Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new wireless transmission system that works above all currently regulated spectrum frequencies. The new system works at the range of 300GHz to 3THz (terahertz), which is the Far Infrared (FIR) frequencies of the infrared spectrum. That spectrum is currently totally unregulated by any country or standards organization in the world, making it ripe for development of new technologies. So far the Japanese researchers have transmitted data at 3Gbps, but in theory speeds of up to 100Gbps should be possible.
The new “T-ray” wireless transmission system is similar to WiGig in that it requires line of sight and can transmit large amounts of data at once. However, WiGig runs at “just” 60GHz, meaning it can actually work with distances larger than a couple of meters without significant power boosting. This T-ray system will be limited to 1-3 meters without significant power boosting. With power boosting, it could match or surpass WiGig in range.
What made this research possible was the development of a small transceiver for FIR frequencies that is a small as a one-yen coin and affordable for mass production. Back in November, a Japanese semiconductor research and production company by the name of Rohm developed one and estimated that it would be ready for commercial production within three to four years.
T-rays will likely be used for server farms before anything else, because its high throughput and low latency (due to lack of electromagnetic interference at FIR frequencies) will be a boon to those who want to reduce the amount of complex wiring required to connect the large swaths of servers together. T-rays are also used extensively in medical and security imaging, because they penetrate a few millimeters of skin. Any other uses (such as T-ray WiFi) will come later after the cost of producing the radios fall.
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