Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Feb. 23, 2008

Researchers at the National ICT Australia Laboratory say they have invented a single-chip, 60 MHz CMOS wireless transceiver that is about 35 percent faster and can handle much higher data throughput.

Project leader Professor Stan Skafidas said the chip can transfer data at up to 5 Gbps which is about ten times the current maximum wireless transfer rate, but at only 10 percent of the cost.

The research team included ten Ph.D. students from the University of Melbourne with support from Agilent, Anritsu, Ansoft, Cadence, IBM, Synopsys and SUSS MicroTech.

A representative of the Melbourne group said the new wireless chip resulted from a three-year experiment using IBM’s 130 NM RF CMOS process, and could be commercially available in about three years.

The group developed the chip in the 57 GHz – 64 GHz unlicensed frequency band, as the millimeter-wave range of the spectrum makes possible high component on-chip integration as well as allowing for the integration of very small high gain arrays, officials stated.

The availability of 7 GHz of spectrum results in very high data rates, up to 5 Gbps to users within an indoor environment, usually within a range of 10 meters.

Many industry observers say such a chip is among the smallest of its kind.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Source: The National I.C.T. Australia Laboratory.

    This article was featured on Business 5.0.