Thought that the future of Wi-Fi resided in laser pens? Think again; researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have broken new ground in wireless transmission by sending data at 20 times the speed of standard Wi-Fi, across across the terahertz (THz) band of spectrum.
So-called T-Rays (terahertz rays) lie between the microwave and far-infrared regions of the spectrum (100GHz to 10THz) and have been useless for data transmission until recently; superconductor firm ROHM demoed a 1.5Gbps THz chip (below, left) back in November 2011.
In theory, T-Ray Wi-Fi could support data rates of up to 100Gbps – nearly 15 times faster than the next gen Wi-Fi AC standard.
According to the BBC, T-Ray transmissions of data at 3Gbps are only viable across distances of 10 metres was possible. Line of sight between communicating devices is also required – so maybe VLC optical Wi-Fi networks aren’t such a bad idea.
The 1mm square unit – easily small enough to fit inside a phone, tablet or USB adapter – is a proof-of-concept device, so hopefully we’ll see further experiments yielding models which could be adapted into more commercially viable solutions.
Just as we’re getting used to the idea of picking a Wi-Fi AC router off of the shelves, we’re suddenly starting to feel impatient and hungry for T-Ray routers…
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