Ultrafast wi-fi on horizon as scientists send data at 100 times current speeds
Ultrafast wi-fi, which is 100 times quicker than today's mobile networks is on the horizon, after scientists proved they could send complex data using high-frequency radiation. The researchers sent video signals using terahertz, rather than traditional microwaves, at speeds of 50 gigabytes per second. Most wireless networks only operate at top speeds of 500 megabytes a second.
The breakthrough could lead to high-speed streaming on the go.
"We showed that we can transmit separate data streams on terahertz waves at very high speeds and with very low error rates," said Daniel Mittleman, a professor in Brown University's School of Engineering, in Providence, US.
"This is the first time anybody has characterized a terahertz multiplexing system using actual data, and our results show that our approach could be viable in future terahertz wireless networks."
Current voice and data networks use microwaves to carry signals wirelessly, but demand is outstripping capacity so scientists have been looking at new bandwidths.
Terahertz waves have higher frequencies than microwaves and therefore a much larger capacity to carry data. The researchers encoded two high-definition television broadcasts onto terahertz waves of two different frequencies then beamed both frequencies together.
Experiments showed that transmissions were error-free up to 10 gigabits per second, which is much faster than today's standard Wi-Fi speeds.
Error rates increased slightly when the speed was boosted to 50 gigabits per second but were still well within the range that can be fixed using error correction systems which are commonly used in today's communications networks.
The research was published in Nature Communications.