A new microwave circuit developed at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden may enable smaller antennas and faster video transmission.
Its suggestion is to use higher frequencies than today – upwards of 100GHz – that would give access to a larger band of empty frequencies, enabling a higher data rate.
"We have designed circuits for signals at 140GHz, where we have a large bandwidth," said Herbert Zirath, a professor in high speed electronics at Chalmers. "In laboratory testing, we have achieved a transmission rate of 40Gbit/s – twice as fast as the previous world record at a comparable frequency."
Prof Zirath says that semiconductor materials development, including indium phosphide, has enabled manufacture of circuits that can transmit high frequency signals with sufficiently high power.
"This is a very exciting area to be involved in, since the heavily increasing amount of data demands new solutions all the time. The fact that an increasing number of people are watching films wirelessly is the primary reason underlying the need for quicker transmission today."
The next step for the project is to move trials from the laboratory to the outdoors to test the circuits under real circumstances, with the goal of demonstrating wireless data transfer 100Gbit/s. "I believe it is only a matter of a couple of years before our circuits will be used in practical applications," Prof Zirath added.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk