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Qualcomm's New Wi-Fi Chips Are Meant To Rival 5G Speeds (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

"Qualcomm is launching a family of chips that can add incredibly high-speed Wi-Fi -- at speeds up to 10 gigabits per second -- to phones, laptops, routers, and so on," reports The Verge. The Wi-Fi standard used for something like replacing a virtual reality headset's data cable with a high-speed wireless link is being updated. Qualcomm's latest chips improve a wireless technology called WiGig, which relies on a connection standard known as 802.11ad, which can hit speeds up to 5 gigabits per second over close to 10 meters. The new generation of that wireless standard, called 802.11ay, can reach speeds twice as fast, and can do so up to 100 meters away, according to Dino Bekis, the head of Qualcomm's mobile and compute connectivity group. The Wi-Fi Alliance says the new standard "increases the peak data rates of WiGig and improves spectrum efficiency and reduces latency." From the report: So why not just use this as normal Wi-Fi, given how fast it gets? Because that range is only line-of-sight -- when there's literally nothing in the way between the transmitter and the receiver. This high-speed Wi-Fi is based on millimeter wave radio waves in the 60GHz range. That means it's really fast, but also that it has a very difficult time penetrating obstacles, like a wall. That's a problem if you want a general purpose wireless technology. That's why 802.11ay, like 802.11ad before it, is being used as an optional add-on to existing Wi-Fi technology. If you're one of the people who has a need for these extreme wireless speeds, then maybe you'll find a use for it. Just keep in mind, you'll probably need to keep your router and the device receiving these high speeds in the same room in order for it to work, due to the whole "walls" issue. WiGig will also be competing with 5G, as it offers "similarly fast speeds over similarly limited distances," reports The Verge. "[T]he two standards may be competing as an option for delivering internet from a tower to a home -- that's what Facebook's Terragraph is doing with WiGig, and it's what Verizon is doing with 5G."

34 comments

  1. Penetrating obstacles by Pollux · · Score: 2

    That means it's really fast, but also that it has a very difficult time penetrating obstacles, like a wall.

    Or a giant sack of water, otherwise known as a human.

    1. Re:Penetrating obstacles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean ugly bags of mostly water.

    2. Re:Penetrating obstacles by Solandri · · Score: 2

      The 60 GHz band was opened up because it's easily absorbed by O2 oxygen molecules. That means it has high attenuation in the air, and thus low range, making it rather useless for traditional long-range radio transmission. But it's perfect for an open radio frequency, where the attenuation means your neighbor's 60 GHz transmissions are less likely to interfere with yours.

      2.4 GHz was opened for the same reason (absorbed by water - how microwave ovens at 2.45 GHz work). I haven't been able to track down why 5 GHz was opened, but the fact that it's also used for doppler weather radar suggests attenuation by water as well.

      Basically, any frequency which will penetrate well and thus have good range would become useless if opened up, due to interference from devices used by other people nearby. The cellular frequencies are an exception, since it's up to the cellular companies to actively manage bandwidth allocation (i.e. prevent interference) on the frequencies they leased.

    3. Re:Penetrating obstacles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2.4 GHz was opened for the same reason (absorbed by water - how microwave ovens at 2.45 GHz work).

      Sigh. There is nothing special about 2.45 GHz and water. Please stop spreading this false fact.

  2. Wow by Snotnose · · Score: 2

    Now I can blow through my data cap in 5 seconds.

    Not to mention the average web page's download size will probably go up 10x because they can. Maybe it's me, but a 6 meg download to view a 32k cat picture seems, um, not right.

    1. Re:Wow by bn-7bc · · Score: 0

      Why do people allways react to increeses inspeed wirh oh great now I can plo mi daya cap in an even shortrer time? If the data cap is the problem and you need moredat, well sadlyyou have to pay up, but theocations you realyneed a rather large data transfer (lover then your cap) done quickly for whatever reason, won’t the exstra speed be appreeciated?
      However I acgree complitly with the undelyibg problem here, datacaps on hone broadband, fortunaty thet pratice never got started here in Norway, but I syperhise with people having to deal with that crap).

    2. Re:Wow by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 3, Funny

      Please don't post drunk, or with broken apple keyboards, that was hard to read.

    3. Re:Wow by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      Why do people allways react to increeses inspeed wirh oh great now I can plo mi daya cap in an even shortrer time? If the data cap is the problem and you need moredat, well sadlyyou have to pay up, but theocations you realyneed a rather large data transfer (lover then your cap) done quickly for whatever reason, won’t the exstra speed be appreeciated? However I acgree complitly with the undelyibg problem here, datacaps on hone broadband, fortunaty thet pratice never got started here in Norway, but I syperhise with people having to deal with that crap).

      Just for fun, I passed your comment through Google Translate, from (presumably) English to Hungarian, to Polish, then back to English, to see if it makes more sense. I think it kind of does...

      Why do people react to the giant's whirlpool? If the data connection is a problem and you need it anymore, you have to pay it unfortunately, but really big enough data transfer (your lover, hat) is done quickly for any reason, do not you express speed? However, I completely solve the problem of failures, data packages in magnetic broadband networks, fortunately, never started in practice in Norway, but I fall into the hands of people who deal with this shit).

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    4. Re:Wow by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Then french and back to english:

      Why do people react to the whirlwind of the giant? If the data connection is a problem and you still need it, you have to pay for it unfortunately, but a really important data transfer (your sweetheart, your hat) is done quickly for some reason, do not express the speed? However, I completely solve the problem of breakdowns, data packets in magnetic broadband networks, fortunately, have never started in practice in Norway, but I fall into the hands of people who deal with this shit) .

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    5. Re:Wow by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I bet if we do this a few hundred times, the only word to survive the translations would be "Norway".

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    6. Re:Wow by bn-7bc · · Score: 0

      Sorry, blame a bumby bus ride, bad eyesight and ADD, If I remebber i will reopost a corrected verson tomorroew, and fyi, I was not dtung just slightly tiered, but lookong st my own spelling in that post I don’t blame you for thinking i was drunk.

    7. Re:Wow by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      You are right and the autocorrect was on Norwegian, so that did not help thing, this is not an excuse but a rather poor attempt at an explanation. Oh well 1:40 AM time to stop posting and get some sleep

    8. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      broken apple keyboards

      From the Dept. of Redundancy Dept...

  3. Think of the support calls by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Funny

    Elevate the devices so they always in line-of-sight.
    Move the furniture to ensure line-of-sight.
    Buy a second device to ensure more line-of-sight options.
    And remember, if you’re not sure about line of sight, run string between the devices. If the string is in a line, it’s your connection to line of sight internet.”

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  4. and I thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that running cat 6 across the room was hard.

    1. Re:and I thought by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      Cat 6 is fine but cat6a stp is a pain esp if you need to go around corners

  5. Virtual Reality by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 2

    802.11ay is supposed to enjoy sub-millisecond latency, definitely a prerequisite for VR.

    The two highest resolution VR headsets are currently 2160x1200 (both eyes combined) and should run at 90 Hz.

    A little arithmetic: 2160 * 1200 * 90 * 12 = 2799360000 bits per second. 2.8 gigabits (not gibibits) per second, near as damnit. That fits nicely in even 802.11ad. Put the transmitter in the ceiling and 90% of the VR use case is solved.

    Rumor has it HTC is creating a WiGig accessory for the Vive and Vive Pro due out this year, but if they were going to make it in time for the holiday season, I would have expected them to start up a hype train, and I see no sign of one. Last articles on the subject are from January, claiming a Q3 release, and are fairly speculative. I'm betting they're trying to avoid requiring installation of the transceiver on the ceiling and it's not going well.

    1. Re:Virtual Reality by BaronAaron · · Score: 2

      You mean this that you can buy now?

    2. Re:Virtual Reality by mentil · · Score: 1

      Not sure why you're using 12 bits per pixel in that calculation instead of 24. Also, the Vive Pro and Samsung Odyssey are the highest-resolution VR headsets available, at 2880x1600 total input resolution. So that'd be 2880x * 1600y * 24bpp * 90fps = 9.95Gbps. That's scraping the ceiling of what this new standard can offer, probably more once overhead and undiagnosable "it's not working perfectly for some reason" are factored in.
      Of course that's assuming completely uncompressed video; TPCast and the Vive wireless adapter both use lossy compression via custom codecs, but double the bandwidth will reduce codec latency and visual artifacts.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    3. Re:Virtual Reality by randombilly · · Score: 1

      Holy crap. Thank you! Im buying this immediately. How did I not know this existed??

    4. Re:Virtual Reality by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      You mean this that you can buy now?

      Uh, yes, that. What is HTC scared of that they haven't been advertising it?

  6. what is the wrong with you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I can blow through my data cap in 5 seconds.

      Not to mention the average web page's download size will probably go up 10x because they can. Maybe it's me, but a 6 meg download to view a 32k cat picture seems, um, not right.

    Everything you said could have been said about the upgrade from 56.6 kbps V.92 modems to 1.5 Mbps DSL: did you think that was also a bad idea? Or going from 5 Mbps ADSL to 50 Mbps VDSL to 500 Mbps FTTH.

    Just because you visit shit sites that are coded by shit heads doesn't mean the rest of us do. Install uMatrix and Ad-Block and surf in peace.

    Serious, what the fuck is the wrong with you?

    1. Re: what is the wrong with you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a pihole. It's mostly ok. Better than those mining apps you recommended

  7. Digital film missing link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's an idea , have the bare minimum electronics inside the little film can and transmit the image to an external control unit with storage and display.

  8. Re:I can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then of course apple will claim to have invented the tech.

  9. Is this WiFi 8, 9... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or 10? Coz they're using numbers now instead of letters, you know so they don't confuse us!

  10. Fonzie WiFi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What version of WiFi is this? 802.11 Eaaaayyyyyyy!!!

  11. c6gunner IMPERSONATING me again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: his FAKEname on a post impersonating me https://linux.slashdot.org/com... & altering /.er's words.

    c6gunner tried to mock me 1st https://linux.slashdot.org/com...

    So I challenge c6gunner to show he did better work than mine & he CAN'T!

    YOU DEMAND PROOF of others here?

    "I've yet to see you provide any evidence of that." by c6gunner on Monday March 15, 2010 @10:02PM (#31490942) ?

    So now I DEMAND IT OF YOU & YOU FAIL!

    c6gunner = "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!

    * c6gunner's LYING saying I did a MacOS X one - I haven't yet & c6gunner's LYING impersonating me hosts work vs. Intel CPU issues (spectre/meltdown).

    APK

    P.S.=> You say hosts = shit here https://slashdot.org/comments.... ?

    FACTS: /.ers & security pros + RESULTS say DIFFERENT:

    1st: /.ers https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://slashdot.org/comments....

    2nd: SECURITY PROS https://slashdot.org/comments....

    3rd: REAL RESULTS w/ hosts vs. threats https://slashdot.org/comments....

    EAT YOUR WORDS

  12. Have to rival 5G, because Hauwei uber alles in 5G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Qualcomm is on the losing side of 5G since Hauwei did committee stuffing on the spec working group, so the best implementations inevitably have to use Hauwei gear. Qualcomm is basically left out, so they have to shine elsewhere, mainly WiFi, especially all the high frequency stuff like 60GHz. They can't afford to wait for the spoils from the fight for 6G.