TWEETHER Project Promises 10Gbps MmW 92-95GHz Based Wireless Broadband

Mark.JUK writes A new project called TWEETHER, which is funded by Europe's Horizon 2020 programme, has been set up at Lancaster University (England) with the goal of harnessing the millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum (specifically 92-95GHz) in order to deploy a new Point to Multipoint wireless broadband technology that could deliver peak capacity of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second). The technology will take three years to develop and is expected to help support future 5G based Mobile Broadband networks.

Comments

Cool.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I can use my cell data plan for 0.8 seconds at full speed before hitting the monthly cap.

Physics doesn't work like that.

[Rob from RPI]

The higher the frequency, the less penetration of solid objects you have.

At -that- frequency, it'll work well for extremely short range, indoor, communications. But as soon as you put something even slightly solid, or damp, in the way, the signal will get blocked.

Re:Physics doesn't work like that.

[jandrese]

I think this is for tower to tower type communication. I do have to wonder about rain fade on a 95Ghz signal though.

Re:Physics doesn't work like that.

[Hadlock]

Apparently 95 ghz is the frequency they use to burn the skin in heat rays, it's energy is fully absorbed by the first 1/64" of skin. From Wikipedia "employs a microwave beam at 95 GHz; a two-second burst of the 95 GHz focused beam heats the skin to a temperature of 130 ÂF (54 ÂC) at a depth of 1/64th of an inch (0.4 mm) and is claimed to cause skin pain without lasting damage."
 
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_burn
 
So yeah, penetration would be poor at best, unless between towers, or from LEO/MEO SpaceX built satellites to rooftop antennas.

Re:Physics doesn't work like that.

[zlives]

we can conduct a survey of the birds later to see if they feel any pain while flying through !

Re:Physics doesn't work like that.

[Coren22]

From Wikipedia:

Compared to lower bands, radio waves in this band have high atmospheric attenuation; they are absorbed by the gases in the atmosphere. Therefore they have a short range and can only be used for terrestrial communication over about a kilometer.

and

While this absorption limits potential communications range, it also allows for smaller frequency reuse distances than lower frequencies. The small wavelength allows modest size antennas to have a small beam width, further increasing frequency reuse potential.

It sounds like the absorption will be a feature, not a bug. This will allow many more antennas in a city like situation. It won't be any good in rural areas, but I don't think it is meant for that.

Re:Physics doesn't work like that.

[MattskEE]

In addition to penetrating solids the range is challenging (or expensive anyway) just because of limited transmit power levels. Power is important because that gives you your range, your cell phone and home wireless router transmit up to about 1 watt. A 1 watt output solid-state power amplifier at this frequency would cost $5-10k, or at least that was the case about a year ago. This project seems to propose using travelling wave vacuum tube technology which provides lots of drive power (50-100 watts) but at a high price (over $100-250k).

Watch that capitalisation

[Anonymous Coward]

"MmW" would mean... Mega-metre-Watt. Yes, metric, bitches. There's a method to the madness, and getting it wrong can be disastrous like mistaking " for ' can yield disaster. No, you don't get to complain that it's too hard, for it isn't.

Re:Watch that capitalisation

[ArcadeMan]

I read that as Mega-milli-Watt.

Re:Watch that capitalisation

[rossdee]

milli is one thousandth, so Mega milli is a Kilo

Re:Watch that capitalisation

[grcumb]

milli is one thousandth, so Mega milli is a Kilo

ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!

Here I went and ignored the First Rule of Slashdot: Coffee, then comment.

Re:Disrupt to ISP's Gorilla Broadband??

[rfengr]

Could something like this could completely hose all the ISP's if open sourced and if it works well? Here's the concept: People like the dd wrt folks could customize router firmware to act as repeaters and whoever wants can set up relay stations with home type routers, weatherproofed and sitting on a pole outside if need be, creating a de facto municipal wireless broadband network without needing ISP's. I guess some question are: how to hook it up to the regular Internet's backbone, address space, etc. Could a Gorilla Internet be created with something like this?

Not really, as the beamwidth on these antennas is 1 degree. You would need multiple antennas aimed at multiple neighbors. This seems strictly point-to-point back-haul.

Re:TWT based

[MattskEE]

Solid state GaAs is slowly catching up to TWTAs at this frequency. They're not common but it is possible to buy a 30 watt solid state amplifier, probably for the same price you can get a TWTA that has a little bit more power. GaN still has lots of problems at this frequency but it's improving and will likely be competitive with tubes within 5-10 years.

But yes it seems like it would be much easier to do this at Ka band where solid state amps are now a better value than tubes for communication applications.

TWEET HER

[nullchar]

Which HER am I supposed to TWEET?