Saturday, May 3, 2014
Experts of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics along with the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology have accomplished the wireless transmission of 40 Gbit/s at 240 GHz over a certain distance of one kilometer. Their newest presentation puts a new world record and even links in seamlessly with the potential of optical fiber transmission. In the near future, like radio links has the ability to close gaps in delivering internet by supplementing the network in remote areas and also spots that are not easy to access.
Electronic, mobile phone as well as networked – transforming media consumption habits of modern society demand the much faster transmission of increasing volumes of data. In comparison with the European standard, Germany lags behind in the increase in the fiber-optic network , based on research from the FTTH Council Europe. Deploying modern fiber-optic cables is expensive and even complicated whenever there are natural or urban barriers for instance rivers or perhaps traffic junctions. Broadband radio links help get over this kind of crucial places, in this manner empowering the development of the network infrastructures. In rural areas they are generally an inexpensive as well as a very useful substitute for “Fiber to the Home”.
Experts have finally established a new world record in wireless data transmission: For the very first time, completely integrated electronic transmitters with receivers have been made for a frequency of 240 GHz, that enables the transmission of data rates of up to 40 Gbit/s. This is equivalent to the transmission of an entire Dvd movie in under a second or simply 2400 DSL16000 internet connections. Ranges of over one kilometer are actually covered by utilizing a long range demonstrator, which the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology establish between two skyscrapers as part of the project “Millilink”. “We have managed to develop a radio link based on active electronic circuits, which enables similarly high data rates as in fiber- optic systems, therefore allowing seamless integration of the radio link”, states Prof. Ingmar Kallfass, who coordinated the project at Fraunhofer IAF within the field of a Shared Professorship between IAF and KIT. As 2013, Kallfass with the University of Stuttgart, whereby he continues to take the project.
High Frequencies allow Fast Data Transmission
Utilizing the high frequency range between 200 and 280 GHz not only allows the quick transmission of large volumes of data, but will also bring about compact technical assembly. As the size of electronic circuits and also the antennae scales with frequency/ wavelength, the transmitter and receiver chip only measures 4 x 1.5 mm². The semi-conductor technology designed at Fraunhofer IAF, based upon transistors with high carrier mobility ( HEMT ), makes it possible to employ the frequency between 200 and 280 GHz with active transmitters and receivers in the form of compact, integrated circuits. The atmosphere displays low attenuation with this frequency range, which allows broadband directional radio links. “This makes our radio link easier to install compared to free-space optical systems for data transmission. It also shows better robustness in poor weather conditions such as fog or rain”, states Jochen Antes of KIT.
Up to this time, radio links were unable to directly transfer the data rates of glass fiber. It might change in the future, since the test setup of the project exhibits. Like an excellent performance system would even have the advantage of the so-called bit transparency, i.e. ( the signal of a glass fiber could be fed directly and also without energy-consuming transcoding into a radio link). This could then be transmitted and redirected into a glass fiber. The record data from the test setup is usually the initial stages. “Improving the spectral efficiency by using more complex modulation formats or a combination of several channels, i.e. ( multiplexing, will help to achieve even higher data rates”, states Antes. This might provide groundbreaking momentum to the development of the broadband network.
Via: kit.edu