DataTransmission
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Researchers beat fiber optic broadband speeds using visible LED light
High speed data is already being transmitted by visible light to the moon, so why not in your living room, too? After the Fraunhofer Institute showed off 3Gbps speeds with LED lights, researchers from five UK universities have managed to transmit data at 10Gbps using micro-LEDs with a technique they've coined "LiFi." The team was able to crack the barrier by combining 3.5Gbps streams in each of the red, green and blue frequencies that make up white light. Such a technique could one day work with existing light bulbs, promising higher speeds than current WiFi and increased security -- since visible light can't penetrate solid objects like walls. In addition, a single bulb could theoretically provide connectivity for up to four devices. For now, such devices are confined to the lab, but given the torrid pace of development, don't be surprised if your data connection is soon a click of the switch away.
NASA shoots lasers at the moon, sets new data transmission record
Lasers are indisputably awesome, and NASA just made them a little more so by zapping a record-breaking 622 Mb of data per second between the moon and earth as a part of its Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD). Pulsed laser beams were shot from ground control at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite orbiting the moon, and the results could herald promising new advances in deep space communication. Radio waves have long been the go-to option for sending information between spacecraft and our planet, but the greater data capacity lasers can accommodate may make it possible for future missions to send higher resolution images and 3D video transmissions across two-way channels. To learn more, take a peek at the press release after the break or head over to the official LLCD site at the source link below.
Microsoft patent application details use of human bodies for inhuman data transmissions
While we know the human body is capable of generating electricity, we never quite thought of it as a data transmission channel like this Microsoft patent application suggests. According to the document, the folks up in Redmond would like to be able to transfer information from one electronic device to another with a simple touch, as seen in the image above. It all sounds a little freaky, but the filing goes on to suggest a few practical uses. Instead of swiping a credit card or showing ID, you could use your own flesh to authenticate the purchase of goods or services. Another example is the ability to share contact information with someone just by shaking his or her hand, so long as he or she was also wearing a similar electronic device. While we hesitate to endorse such a technology, at least it's less invasive than embedding circuitry in our wrists. If you feel like plumbing the depths of this patent further, click on the source for more on what the software giant has in mind for the future.
Fujitsu speeds up internet transmissions, declares war on buffering
Fujitsu's engineers, bored of waiting for their movies to download, have cooked up a new data transfer protocol that promises to be 30 times faster than current speeds. Using a proprietary tweak of user datagram protocol (UDP), the software examines the available bandwidth and only uses the optimal amount, rather than trying to load the pipe with more than it can handle. The science, however, lies in its ability to distinguish between packets that haven't arrived and those which are lost -- and only resending the latter. Fujitsu's hoping to commercialize the software at some point this year, so if your Skype chats suddenly get a lot less laggy, you know who to blame.
Japan's LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens
If you thought cloud writing was cool, then how about a message from space burnt into the night sky? A group of unassuming cubesats recently left the comfort of the ISS and joined Earth's orbit -- among them was FITSAT-1 (aka Niwaka), a four-inch-cubed Japanese satellite covered in high-powered LEDs. Its mission is to broadcast the message "Hi this is Niwaka Japan" in Morse code, using bursts of intense light to draw dots and dashes across the heavens. FITSAT-1 was originally planned to appear only over Japan, but a flurry of interest means it'll be touring the globe, starting next month. It'll also find time for its studies, beaming VGA images snapped with an onboard camera back to Earth, to test a high-speed data transmitter. While its creator, Professor Takushi Tanaka, has said the Morse broadcast has "no practical aim," we think it would make a good emergency beacon for natural disasters (or, more worryingly, alien invasions). FITSAT-1 will try and fulfill all requests for appearances, but it can't control the weather, so you'd better hope for a clear night if it visits your part of the world. If you're as excited as we are to see it in action, bookmark the source links below, which should be updated with its orbit schedule in the near future. And, even if you don't speak Japanese, the video after the break will give you an idea of what to expect.
Yamaha gets Fuji TV into InfoSound, to bring acoustic data transmission apps to tablets and phones
Remember Yamaha's InfoSound technology? If not, well, it's a bit of black magic that shoots data wirelessly to devices using an inaudible (to humans, anyway) 18kHz signal emitted from a speaker and received via microphone. Yamaha came up with the idea back before the ubiquity of WiFi-enabled TVs, and now it's partnered up with Fuji Television Network to develop apps for phones and tablets that use the tech. Keep in mind, InfoSound has a fairly short range (33 feet) and maxes out with a data rate of only 80 bits per second, so you won't be streaming sound or video. That said, it's a fat enough pipe to send out hyperlinks, so the apps seem destined for use in retail outlets and in conjunction with digital signage to make it easy for folks to navigate to websites or receive store coupons. Further details are few and far between for now, but what info we do have can be found in the PR after the break.
Newsflash uses high-frequency light to transmit data from iPad to smartphone, we go hands-on (video)
MIT's Media Lab is chock-full of cutting-edge tech projects that researchers create, then often license to manufacturers and developers. One such project is called Newsflash, and uses high-frequency red and green light to transmit data to the built-in camera on a receiving device -- in this case Samsung's Epic 4G. The concept is certainly familiar, and functions in much the same way as a QR code, generating flashing light that's invisible to the human eye instead of a cumbersome 2D square. In the Media Lab's implementation, an iPad is used to display a static news page with flashing colored bands at the top, representing just a few vertical pixels on the LCD. As the device presents the standard touch experience you're already familiar with, it also broadcasts data that can be read by any camera, but flashes too quickly to be distracting or even noticeable to the naked eye. A NewsFlash app then interprets those flashes and displays a webpage as instructed -- either a mobile version with the same content, or a translation of foreign websites. As with most MediaLab projects, Newsflash is simply a concept at this point, but it could one day make its way to your devices. Jump past the break to see it in action.
First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast data transmission
Mark this day, folks, because the brainiacs have finally made a breakthrough in quantum teleportation: a team of scientists from Australia and Japan have successfully transferred a complex set of quantum data in light form. You see, previously researchers had struggled with slow performance or loss of information, but with full transmission integrity achieved -- as in blocks of qubits being destroyed in one place but instantaneously resurrected in another, without affecting their superpositions -- we're now one huge step closer to secure, high-speed quantum communication. Needless to say, this will also be a big boost for the development of powerful quantum computing, and combine that with a more bedroom friendly version of the above teleporter, we'll eventually have ourselves the best LAN party ever.
University of Central Florida's miniature laser diode aims to speed up networking
The use of laser as a means of data transmission is hardly anything new, but the current crop of laser diodes can only handle so much stress, provided that they don't fail in the first place. Luckily, the geniuses over at the University of Central Florida are about to deliver a smaller yet more intense and more reliable diode, which will lead to many more potential applications even beyond the scope of networking -- think cheaper, more effective hair removal. Little is said about how Professor Dennis Deppe's team made this possible, but once they work out how to optimize the operating voltage for better efficiency, Deppe reckons we'll see diode-embedded high speed, high bandwidth cables in the shops in four or five years' time. Seriously, we'd do anything to keep our latency low for some HD gaming action.
Internet2 operators set new internet speed record
We all know that data transmission records don't hang around too long these days, but for operators of the Internet2 network, the final "official record" may have just been set. At the Internet2 consortium's spring meeting, it was announced that officials "sent data at 7.67-gigabits per second using standard communications protocols," but crushed even that milestone 24 hours later by achieving 9.08Gbps with IPv6 protocols. Notably, the data had to travel a whopping 20,000 or so miles roundtrip, and it's being suggested that the newest record may be there awhile, considering the theoretical 10Gbps limit on Internet2 transmissions and the requirement for new records to sustain "a ten-percent improvement for recognition." The best bit, however, is the mention of a "a new network with a capacity of 100Gbps," which could see a full-blown DVD shot practically around the globe "within in a few seconds."
Matsushita demonstrates data beaming with visible light
Infrared hasn't exactly taken the wireless data transfer world by storm, and while it seems to still flank the sides of modern smartphones and the occasional laptop, we can't exactly recall the last time we found it particularly useful in a public setting. Matsushita is out to solve the data beaming quandary, and it's looking to add a little light to the situation all the while with a visible twist. The technology allows data to be beamed from transmitter to receiver via visible light, and aside from purportedly streaming information along at "optical fiber speeds," it can also pull double duty as an indoor lighting source if you're short on lamps. The firm is hoping to get the standard ratified soon, and ideally, would like to see kiosks set up to beam information onto consumer / client receivers by just walking up to the light source, pairing up their device, and walking away happy. Additionally, this system could have a leg up on other wireless alternatives in sensitive areas such as hospitals, as the Visible Light Communications (VLC) creation won't interfere with pulse-makers and other medical equipment. Now, how long before this stuff hits the handset market?[Via Gearfuse]
