Forget your plain-old fibre broadband connections – scientists in Japan have managed transfer rates of 3Gbps using T-ray technology.
Still in its infancy, T-rays use the terahertz frequency band that is tipped to be the future of data transfer because of the amount of space available for moving around large packets of data.
Due to the sheer volume of devices latching on to lower-frequency bands, scientists have been looking to higher frequencies – the T-ray band runs from 300GHz all the way up to 3THz – to accommodate future wireless data transmission.
Uncharted territory
At the moment, though, this area of bandwidth is completely unregulated and the technology needed to prod around at these frequencies is cumbersome and expensive.
This hasn't stopped scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology testing the bandwidth and managing to demo a 3Gbps transmission at 542GHz.
Compared this to the last demo, which squeezed out 1.5Gbps back in November, big steps are being made in this area.
Interestingly, the bandwidth has the potential to support data rates of 100Gbps – considering average broadband speeds in the UK are 4.9Mbps, these speeds are almost beyond comprehension.
All of this was made possible due to a 1mm square device called a resonant tunnelling diode.
While we can only dream about these speeds in the home – the technology only works within a 10 metre range – the future of Wi-Fi is getting closer with the new standard (802.11ac) expected in 2013 and will be the first Wi-Fi standard to break the GB barrier.
Netgear has just announced a bevy of new routers for the US market that will take advantage of these speeds – namely the R6200 router, and the A6200 adapter.
No word on whether or not the devices will pipe out the 56k dial-up tone for nostalgia's sake.
