1Gbps Wireless Network Made With Red and Green Laser Pointers

MrSeb writes "Back in the olden days, when WiFi and Bluetooth were just a glimmer in the eye of IEEE, another short-range wireless communications technology ruled supreme: Infrared Data Association, or IrDA for short. IrDA was awful; early versions were only capable of kilobit-per-second speeds, and only over a distance of a few feet. Trying to get my laptop and mobile phone to link up via IrDA was, to date, one of the worst tech experiences I've ever had. There's a lot to be said for light-based communications, though. For a start, visible (and invisible) light has a frequency of between 400 and 800THz (800 and 375nm), which is unlicensed spectrum worldwide. Second, in cases where you really don't want radio interference, such as hospitals, airplanes, and other sensitive environments, visible light communication (VLC), or free-space optical communication, is really rather desirable. Now researchers at the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan have transmitted data using lasers — not high-powered, laboratory-dwelling lasers; handheld, AAA-battery laser pointers. A red and green laser pointer were used, each transmitting a stream of data at 500Mbps, which is then multiplexed at the receiver for a grand total of 1Gbps."

Is IrDA Korean?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought IrDA was a famous Starcraft player...

Efficiency?

[Anonymous Coward]

How does the Mbit/mW compare to a 802.11b/g/n pringles cantenna?
Which can achieve further distance assuming LOS?

The REAL question...

[emag]

Ok, the real question is... how does this apply to /.'s new BI focus? Can I use this instead of spreadsheets or specialized software to properly align my Business Intelligence with the synergies of the corporation for maximization of profitability?

Ouch, that hurt...

Enjoy It While It Lasts

[guttentag]

It's only a matter of time before the MPAA/RIAA gets this outlawed because pirates could be using it to broadcast entire ripped DVDs to each other in mere seconds using sharks with frickin' multiplexin' red and green lasers attached to their heads! You laugh, but it will happen. [slashdot.org]

The toughest part......

[Grayhand]

is getting the sharks to hold still.

Re:Is IrDA Korean?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be a blast at parties.

Re:Efficiency?

[MrAngryForNoReason]

You mean like a disco ball?

Re:I am still waiting for the day..

[james_van]

Im reminded of my high school days- I had a laptop with irda (1998'ish) and the printer in our tech lab had irda as well. The printer had a print server attached that would queue up all the print jobs, but the irda port would take priority over anything in the queue. Our teacher had a vendetta against trees and would insist that we print everything, so about 5 minutes before class would end, everyone would start lining up at the printer. About 4 minutes before class would end, I would hit print on a 50-60 page Word doc and gloat to myself as everyone started freaking out. Yeah, i was a techno-douche.

Re:Not new

[Anonymous Coward]

That's cheaper than my speaker cables!