I bet the ridge is an accumulation of material from Saturn's rings. Rationale:
- The ridge spans the leading face of Iapetus
- Saturn's rings are not very thick at all, smiliar to the width of the ridge
- The wide black band spans the leading face of Iapetus along the same axis/plane of the ridge
- Saturn's rings are not fixed. NASA scientists have already postulated that Saturn's rings will slowly fall into Saturn's atmosphere over the next few million years. Iapetus could have plowed through a no-longer existing portion of the rings, building up the ridge over time
- As ring particles crashed onto Iapetus, they created small craters on the ring, throwing up powdery debris
- The powdery debris was blown northward and southward from the ridge, landing on the face of Iapetus and creating the wide black band. The far north and south of Iapetus are so sloped that is is difficult for particles to adhere.
There are two target applications areas for WiMAX
- Fixed point (fixed and portable) is available today in "Pre-WiMAX" forms from
vendors who promise to be WiMAX compliant when the 802.16 standards are settled.
- Mobile (roughly 35 mph) available sometime between 2006-2008, depending on who's talking.
WiMAX is designed to work non-line-of-sight between 2-11 GHz (licensed and unlicensed),
but the standard designers are pushing the FCC to permit use in the 800+MHz UHF TV bands.
If the FCC approves, it will be a huge boost for WiMAX because 800 MHz penetrates walls
better and a WiMAX transmit range can be much larger.
Several small operators are successfully (and profitably) using radios similar to WiMAX
in urban areas, such as Towerstream in NYC (expanding to other cities soon), Biltmore
Communications in Atlanta, airBand Communications in Dallas, and others.
They sell to business users, who are willing to spend $500-$2500/month for a reliable
high-bandwidth connection. They can't achieve low-cost residential rates yet.
Incidentally, wireless operators are successfully competing against wired operators because they can get an installation up and running in one day, compared with a 2-3 month wait for a baby Bell to install something. Also, when there is a network problem the wireless operators can quickly fix the problem because they own their equipment. A wired telephone company and an ISP are likely to blame each other for the problem until they can be bothered to investigate and actually fix the problem.
The major sticking point preventing WiMAX to the home is the cost of Customer Premise
Equipment (CPE), which is at best arount $275 per CPE today.
Some observers believe WiMAX will be the wireless data of choice when the user is not
in range of a WiFi hotspot. Others believe WiMAX has a chance of supplanting WiFi
because WiMAX has support for "Quality of Service", meaning your VoIP call still sounds
good even if somebody else is streaming a video.
Intel, who is betting a lot of money on WiMAX, is planning to put hybrid WiFi 802.11 /
WiMAX 802.16e chips in laptops sometime in 2006. Some say 2007. Laptop use is very important, because it makes CPE look like it costs $0. As soon as CPE is
cheap, service providers know they can profitably compete with cable/dsl/3G cellular.
In order for Intel to put WiMAX into laptops, they will have to reduce the power
requirements. Intel has a good track record for reducing power consumption.
WalMart is rumored to be considering deploying WiMAX. This means your local WalMart
would install a WiMAX base station, and sell service to the local region (around 3-5km).
Unlike a normal wireless operator, WiMAX doesn't have to make money for WalMart in
12 months time. WalMart can use WiMAX as a promotional device (think coupons, ads),
as well as provide a wireless movie rental service. Think this sounds silly? Carrefour in France is a grocery store chain. They are already
in trials with WiMAX-like equipment for the same reasons WalMart is allegedly considering it.
- Much greater range. 802.11 range with a simple (all directions) antenna has a range around 100 meters, depending on walls and other obstructions.
802.16 will have a range on the order of 5-9 km.
- Rock-solid "Quality of Service" (i.e. dedicated bandwidth), so Video or Voice over IP won't have skips or jerks, etc. and very low latency (delays) as well.
- 802.11 throughput is about 60% efficient due to the "collisions" that occur when multiple devices try to transmit at the same time. 802.16 reserves time for each device to transmit, so no collisions occur.
- "802.16d" base stations can provide a data throughput up to 75 Megabits per second (total per base station) for non-moving devices. "802.16e" is not yet complete but adds support for moving devices with an aggregate throughput (per base station) of 15 Megabits per second (when 802.16e is completed it will include what's in 802.16d).
There are quite a few more improvements, but these are probably the most interesting.
Incidentally, "WiMAX" is only a portion of the 802.16 standard. WiMAX is the 802.16d and e parts described above. 802.16 also includes other radio versions, such as long-distance "line of sight" data communications at up to about 130 Mbps, that will use licensed radio frequencies. These types are not intended for consumer equipment. It is uncertain whether these other types will ever be implemented.
(I wonder if anybody will read this?)
Re:enjoying yourselves ?
on
MIT Everyware
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
[Offtopic. Don't read this.]
Name one country in your list where people outside of these countries are clamoring to get in. None? Why do you suppose that is?
You neglected intent. Many were mistakes, but not all. You also neglected UN involvement with some of these (a common mistake these days).
Enjoying ourselves? Some are, some aren't. How about you?
Blame slashdot readers for US government policy? That's like blaming your neighbor for bumping you when the bus turns a corner. He isn't driving.
[Posted anonymously to avoid encounters with angry persons intent on vengance against the innocent]
Slashdot Mirror
Pics:
http://www.surmet.com/alon.html
Click on the four "Applications" links at upper left for more pics.
You NEED this:
www.guitarport.com
Exactly. Copper and silver both oxidize in air, so gold is the best conductor - on average - in air.
None at all. Gold is the best metal electrical conductor. Optical cables don't conduct electricity, just light.
Oh sure, "Naikrovek" beat me by one minute. Sigh.
2700 city BLOCKS???
My wife knows mosquitos love me. Whereever she goes, she's safe from mosquitos if I'm nearby.
More of the usual hysteria surrounding WiMAX. Wavesat (.com) claims general availability of their WiMAX chips.
I bet the ridge is an accumulation of material from Saturn's rings. Rationale: - The ridge spans the leading face of Iapetus - Saturn's rings are not very thick at all, smiliar to the width of the ridge - The wide black band spans the leading face of Iapetus along the same axis/plane of the ridge - Saturn's rings are not fixed. NASA scientists have already postulated that Saturn's rings will slowly fall into Saturn's atmosphere over the next few million years. Iapetus could have plowed through a no-longer existing portion of the rings, building up the ridge over time - As ring particles crashed onto Iapetus, they created small craters on the ring, throwing up powdery debris - The powdery debris was blown northward and southward from the ridge, landing on the face of Iapetus and creating the wide black band. The far north and south of Iapetus are so sloped that is is difficult for particles to adhere.
DRM and DMCA hardly seems like the wild west...
There are two target applications areas for WiMAX
- Fixed point (fixed and portable) is available today in "Pre-WiMAX" forms from vendors who promise to be WiMAX compliant when the 802.16 standards are settled.
- Mobile (roughly 35 mph) available sometime between 2006-2008, depending on who's talking.
WiMAX is designed to work non-line-of-sight between 2-11 GHz (licensed and unlicensed), but the standard designers are pushing the FCC to permit use in the 800+MHz UHF TV bands. If the FCC approves, it will be a huge boost for WiMAX because 800 MHz penetrates walls better and a WiMAX transmit range can be much larger.
Several small operators are successfully (and profitably) using radios similar to WiMAX in urban areas, such as Towerstream in NYC (expanding to other cities soon), Biltmore Communications in Atlanta, airBand Communications in Dallas, and others. They sell to business users, who are willing to spend $500-$2500/month for a reliable high-bandwidth connection. They can't achieve low-cost residential rates yet.
Incidentally, wireless operators are successfully competing against wired operators because they can get an installation up and running in one day, compared with a 2-3 month wait for a baby Bell to install something. Also, when there is a network problem the wireless operators can quickly fix the problem because they own their equipment. A wired telephone company and an ISP are likely to blame each other for the problem until they can be bothered to investigate and actually fix the problem.
The major sticking point preventing WiMAX to the home is the cost of Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), which is at best arount $275 per CPE today.
Some observers believe WiMAX will be the wireless data of choice when the user is not in range of a WiFi hotspot. Others believe WiMAX has a chance of supplanting WiFi because WiMAX has support for "Quality of Service", meaning your VoIP call still sounds good even if somebody else is streaming a video.
Intel, who is betting a lot of money on WiMAX, is planning to put hybrid WiFi 802.11 / WiMAX 802.16e chips in laptops sometime in 2006. Some say 2007. Laptop use is very important, because it makes CPE look like it costs $0. As soon as CPE is cheap, service providers know they can profitably compete with cable/dsl/3G cellular.
In order for Intel to put WiMAX into laptops, they will have to reduce the power requirements. Intel has a good track record for reducing power consumption.
WalMart is rumored to be considering deploying WiMAX. This means your local WalMart would install a WiMAX base station, and sell service to the local region (around 3-5km). Unlike a normal wireless operator, WiMAX doesn't have to make money for WalMart in 12 months time. WalMart can use WiMAX as a promotional device (think coupons, ads), as well as provide a wireless movie rental service. Think this sounds silly? Carrefour in France is a grocery store chain. They are already in trials with WiMAX-like equipment for the same reasons WalMart is allegedly considering it.
There are quite a few advances over 802.11:
- Much greater range. 802.11 range with a simple (all directions) antenna has a range around 100 meters, depending on walls and other obstructions. 802.16 will have a range on the order of 5-9 km.
- Rock-solid "Quality of Service" (i.e. dedicated bandwidth), so Video or Voice over IP won't have skips or jerks, etc. and very low latency (delays) as well.
- 802.11 throughput is about 60% efficient due to the "collisions" that occur when multiple devices try to transmit at the same time. 802.16 reserves time for each device to transmit, so no collisions occur.
- "802.16d" base stations can provide a data throughput up to 75 Megabits per second (total per base station) for non-moving devices. "802.16e" is not yet complete but adds support for moving devices with an aggregate throughput (per base station) of 15 Megabits per second (when 802.16e is completed it will include what's in 802.16d).
There are quite a few more improvements, but these are probably the most interesting.
Incidentally, "WiMAX" is only a portion of the 802.16 standard. WiMAX is the 802.16d and e parts described above. 802.16 also includes other radio versions, such as long-distance "line of sight" data communications at up to about 130 Mbps, that will use licensed radio frequencies. These types are not intended for consumer equipment. It is uncertain whether these other types will ever be implemented.
(I wonder if anybody will read this?)
[Offtopic. Don't read this.]
Name one country in your list where people outside of these countries are clamoring to get in. None? Why do you suppose that is?
You neglected intent. Many were mistakes, but not all. You also neglected UN involvement with some of these (a common mistake these days).
Enjoying ourselves? Some are, some aren't. How about you?
Blame slashdot readers for US government policy?
That's like blaming your neighbor for bumping you when the bus turns a corner. He isn't driving.
[Posted anonymously to avoid encounters with angry persons intent on vengance against the innocent]