In a new blow for the NBN Co, Scientists at Stanford University in the USA have confirmed that they have found a new low cost way of doubling the speed of Wi Fi networks.
The news comes only days after Telstra said that they are set to launch a new 4G LTE wireless network which allows movies to be downloaded in seconds to a home TV.
The technology can send and receive information both ways at the same time, currently Wi Fi works in a single direction.
The head of the project Philip Levis, the assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford, likened it to people shouting at each other at the same time. He said other people in such a shouting match can screen out the sound of their own voice, but hear the other person, he said.
Engadget said that the new technology uses two transmitters at each transceiver, and they work in a similar concept as noise-cancelling headphones.
“The two transmit signals interfere destructively at the receive antenna to create a dead signal that the receiver can’t ‘hear’,” Lewis said. “So you create this null position where the receiver can’t hear that signal and so is able to receive packets from other areas.”
Just based on this, the technology would be twice as quick as current Wi-Fi, and even faster with more tweaks. While current phone networks let users talk and listen at the same time, they use an expensive way of doing so. The new way is said to be much cheaper.
When the technology will appear in hardware hasn’t been revealed, but a patent was applied for and work is being done to commercialise the format.
