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Intel Demos 7Gpbs Wireless Docking

Posted by timothy on from the gives-you-richer-more-vibrant-cancer dept.

Lucas123 writes "Intel for the first time demonstrated the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) docking specification using an Ultrabook, which was able to achieve 7Gbps performance, ten times the fastest Wi-Fi networks based on the IEEE 802.11n standard. The WiGig medium access control (MAC) and physical (PHY) control specification operates in the unlicensed 60GHz frequency band, which has more spectrum available than the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands used by existing Wi-Fi products. According to Ali Sadri, chairman of the WiGig Alliance, the specification also supports wireless implementations of HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, as well as the High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) scheme used to protect digital content transmitted over those interfaces. It scales to allow transmission of both compressed and uncompressed video."

10 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. HDCP... by runeghost · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Making pirated media superior to purchased media since 1999!

    1. Re:HDCP... by freman · · Score: 2

      yeh now imagine how much more awsome it'd be if it didn't have to waste time and power encrypting, signing and verifying that you can do what you paid to do (be it play games, or watch movies)

      All pirated content just works all the time, sure some times you get a dodgy release but for $0 down, it's still not a bad investment for a night in - I'm not a piracy advocate but on more than one occasion I just have. (Recent purchase of the STNG bluray that I can't watch for example... I should have just downloaded when it was online days before it was released)

  2. Re:worried about health effects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's because no reasonable person expects there to be any effects. Wifi signal power is ridiculously low compared to many other applications of electromagnetic waves. Your microwave oven is allowed to leak more power than your wifi router is allowed to emit.

  3. Re:Scales? by eugene2k · · Score: 2

    "it scales" refers to the specification, not the bandwidth.

    --
    Apple has "Mac vs PC", Microsoft has "Laptop Hunters", Linux has recession
  4. Some basic background by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those wondering who are too lazy to Google, 60 GHz is right in the middle of the resonance range of the oxygen molecule (O2), so it's attenuated by nothing but air. That limits its range to just a few kilometers at reasonable (read, unlicensed) power levels.

    Of more practical interest, 60 GHz won't go through anything more solid than cloth. In particular interior walls block it. So this a in-the-same-room technology, and without some very fancy processing of multi-path bounce signals, it's basically a line of sight technology. In other words, a 60 GHz transmitter attached to your tower under your desk is going to have a hard time driving a monitor sitting on top of your desk. That's why the article waxes lyrical about laptops, which are usually set on top of the desk. Sadly, we're likely to be stuck with video cable for many years to come.

    Of course silicon is dirt cheap (sand cheap?) these days, so possibly chips can be designed that can do that processing. I don't know what the latencies might be like though. It might be intolerable for controlling a mouse. You'd have to ask a radio guy.

    1. Re:Some basic background by SilenceBE · · Score: 2

      If 30cm wire means that I don't need 5 meters of ethernet to stream a movie, that is a small price to pay. And it is not that uncommen. You have wifi sticks with a wired antenne you can place anywhere for better reception.

    2. Re:Some basic background by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wireless is always wired. Until power can be sent wirelessly as well, you'll need to at least plug it in to something.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    3. Re:Some basic background by the_other_chewey · · Score: 2

      "Until power can be sent wirelessly as well, you'll need to at least plug it in to something."

      It's called inductive charging, it exists.

      Is it inductive charging mats all the way down?

  5. Re:7 Gpbs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Giga Porns Per Second. It's how we measure Internet bandwidth.

  6. Re:Intel, wifi = disaster by dreamchaser · · Score: 3, Informative

    Maybe you just don't know any better?

    I know better, and the AC you responded to is correct. 802.11n works just fine with Windows XP and 7. I would love it to work well with Linux too as I use several Linux machines including a laptop that would benefit from the higher bandwidth. They just haven't quite gotten the bugs out of the system yet.

    It works great with OS X machines too. Are you still going to imply it isn't a Linux problem?