60GHz Uber-WiFi Proposed By New WiGig Group

judgecorp writes "A new vendor group has promised a Gigabit wireless specification by the end of this year. The Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) spec is apparently 80 percent done and, since it is aimed at high-definition TV, it has to go at more than 3Gbps. There's around 7GHz of spectrum freely available in the 60GHz band, so it's technically feasible, and with all the major Wi-Fi silicon vendors on board (as well as Microsoft, Dell, Nokia and others) WiGig looks to have the political muscle too. They should be aware of the Sibeam-led WirelessHD group, though, already in the 60GHz space, and Ultrawideband (UWB) is not dead, as there are actual, real UWB products."

Comments

60GHz is available because its almost useless

[Anonymous Coward]

This will be a VERY short range technology. Oxygen absorbed everything at 60GHz. This was actually classified secret for a long time - in the pre-encryption days, all sensitive wireless communication occurred at this frequency because even a very high powered antenna only has a range of a couple miles. You combine that with a directional antenna, and you can be almost certain no one is listening in.

Re:60GHz is available because its almost useless

[MobyDisk]

There's a way around that. If you place another material between the transmitter and the receiver, so that there is a path with no oxygen on it, then there will be very little signal degradation. I recommend something like a thin strip of aluminum or copper, insulated with some non-conductive material (which can also act as a ground between the transmitter and receiver).

Re:60GHz is available because its almost useless

[adolf]

Oh, no. It's far worse than that: It hardly works at all.

At work, we recently tried, and failed, to properly align a 58GHz wireless gigabit link. Looked like a good installation; clear Fresnel zone, no obviously destructive reflective surfaces, good mounting at one end (we substantially improved the mount at the other). The hardware looked good (made by Gigalink, now Proxim). Very short range - literally, across the street, which (since the radios were made for short haul) was right near the middle of the specifications on the radios. Simple antenna; looked like it was just a feedhorn covered by a radome.

As far as I can tell, it's nearly impossible to properly align these things. The wavelength is so bloody short that a misalignment of less than 1MM seems to fuck up the whole works. And it's not sufficient to just have the antennas pointed toward eachother; they have to be aligned on exactly parallel planes.

So anyway, we'd align it. And then it'd get cold out. And then it wouldn't work. Presumably, the buildings and steel mounts change shape sufficiently with the difference in temperature to just ruin everything.

Several more service calls later, and we'd given up on it.

I'm not exactly unskilled at these sorts of things. Back in the day, I used to install Primestar. I got good enough at alignment that I could set a pole in concrete, good and plumb. I'd pre-set the elevation and and the polarity of the LNB. After having a glance at my compass, I'd just put the dish on the pole and tighten it down, and then go on inside the house without ever checking the satellite meter. Chances were good that by the time I got inside, the receiver was all sync'd up and ready to go, with good RSSI values...and with no adjustment needed.

This 58GHz shit, at least as implemented by Gigalink, though: What a fucking abomination. If what WiGig proposes is anything similar in terms of pain, I can easily wait the rest of my life without it and never, ever miss it.

Re:60GHz is available because its almost useless

[adolf]

Uh-huh. Thanks, Captain Obvious.

Wake me up after you've either failed similarly, or found something that I've done incompetently. K?

Your inane suffrage from the typical alpha-geek doctrine which prescribes that the first thing to do when told of the failure of others is best countered with the assertion that operator is at least incompetent is, at best, a positively useless behavioral pattern.

You didn't get the whole story, anyway - I was pissing and moaning on Slashdot, not trying to write a fucking novel.

Here's the sequence of events:

1. Customer hires Company A to install several Gigalink spans. Company A is certified to do so. Links all work at gigabit speeds with low latency and no significant packet loss. Everything works fine for several months.
2. It gets cold out.
3. 2 of 3 links stop working most of the time, especially at night, unless it's warm out.
4. Company A turns out to be clueless and unhelpful, despite their paper "competence."
5. Customer asks Company B, who they've used for radio work for tens of years, including other WWAN projects, if they can help.
6. Company B (that's us, by the way) says "Sure, we'll give it a shot. No promises."
7. Try. Realigning appears to succeed.
8. Fail. Cold out again.
9. Try again when it is cold out, like -5F. Replace non-penetrating roof mount on bouncy snow-covered roof at one end of link with 3" sch. 80 pipe securely fastened to solid brick wall of elevator house on roof. Appear to succeed.
10. Fail. After a couple of heat cycles, things don't work anymore. Just like before.
11. Try. Let's line this thing up right, once and for all. Inspect radio's hardware for signs that thermal expansion might be somehow altering the alignment in a meaningful way, and grasp at all other available straws. Inspect other buildings for possible interference sources. Concoct and shoot down different scenarios including ice formation from flue gas condensation to power issues when furnace is running extensively. Find nothing.
12. Fail.
13. Customer calls manufacturer. Manufacturer suggests Company C to align things better.
14. Company C tries. Spends all day. Moves the pipe mount up as high as possible on wall. Manages insignificantly improved peak numbers vs. what we were getting.
15. Company C goes back to Chicago.
16. Company C fails. As soon as it gets cold out, link stops working.
17. Customer calls manufacturer. Manufacturer says "OK, send a pair of them to us and we'll test it here."
18. We install a temporary 5.8GHz link (at substantially lower speed) for Customer to use in the interim.
19. Customer sends a pair of Gigalink units back to Manufacturer.
20. Manufacturer calls customer. Says units work fine in their lab without any particular difficulty and are performing to specification.
21. ??? (nothing's budged since then, 5.8GHz link is still working fine, remaining 2 installed Gigalink spans also working fine now that the weather is nice and warm)
22. I conclude that 60GHz-ish stuff doesn't fucking work. It may be counter to a world of differing opinion, but this one is mine.

So, Oh Wise and Competent One, please tell me where I've gone wrong, other than the fact that I accepted the job to begin with. I beg this of you. Show me the error of my ways, oh great and powerful -- oops, I meant "competent" -- Oz!

Thanks! (And I promise not to look behind the curtain.)

Re:Scary energy levels?

[Brian Gordon]

Energy levels? Better go crawl under a rock to protect yourself from 600THz blue light.

Re:Scary energy levels?

[Burkin]

Just add a few extra layers of foil to your tinfoil hat and you'll be fine.