Wireless Video Transfers 100X Faster Than WiFi

coondoggie writes "Later today IBM plans to announce microprocessor chipsets that can wirelessly transmit high-definition video at extremely high speeds. 'IBM will do this by teaming with MediaTek to launch a joint initiative to develop these ultra fast chipsets.The companies will be developing millimeter wave (mmWave) radio technology — the highest frequency portion of the radio spectrum — 60 gigahertz rather than 2.4 gigahertz — and digital chipsets that enable at least 100 times higher data rates than current Wi-Fi standards.'"

Comments

Line of sight only

[scsirob]

60GHz signals do not travel through walls or anything else. You can't set up a central transmitter in your house and watch HD movies elsewhere. This is nice technology to 'beam' signals across a street or to prevent wiring mess in an ad-hoc meeting room, but it won't be a real WiFi replacement

Re:Line of sight only

[DigitAl56K]

It's simple, you just drill a small hole in each wall to let the signal through; about 5.1mm should do it.

And at that point it's better than using a cable because... ?

Re:Line of sight only

[marcansoft]

But you can always just stream the content. 27Mbps is good enough for DVD and even decently compressed HD. 100Mbps Ethernet will stream HD without any trouble.

Re:Article is shithouse.

[evilviper]

Or 82 miles with a pringles can.

At 60GHz? Not if there's any... you know... MOISTURE in the air around you.

Post and Article a little misleading

[Bigjeff5]

They both seem to give the impression that the 60ghz wireless is a step up from WiFi, which it is not. It's more like a step up from your USB cable to a wireless equivalent. It will never be used for networking computers for the same reason USB cables will never be used for networking. They have a few severe limitations that prevent this from ever happening. The biggest problem is the fact that ANYTHING in the way blocks the signal. It can't even penetrate skin more than a millimeter or so as far as I know.

The real deal is this is going to make things like video cables and other short connections to computers and devices pretty much obsolete. I personally can't wait till you can stack a few stereo, video, and game devices on top of each other, plug them into the wall, turn them on and they all connect together. Combine this with the wireless power that's going to be coming out in a few years, and things are gonna be pretty pimpin.

Re:Walls

[evilviper]

if you want to limit your WiFi to the inside of a building and such it might limit the range to an acceptable level outside where someone passing by on the road wont be able to pick up a wireless signal.

A very bad idea. You're likely to install it in a room with a window, which it will go through with no trouble and provide a strong signal to anyone outside, while you'll still struggle to get a signal in the next room (through a wall, not a window).

Re:Article is shithouse.

[abionnnn]

Well not quite, as well as the square power-law there's also an exponential attenuation factor due to absorption by the atmosphere. It is far greater at 60GHz than at 2.4GHz.

http://www.everythingweather.com/atmospheric-radiation/absorption.shtml (60GHz ~5mm)

Re:Walls

[Hatta]

You laugh, but it would be a lot easier to have a wireless outlet that just acts as a repeater between rooms, than to drag cables across the room and plug it into an outlet.