Researchers Create 1Gbps Wireless Network Using Lasers Pointers

Posted 05/03/2012 at 10:29am | by Brad Chacos

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What's even cooler than a kick-ass high-speed wireless network? A kick-ass high-speed wireless network powered by frickin' lasers. It may just lay in our future: researchers from the National Taipei University of Technology managed to create a rudimentary, working 1Gbps network that bypasses radio frequencies entirely, using basic AAA battery-powered red and green laser pointerss and about $600 worth of components. That's waaaaay faster than the 802.11n Wi-Fi routers found in homes today.

ExtremeTech and New Scientist both reported on the achievement and pointed us towards the research paper, which you can read in full here. The concept is actually fairly basic; the researchers pointed the laser pointers at photodiode receptors stationed about 30 ft. away, then strobed the lights on-and-off at a rate of 500 million times per second to deliver a 500 Mbps data stream over each laser.

The two signals were amplified, then combined on the receiving end to achieve the aforementioned 1Gbps data transfer rate. As if that wasn't impressive enough, the bit error rate was remarkably low, at around one bad bit per billion; ExtremeTech reports that most Wi-Fi streams have a bit error rate of around one bad bit per 100,000, and that number could worsen significantly depending on the radio interference in your home. Since the researchers' laser network uses visible light communication technology, it isn't subject to over-the-airwaves interference.

…of course, visible laser communication is highly subject to interference from actual physical objects, including fog and rain. Plus, it's directional; the signal only travels where you point it. Those drawbacks will probably prevent laser-powered networks from replacing radio-based data communications anytime soon. Nevertheless, it could be a viable method for transferring data indoors, especially in sensitive locations that can't tolerate radio interference, such as hospitals.

Curious? The researchers told New Scientist that any hobbyist -- or at least any hobbyist with $600 laying around for components -- could make a laser-based network of their own fairly easily. Hit the research paper for more info.

(What's next, frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams? Oh, wait -- that happened earlier this week.)