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Japanese Researchers Transmit 3Gbps Using Terahertz Frequencies

Posted by samzenpus on from the greased-lightning dept.

MrSeb writes "Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new wireless transmission system that works above all currently regulated spectrum frequencies. The new system works at the range of 300GHz to 3THz (terahertz), which is the Far Infrared (FIR) frequencies of the infrared spectrum. That spectrum is currently totally unregulated by any country or standards organization in the world, making it ripe for development of new technologies. So far the Japanese researchers have transmitted data at 3Gbps, but in theory speeds of up to 100Gbps should be possible."

24 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Gamma Rays by Sigvatr · · Score: 5, Funny

    How soon will it be until Japan begins transmitting gamma rays?

  2. Hmmm... by mcgrew · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Infrared? Not exactly wi-fi. You'd have to be in the same room as the router for this to work. I don't see many practical applications.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
    1. Re:Hmmm... by MacTO · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Different wavelengths of IR have different properties. Indeed the BBC article notes: "as terahertz waves penetrate many materials as effectively as X-rays".

    2. Re:Hmmm... by heypete · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Infrared? Not exactly wi-fi. You'd have to be in the same room as the router for this to work. I don't see many practical applications.

      It sounds actually quite reasonable for private wireless networks: put a transceiver on the ceiling or an elevated part of the wall and provide high-speed access to network devices in that room.

      Assuming the waves wouldn't penetrate ordinary building materials (though the wikipedia suggests that some building materials are not reasonably opaque to these waves) then one could have the convenience of a wireless network without the security risks involved with longer-range radio waves that can be picked up at much greater distances.

    3. Re:Hmmm... by QuantumRiff · · Score: 2

      But could be ideal for a wireless back-haul, where you are currently using microwave with line of site..

      --

      What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    4. Re:Hmmm... by dissy · · Score: 2

      Infrared? Not exactly wi-fi. You'd have to be in the same room as the router for this to work. I don't see many practical applications.

      No terahertz is not exactly wifi. Both are blocked by thick metal for example, neither are blocked by wood glass or plastic.

      In fact the only things I know of that will block terahertz which wifi goes through are water and bone.
      If your walls are made of water or bone, then yes you will need to stay with gigahertz frequencies :P

    5. Re:Hmmm... by hawguy · · Score: 2

      Infrared? Not exactly wi-fi. You'd have to be in the same room as the router for this to work. I don't see many practical applications.

      Then you haven't seen how much it costs to wire an office and provide network ports.... *and* keep it neat "Why do those wires have to come down the wall, why can't they go through the floor? Because I'd have to core through 8" of concrete to do that. Well, just do it, it's only money!" (then the same thing happens next year when the cubes are moved).

      If I could hang 4 or 6 of these off the ceiling to provide network coverage to a 40 person open office area, it could be a huge money (and headache) saver. Especially when the cubes are rearranged every year for "efficiency and productivity" (which in some years means squeezing more people into the same, other years it means less people with more space). Even if it means putting an antenna on top of the cube walls or overhead shelves it's still easier than running new wire.

      Wifi doesn't provide enough non-overlapping channels to provide good service to many users in a small area - especially when they are copying large media files to/from the corporate fileserver. But if 4 of these could each do 3gbit (with clients load balancing across them automatically), that's already more than the 4Gbit of aggregate bandwidth that this office area has now.

    6. Re:Hmmm... by hawguy · · Score: 2

      The article has an even better application of a short-range wireless system that doesn't penetrate walls -- networking for servers in the datacenter. Currently I have a 6 node VMware cluster built from discrete 1U servers with about 60 network interconnects (including intra-cluster communications, but also connections to the core network and SAN network) Ok, so all are 1Gig and it would take a fraction of that in 10Gig connections and a blade center would help too, but the cluster was built before 10Gig was cost effective.

      100Gbit wireless sure would make the datacenter neater.

    7. Re:Hmmm... by Eponymous+Hero · · Score: 2

      diversity and taste. that's why there are more options for aesthetics than what purely pragmatic, utilitarian points of view have to offer. it turns out that people will design things all kinds of crazy ways with crazy materials just to stand apart, break the monotony, add value, or serve a particular purpose that is outside of average. yes, interior walls can be brick. in a lot of homes, in a lot of places. stop trying to excuse your assumptions by projecting your ignorance as insults, you look stupid. much more wasteful than interior brick walls is the electricity you used to make all these posts arguing about average wall density.

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    8. Re:Hmmm... by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 2

      People like you who mock some idiotically shallow view of things you don't understand as a way of reinforcing your fragile ego inspire a mix of anger and pity in those of us who actually do research and design things.

      Has it ever occurred to you that maybe there's an actual reason they didn't "simply" aim a THz transmitter at some DNA? Like, "How do you observe what's being done to the DNA, in vitro, without damaging it?" Or, "getting the grants and building the apparatus and developing the techniques to do this would take years, possibly decades?" But of course it hasn't, because that would require you to stop being a snivelling ass and think for 30 seconds.

      And not only that, but seriously, what the fuck... Our JOBS are to be in a lab, staring at the screen, poking the deposition chamber, tweaking the laser table, all day, thinking about what we want to find out and how to find it out. Do you seriously think that whatever half-baked ideas floated through your head 10 seconds after reading a random comment on an Internet message board, on a topic you've probably never devoted a second of consideration to before in your life, are going to contain some brilliant insight that's going to leave us all dumbfounded?

      /rant

  3. Also cuts heating costs by Orga · · Score: 2

    as the water molecules contained in the upper layers of your skin move in reaction to these waves!

  4. I have an ignorant question... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've heard before that the higher the range of frequency, the harder it is for signals to penetrate things like walls. If we keep advancing along these lines, could this potentially ease our troubles with wifi-over-saturation because we won't be picking up our neighbors' signals?

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:I have an ignorant question... by jandrese · · Score: 2

      Well, it's not exactly legal, but you could tell all of your wireless gear that you are Japanese and switch over to channel 14. You'll be stepping on radiolocation beacons, but those shouldn't be around in the middle of a city anyway.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  5. we don't need windows where we're going.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That doesn't really matter because you are stupid.

    No you are... He/She is right. Turns out IR doesn't go through walls too well.

    Works just fine if you up the transmitter power enough.
    What are you, some sort of girly man?

  6. Just answered my own question by LanMan04 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Terahertz radiation is non-ionizing submillimeter microwave radiation and shares with microwaves the capability to penetrate a wide variety of non-conducting materials. Terahertz radiation can pass through clothing, paper, cardboard, wood, masonry, plastic and ceramics. It can also penetrate fog and clouds, but cannot penetrate metal or water."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terahertz

    --
    With the first link, the chain is forged.
  7. Naked scanner from your terahertz wifi card? by madbavarian · · Score: 2

    If terahertz wifi cards become generally available, how long before we see articles about people repurposing the hardware to do terahertz reflective imagery like the security guys already do for looking through walls to spot people in a room or look through cloths to see "weapons"?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2131932/The-REAL-X-Ray-spex--new-terahertz-scanner-lets-mobile-phones-walls.html

  8. Re:Yes by NEDHead · · Score: 2

    As I recall, drywall never attenuated the noise in the next dormroom very well. This was a pre PC experience however.

  9. Re:Fry Me a Couple by compro01 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quickly! Shut off your monitor. It is bombarding you with radiation in the hundreds of terahertz!

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  10. Major advance, stupid article by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The real news here is that terahertz electronics is getting small, and potentially cheap. That has many uses. Most of them, though, do not involve data transmission. Terahertz radar will be useful for medical imaging, security, and driverless cars. There will probably be manufacturing applications, like quick 3D profiles of objects for inspection and measurement.

    Point to point terahertz data transmission probably isn't that useful. Point to point laser links have never been very useful. At light and near-light frequencies, rain, snow, and fog will block the beam. If you want one, outdoor laser links are commercially available.

  11. Re:Try Concrete by Bananatree3 · · Score: 2

    U win!

  12. Re:Try Concrete by Taty'sEyes · · Score: 2

    Remember his POV, basement walls tend to be concrete.

    --
    We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
  13. Re:Try Concrete by rev0lt · · Score: 2

    I know some houses that have concrete walls. And where I live, granite houses are pretty common (and they have some internal master walls made of granite). My house is made of bricks and a layer of concrete, and lots of apartments, office buildings and schools are built the same way.

  14. Re:Fry Me a Couple by jd · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am Icarus, and I approve of this message.

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    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  15. Beam steering by Animats · · Score: 2

    I am not sure as to what the benefits are as compared to simply using an IR Laser

    Hopefully, electrical beam steering. IR lasers still have to be steered with moving mirrors. On the receive side, you need a big moving mirror, because you need big collecting optics to get any significant range. If phased array techniques can be made to work in that band, scanning devices won't need moving parts. 3D LIDAR scanners are still expensive, clunky devices.