A team of German researchers from the Fraunhofer Instiute at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has come up with a new technique to boost wi-fi speeds, much like MW-50 injection on interceptor variants of Kurt Tank’s FW-190.
Their technology uses what they simply call “better hardware” and it works on a high radio frequency of 240GHz. It can deliver speeds up to 40GB/s to a distance of about 0.6 miles, and is up to 2,300 times faster than 802.11n. The technology is 46 times faster than the upcoming 802.11ad standard.
Running at full speed, it could fill a 4TB drive in under 100 seconds, at least in theory, as no SSD, let alone an HDD could keep up with it.
Although it sounds lightning fast, it is relatively compact and the size of the transmitter and receiver chip measures just 4 x 1.5 mm². Researchers believe it could be integrated into compact ICs and provide much greater range due to its high frequency. The atmosphere shows low attenuation at such frequencies, which should also improve performance in poor weather.
The new technology could eliminate the need for optical cables in some environments and present an alternative to “fibre to home”. The team already used it to establish a connection between two skyscrapers, attaining a range of over a kilometre.
