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10Gbps Wireless Transfers
Erasei writes "NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group has developed a wireless communications that is capable of transmitting data at speeds of up to 10Gbps. In order to achieve such high data transmission speeds, the system uses the as-yet-unused 120GHz frequency band. The actual bandwidth the system uses is 17GHz, and the method of modulation employed is amplitude shift keying."
Yesterday there was an article about 19megabits.. now its 10gbps.. Wow, we are getting faster everyday!
A large number of birds seem to be falling out of the sky fully cooked near the NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group headquarters near the experimental wireless data towers. More on this strange story as it develops.
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
I'm not thinking so much of a peer-to-peer or client/server setup where there's a networking handshake, but more along the lines of a broadcast data stream meant for everyone (or maybe just a few certain someones) to pick up.
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
NTT Develops 10Gbps Wireless System
October 18, 2002 (TOKYO) -- NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group has developed a wireless communications system using the 120GHz band.
The system, which is capable of transmitting data at speeds of up to 10Gbps, was displayed at the "NTT R&D Forum 2002" event held Oct. 11 in Atsugi.
The new system is four times as fast as the 2.5Gbps wireless system NTT put on show at the same event in 2001. This is the first time the laboratory experimented with a 10Gbps wireless system (photo). There are many potential uses for such a high-speed wireless technology, such as for 10Gbps wireless Ethernet links or for radio links between different buildings where a high volume of data has to be sent to and fro. NTT plans to announce the new system at the "Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference" (APMC) to be held in Kyoto in November.
In order to achieve such high data transmission speeds, the system uses the as-yet-unused 120GHz frequency band. The actual bandwidth the system uses is 17GHz, and the method of modulation employed is amplitude shift keying (ASK), the simplest method of amplitude modulation for digital signals. According to an NTT source, by modifying the modulation method, the throughput rate will be improved.
NTT also used optical communications technology to make the 120GHz system possible. A 120GHz optical pulse signal is generated, and then undergoes amplitude modulation. After modulation, the signal is picked up by a special photodiode capable of responding with the high-speed signal. The output from the photodiode is then transmitted as a wireless signal. The special photodiode used was developed with NTT's own technology, and can handle optical inputs of up to 300GHz.
The main difference between last year's system and the new one is that the receiver frequency detection circuitry has been redesigned, meaning that the receiver can detect signals over a wider bandwidth, and thus the system can operate at faster speeds. The new detection circuit can receive signals from an 8.5GHz band at maximum. Because the system employs two detection circuits working in tandem, the finished system realizes more than a 17GHz band.
At "NTT R&D Forum 2002," the system was shown transmitting non-compressed HDTV-quality (1.5Gbps) video data. In order to extend the range of the transmission, a 20cm-diameter lens was used to focus the beam. In the laboratory, a 10m range for the system has been confirmed, but NTT is expecting to try and extend the range to 100m.
In order to extend the range of the transmission, a 20cm-diameter lens was used to focus the beam. In the laboratory, a 10m range for the system has been confirmed, but NTT is expecting to try and extend the range to 100m
From a scientific standpoint, this is somewhat interesting. I don't see it being news, however, until they seriosuly decrease the size of the transmitters and/or increase the range. The transmitters look to be about the size of a shoebox, which is great for building-to-building, but let us know when they actually bump up the range to say... building-to-building distances.
...is called "fibre optic"; hundred terabits and look ma - no wires!
Did you read the article???
..12 second...7 seconds....2 seconds... Submit!
"In the laboratory, a 10m range for the system has been confirmed, but NTT is expecting to try and extend the range to 100m."
#include "standard_disclaimer.h"
Radio waves at 120GHZ travel like light. The signal wont go through walls at all.
So, basically, what we're saying is, by the time we get to 1Tb/s, we're all going to have to be close enough that I might as well just hand you a floppy?
And is that a run-on? Sheesh. Critics.
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"In the laboratory, a 10m range for the system has been confirmed, but NTT is expecting to try and extend the range to 100m."
10 meters would limit its usefulness, but 100 meters would make this very useful. Hopefully, this has a useful range.
Could someone answer the question about how easily this frequency would pass through common substances, like walls?
Also, there was no mention of weather they would seek to license their technology to make this widely available or just make this a very expensive specialized niche product.
This isn't office wireless. This is a very line-of-sight system that would be used, probably, between buildings, if they get it go that far, I would imagine.
You'd never see anything like this in a home or office, as it couldn't penetrate a sheet of paper, let alone a wall of any type. I suppose it could penetrate if you put enough power into it, but then it would need enough power to melt through the wall before the communication could begin.
I'm no EE, but I studied enough analog electronics design to know that creating RF circuits at that kind of frequency is no easy feat.
Open up an 802.11 card for instance--these work at about 1/60th of that frequency--and look at the traces for an idea. It's not just what components are connected together--it's the layout of the traces that define most of the circuit. Inductors are little squiggles, a resistor is the thinning of a trace, etc., all of which is highly dependent on frequency.
In other words, these guys are pretty slick and you just have to bow to them.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
120Ghz? I can not think of an op-amp that works anywhere near the freq. Not to mention a waveguide to get your output to the antenna.
As for omnidirectional, that would lower your effective point to point power further.
At these freq's it could only be useful for point-to-point comms.
I wonder why they did not just leave it all optical.
The law is a weapon of the government, not a protection for the likes of you. Surely you understand that.
Actually I'm hoping to transmit from the desk to the object sitting at the desk...
My current device uses the 560nm-800nm electromagentic spectrum. And while it can send a large volume of data quickly, my receiving unit processes the data, but most it is lost in storage. If only the process wasn't so lossy!
Can anyone recommend any upgrades? I am still using the orginal neural network that came with this model...
(too subtle?)
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
There he is in the photo, between the two transmitter thingies.
Does his thunderbolt attack provide the jiggawatts of power needed?
Can we hit 100Gbps if he evolves into Raichu?
Or, most importantly, will this technology help me catch 'em all?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
This would actually be quite funny if this site wer slashdotted as we are currentlydiscussing about its breakthrough in network technologies :-)
Trolling using another account since 2005.
i've already mentioned this before and i don't wish to sound like a trolling wet-blanket, but when is this going to be widely available and adopted? slashdot is chockful of articles of new and emerging technologies that promise ever-increasing leaps and bounds in all these high-tech gadgets that all of us love (which is why we're here on slashdot!). most of these gadgets or other new developments in science and technology only see the light of exhibition or convetion halls and after that, either lousy manging, marketing or just a bad business model kills the product in its infant stages.
the article mentioned that this new wireless system uses a yet un-used 120GHz frequency. i personally feel that this can -both- be a disadvantage and advantage to its entry into the mainstream market. reason being, due to the 120GHz frequency being unused, widespread adoption might be made easier without any regulations but then again, that same lack of regulations would make it hard to regulate and control, and it might be open to abuses by users with malicious intent. worst still, all our beloved governments or telecommunication companies (for some countries, the above two are one and the same for all intents and purposes) will seize the opportunity to reap a handsome profit and end up killing the potential this product might have had in the market.
another factor, and perhaps the -most- important factor to consider is cost. the system may be cheap to built and maybe it didn't cost that much to develop, but we all know capitalism isn't about selling products at a price that indicates its real worth, capabalities, and cost of manufacture or R&D. rather, market demand or greedy corporate figures play an important part, along with sleazy marketing methods that target the ill-informed but rich people, who buy into meaningless numbers generated by the afore-mentioned marketing folks. the success or failure depends on how well the balance, between reaping the most profits and at the same time allowing growth, expansion and demand of the product to propagate is upheld by those corporate capitalist (and usually greedy) folks.
lastly, but not as importantly as the above factor, is whether the four times increase in speed is really needed, or is it on par with a 2.0GHz pentium 4, in that both only have impressive numbers to show off, which represent little of any real-world increase or -need- for performance for most mainstream users. but then again, i've just made a moot point haven't i? the sad reality is that the actual technology or the need for it isn't what sells. its how well its marketed (read: exaggerated and made pretty with big numbers) that really counts, ain't it?
if anyone feels like modding me down, go right ahead. i just had to get that off my mind. i just can't help being a little more and more pessimistic each time a promise of some new-fangled gadget makes headlines on slashdot, only to make headlines a year or two later when it flops over on its belly.
not to mention (i'm guessing) a hella lot more range,
You guessed wrong. The range goes down as the frequency goes up. The higher the frequency, the more the radiation behaves like light, which is really just terahertz radio. As you get higher and higher frequencies, walls and such become more and more opaque to the signals. Until eventually they won't travel thru the walls at all, just like light.
If you want long range, you need lower frequencies. If you want to send a signal across the ocean, you need KHz radio waves (short wave radio). If you want to send a signal around the state you need AM radio at ~1MHz. If you want to send your signal around a city you can use FM at ~100MHz. By the time you get up to 2.4GHz you can only send your signal across a few rooms. Yes, I know I'm simplifying the differences in transmission power. But a short wave ham can reach across the world with less power than an AM station uses to cover a state, and the AM station uses less power still than the FM station which only covers a city or so.
Now, point to point is a whole different story. If you have direct line of sight you can send extremely high frequencies across significant distances. But the curvature of the Earth prevents you from sending stuff too far. Not to mention buildings and other obstructions.
That's what I want to know. IR is way up in the THz range. You outta be able to modulate a least a Gbps onto it easily. Sure, it wouldn't go very far but so what. Is it just the difficulty in making emitters and detecters which are fast enough? That can't really be that hard. A gige optical SX GBIC module can be had for under $100. Hm. That makes me want to tear a couple apart and see if I can get a link running across a few feet of free space.
Wow, how'd they get the transmission rate to accelerate like that?
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Actually, 120 GHz is a fully regulated part of the radio spectrum. The Powers That Be regulate it (and assign users) up to 300 GHz. There is increasing interest in this part of the spectrum, partly because the lower frequencies are getting crowded in some parts of the world, and because atmosphereic attenuation (which is high at these frequencies) makes frequency reuse a lot easier. The military are interested too, since that same attenuation makes it hard for unfriendlies to listen in on tacitcal communications. Unless they're right in the middle of the battle, in which case they have other things to worry about...
Anything beyond 300 GHz is terra incognita - electronic techniques become impractical, and optical techniques don't work well until you go lots higher in frequency. You can buy infrared data links that will shoot data across town, and they are not regulated (as radios) in any way. They require laser certification only.
...laura