20 Gigabit Per Second Transfer Rate Achieved with Lasers

Paul Lilly — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:53:36 -0500

Commercial wireless systems, which top out at hundreds of megabits per second, still have a ways to go before being on the level of optical fiber, which boasts tens of gigabits per second. Looking to close that gap, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have found a way to send data through the air using millimeter-wave technology.

Achieving faster speeds by harnessing the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum isn't new, but it is both expensive and complex due to the equipment involved to generate the signal. Or at least it used to be. The Battelle team has taken off-the-shelf telecommunication components and, by modulating data on two low-frequency laser beams, has been able to create a pattern of interference that acts as a 100GHz signal (millimeter-wave technology operates on frequencies between 60GHz and 100GHz). By doing so, the team demonstrated a 20 gigabit-per-second signal in its lab.

While the research looks promising, a shipping product could still be years away. Putting the system together using existing components has helped to break through the cost barrier, but the new challenge will be to create a smaller device that's less unwieldy.

Image Credit: Battelle

Trendnet Wireless N Gigabit (TEW-633GR)

Michael Brown — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:17:35 -0600

Belkin’s N1 Vision and Trendnet’s Wireless N Gigabit are among the first routers to be benchmarked in our new real-world test environment: a 2,800 square-foot foot home in rural Northern California (call it Maximum PC Lab North). You’ll find all the details, including photographs, at Mike's blog.

If you’ve already installed a Wi-Fi router, you don’t need the vendor’s installation software to help you through the process. So we weren’t surprised that Trendnet didn’t develop anything for its TEW-633GR 802.11n Draft 2.0 product, relying instead on Pure Networks’ Network Magic.

But we feel obligated to evaluate each company’s installation routine, and we were torqued to find that Trendnet’s resulted in the free, basic version of Network Magic in residence on our system. We’ve recommended Network Magic in the context of an expert installing it on other people’s rigs to avoid becoming the default tech-support monkey for friends and family, but it’s not an app power users will need on their own machines. We’re not saying that Network Magic installed itself surreptitiously, but it gives no indication of what it is about to do until it’s already done it—and that’s bad etiquette.

We weren’t very impressed with Trendnet’s hardware, either. As you can see from the benchmark chart, the router delivered tremendous wireless TCP throughput without encryption, but rates fell through the floor when we enabled WPA Personal security with an AES cipher. The router couldn’t reach the client in the second of our outdoor tests with or without security enabled.

The TEW-633GR does have a strong feature set, including push-button WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), a four-port Gigabit switch, and Ubicom’s StreamEngine quality-of-service technology. But those attributes are of little value without fast wireless throughput.

Maximum PC gigabit RSS Feed

20 Gigabit Per Second Transfer Rate Achieved with Lasers

Trendnet Wireless N Gigabit (TEW-633GR)