is an, as of yet, unallocated and (to my mind) a nessecarily large, block, I've gotta say these are at least 2 or more years off from the consumer.

There are a couple of up sides, these toys are really low power, they'll have very small antenna, and by the time you can get one you'll be playing 3d interactive web games off your G3 phone and won't give a crap.

Um, old news?

[Frymaster]

You could have a plasma screen on your wall running four or five television channels simultaneously, and you could take the screen off the wall and walk around with it.

My parents had a TV in the 60's that worked on similar technology... apparently the image and sound were streamed to the this video-on-demand appliance using a protocol called UHF (or it's competitor VHF). In the same vein, I must note the my grandfather in fact built his own wireless audio streaming appliance back in the 30's! In fact, the appliance was called a "wireless" and was based on an Amplitude Modulation protocol called, simply, AM.

Isn't progress amazing?

Re:Um, old news?

[Ralph Nader]

I am familar with the generation of television signal receivers you mention.

In fact, mine also got 5 or 6 channels simultaneously. Not because of some fancy "picture in picture" but rather because the antenna used the "rabbit ears" protocol and all the channels would bleed together.

Let's face it

[GC]

If the Australian Government did Invest in the Technology, Cisco would then buy Austrialia.

:^>

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Microwave Frequencies

[mindstrm]

Microwave ovens operate at 2.45 Ghz.

This wavelength is, contraty to popular belief, NOT the 'resonant frequency of water molecules', though in vacuo, an h2o molecule does have one resonant frequency near this (if memory servers). In liquid form, this gets far more complicated, and isn't useful. Also, if this WERE true, microwaves would not penetrate the object, but would be stopped by the first layer of resonanting molecules!

At this frequency, polarized molecules (such as water) are shaken as the field oscillates. And shaking molecules = heat, right?

The fact that microwaves operate at 2.45 Ghz is, I believe, the reason that the 2.4 Ghz ISM band exists in the first place. The band that is now used for a lot of htings, including wireless LAN stuff.