Wireless 10 gigabits/sec data transfer

swedub writes "Lucent Technologies announced a breakthrough technology that eventually will enable business customers and service providers to transmit up to 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s) of information between locations through the air. " They are calling it WaveStar OpticAir. Global Crossing will be doing field testing this December already. This is the first system to actually use Bell Labs dense wave division multiplexing-can I get coverage in my area? But the encryption issues will be interesting, methinks.

Comments

Visible Microwave

[pspeed]

Ok, I'm going to geek out here for a second...

It sounds like they intend to use this like point to point microwave, but in areas where microwave isn't feasible. This is becoming more and more of an issue with wireless local loop technology being the current vogue.

The problems with microwaves is that they scatter. Not only do you have to worry about the beam getting to the other end but you also have to worry about all of the reflected signal that will interfere with both ends and any other microwave sites. Plus there is the bleeding of signal out the back... the antenna patterns can be fairly complex and interference analysis is a very big business. Some would argue that the wireless local loop and point to multi-point markets have yet to be adequately addressed. The engineering can get very complicated. Especially if you are talking about small-scale dense areas like campuses and office complexes.

Also, the equipment for microwave is likely to be more of a hassle. If you aren't familiar with it there is a lot more to it than you might think. Compressors to keep the waveguides empty, etc.. (Fiber makes a pretty good waveguide for light. :) )

re: Weather. Light is highly attenuated by water droplets in the air but so are microwaves. This is all part of current reliability analysis when designing microwave links. There are known ways of limiting the affects of this and they might apply to light as well.

It would be interesting to have a reliability/attenuation comparison between microwave beams and light. If only I were a microwave engineer instead of the guy that writes some of their software... I might have more to say.