Researchers develop short-range 15Gbps wireless transfer technology

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new multi-gigabit wireless technology which may soon make the tangle of wires under desks obsolete.

The scientists claim this technology could end up in a series of consumer products within ten years. They use a 60GHz radio frequency to transfer more than a gigabyte of data in a second. The researchers say they have already achieved wireless data-transfer rates of 15 gigabits per second (Gbps) at a distance of 1 meter, 10 Gbps at 2 meters and 5 Gbps at 5 meters.

“The goal here is to maximize data throughput to make possible a host of new wireless applications for home and office connectivity,” said Prof. Joy Laskar, GEDC director and lead researcher on the project along with Stephane Pinel.

GEDC’s multi-gigabit wireless research is expected to lend itself to two major types of applications, data and video, said Pinel, a GEDC research scientist.

Very high speed, peer-to-peer data connections could be just around the corner, he believes – available potentially in less than two years.

Devices such as external hard drives, laptop computers, MP-3 players, cell phones, commercial kiosks and others could transfer huge amounts of data in seconds. And data centers could install racks of servers without the customary jumble of wires.

“Our work represents a huge leap in available throughput,” Pinel said. “At 10 Gbps, you could download a DVD from a kiosk to your cell phone in five seconds, or you could quickly synchronize two laptops or two iPods.”