High-Speed Wireless

The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech is playing with extremely high radio frequencies (RF) to achieve broad bandwidth and high data transmission rates over short distances.

With RF frequencies around 60 gigahertz (GHz), which are currently free for anyone to use in the US, 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

“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.”