
Photo: KIT
Extension of cable-based telecommunication networks requires high investments in both conurbations and rural areas. Broadband data transmission via radio relay links might help to cross rivers, motorways or nature protection areas at strategic node points, and to make network extension economically feasible. In the current issue of the nature photonics magazine, researchers present a method for wireless data transmission at a world-record rate of 100 gigabits per second. (doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.275) In their record experiment, 100 gigabits of data per second were transmitted at a frequency of 237.5 GHz over a distance of 20 m in the laboratory. In previous field experiments under the “Millilink” project funded by the BMBF, rates of 40 gigabits per second and transmission distances of more than 1 km were reached. For their latest world record, the scientists applied a photonic method to generate the radio signals at the transmitter. After radio transmission, fully integrated electronic circuits were used in the receiver. Setup for the world record of wireless data transmission at 100 gigabits per second: The receiver unit (left)
Photo: KI
receives the radio signal that is recorded by the oscilloscope (right). “Our project focused on integration of a broadband radio relay link into fiber-optical...