Linked by weildish on Sat 24th Jan 2009 23:06 UTC
Hardware, Embedded Systems The Georgia Electronic Design Center recently produced a working wireless chip that transmits data at 60 GHz signals. Scientists at the center achieved speeds of 15Gbps at a distance of one meter, 10 Gbps at two meters, and 5 Gbps at five meters-- and if those aren't blazing speeds even for a relatively small area, then I'm Mickey Mouse. The applications for the 60 GHz chip are endless for both consumer and IT markets, to add to our already vastly wireless lives. The ISO standard will be published later this year, and this new technology is predicted to be on the market in just a few years afterwards.
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Comment by BSDfan
by BSDfan on Sun 25th Jan 2009 15:12 UTC
BSDfan
Member since:
2007-03-14

Holy microwaves batman!

Reply Score: 1

60Ghz
by aaronb on Sun 25th Jan 2009 16:47 UTC
aaronb
Member since:
2005-07-06

Well that's not going to go through many walls.

I wish they would focus on reliability first and speed second.

Reply Score: 2

They forgot....
by compubomb on Sun 25th Jan 2009 17:21 UTC
compubomb
Member since:
2005-07-06

They forgot to mention that if you stand in front of the line-of-sight path it will cook you from the inside out. Also if you need to microwave some food, just turn on the chip, and run outside the house, when you think it's finished, pull the house breaker and go inside and see if you want your food rare, medium, or well :p

Reply Score: 2

RE: They forgot....
by bn-7bc on Mon 26th Jan 2009 11:43 UTC in reply to "They forgot...."
bn-7bc Member since:
2005-09-04

They forgot to mention that if you stand in front of the line-of-sight path it will cook you from the inside out. Also if you need to microwave some food, just turn on the chip, and run outside the house, when you think it's finished, pull the house breaker and go inside and see if you want your food rare, medium, or well :p

Not exactly, a microwave oven uses 500W-2000W these device will probably be <5W. So there will be no chance of being cooked.
Disclaimer:
I'm not an engineer so any corrections will be appreciated

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: They forgot....
by truckweb on Mon 26th Jan 2009 14:09 UTC in reply to "RE: They forgot...."
truckweb Member since:
2005-07-06

Maybe not short term exposure, but in the long run, something will fry... Brain cells!

Cancer will have another chance to spread...

Reply Score: 2

RE[3]: They forgot....
by bn-7bc on Mon 26th Jan 2009 16:50 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: They forgot...."
bn-7bc Member since:
2005-09-04

Hmm god point, thank you. Let's hope the FCC and other regulatory bodies insist on stringebt testing before the let this out for comercial use

Reply Score: 1

Great
by jjmckay on Mon 26th Jan 2009 00:04 UTC
jjmckay
Member since:
2005-11-11

There are a lot of useful short range applications for this. Device communication inside a PC, TV to bluray player, etc. It won't succeed until they find a way to use it for porn.

Reply Score: 4

Tactical warfare
by lord-storm on Mon 26th Jan 2009 04:51 UTC
lord-storm
Member since:
2005-07-12

Oh the government will poo hoo this. I think this tech will be deployed for fast communication between helicopters tanks etc in mesh networks. Wonder how well it will do in satellite communications.

Computers are becoming ultra fast any guesses on how long in till those spaceship movies become reality.

Reply Score: 1

That's going to hurt
by Dr-ROX on Mon 26th Jan 2009 05:50 UTC
Dr-ROX
Member since:
2006-01-03

It's like nuclear plant radiation with that frequency, i hope human skin will not drop off wile downloading some torrents ;)

Reply Score: 2

Cancer?Cooking?Are you joking?
by Drone on Mon 26th Jan 2009 17:51 UTC
Drone
Member since:
2009-01-22

> Cancer will have another chance to spread...
Doubtful. Usually caused by viruses or by repeated harmful events or specific chemical reactions. 60GHz itself is not harmful on it's own. It is harmful IF there is enough power carried by wave and you consume significant part of this power. So, microwave oven is harmful. But ... uhm, if you will receive 1000W of heat from DC or 60Hz AC you could be cooked as well (just try for example 1kW electric grill, ha-ha). And 1000W at few MHz also a bad gift and could cause certain harm. From another side, 0.1W for example will not harm you too much. Neither as heat from DC current, nor on 60Hz, nor on some MHz, nor on 60GHz.

And just to let you know, world is filled with all kinds of waves. Surely there is some waves already exist at 60GHz frequencies as well as on any other (we call this "noise" usually). But they have insignificant power so you're usually not harmed by this fact. Microwave oven emits nearly 1000W as microwaves. This is not something that could be encountered in nature easily and if you will take a look, ovens have a bunch of safety stuff to prevent you from contacting with high-powered waves. But 0.1W and even 1W will not harm you actually.

Reply Score: 2

RE: Cancer?Cooking?Are you joking?
by aaronb on Mon 26th Jan 2009 18:34 UTC in reply to "Cancer?Cooking?Are you joking?"
aaronb Member since:
2005-07-06

Not much radiation at 60GHz will be present as oxygen in the atmosphere absorbs it.

Reply Score: 2

RE: Cancer?Cooking?Are you joking?
by rexstuff on Tue 27th Jan 2009 19:22 UTC in reply to "Cancer?Cooking?Are you joking?"
rexstuff Member since:
2007-04-06

This must be a joke. The ignorance to RF being displayed here is quite astounding.

For one thing, at 60GHz (~5mm), the waves used in this new technology will actually be much, MUCH smaller than those used in traditional 2.4GHz microwave ovens (~12cm).

And as parent pointed out, when it comes to frying you, the wavelength has little to do with it - it's all about the power carried by the wave. 802.11 operates on almost -exactly- the same frequency as microwave ovens, but I don't hear anyone complaining about being cooked by their wireless routers (which typically operate in the 25-70mW range).

For some further reading on the 60GHz tech, check out http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jun06/3668

Or better yet, do a tiny bit of research on RF before whining about wireless technology 'cooking' you or causing cancer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

Reply Score: 1