Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Network Wireless Networking Hardware

Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Certification Process For Short-Range Wireless Standard WiGig (802.11ad) (cnet.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the need-for-speed dept.
The stars have finally aligned for WiGig, an ultra-fast, short-range wireless network. The Wi-Fi Alliance has launched a certification process for WiGig products, which it claims, can go as fast as 8Gbps. The technology was first announced in 2009, and it is based on IEEE 802.11ad standard that is supported by many new products. CNET adds:That speed is good enough to replace network cables today. And tomorrow, WiGig should be good for beaming high-resolution video from your phone to your 4K TV or linking a lightweight virtual-reality headset to its control computer. VR and its cousin, augmented reality, work better when you don't have a thick cable tethering your head to a PC. New speed is especially helpful when conventional wireless networks clog up. We're all streaming video at higher resolutions, hooking up new devices like cars and security cameras to the network, and getting phones for our kids. Another complication: Phones using newer mobile data networks can barge in on the same radio airwaves that Wi-Fi uses. Saturation of regular Wi-Fi radio channels "will create a demand for new spectrum to carry this traffic," said Yaron Kahana, manager of Intel's WiGig product line. "In three years we expect WiGig to be highly utilized for data transfer." WiGig and Wi-Fi both use unlicensed radio spectrum available without government permission -- 2.4 gigahertz and 5GHz in the case of Wi-Fi. Unlicensed spectrum is great, but airwaves are already often crowded. WiGig, though, uses the 60GHz band that's unlicensed but not so busy. You will want to check for WiGig sticker in the next gear you purchase.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Certification Process For Short-Range Wireless Standard WiGig (802.11ad) More

Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Certification Process For Short-Range Wireless Standard WiGig (802.11ad)

Comments Filter:

  • Faster, better, stronger!! For today's gig economy! Accept no alternatives!

  • Wifi replace fixed cabled systems no way! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:12PM (#53146899)

    Wifi replace fixed cabled systems no way!

    Why tie up limited air space when you have fixed systems that need power anyways and with POE your security cameras just need 1 cable and it makes it harder to jam them.

    and 8 GIB max is that per AP when 1 device is getting all of the bandwidth? Will the AP have 10 GB-E ports? USB 3.1 wifi sticks? PCI-E X4 wifi cards? SFP ports?

    or what about just wiring systems gig-e to an switch that can have GB-E 10 or even fiber up links.

    • One application that could be rather useful, for this standard(or even ones that use spectrum with even worse distance issues) would be the possibility of reducing the number of delicate connectors for devices that are docked/undocked frequently.

      It's hard to beat copper for transferring power(yes, the various wireless charging schemes do work; but efficiency isn't pretty); but, particularly for low voltage, modest current, DC applications where ensuring safety is less of a challenge; you can use simple,

  • More Channels, Please! (Score:3)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:15PM (#53146917) Homepage

    Ever open a Wifi monitor, and just sit back and watch the congestion problems in city areas?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      That's part of the reason they are using 60 GHz.
      A frequency range has a limited bandwidth. Using Shannon theorem, the maximum bandwidth for the 2.4 GHz range is around 30MBps per dB of SNR total. No matter in how much channels you divide the spectrum, you won't be able to beat that. It's either a lot of small bandwidth channels or a few large bandwidth ones.
      Passed some point, the only solution to increase the bandwith is to increase the spectrum and that's what they are doing with 5 GHz and now 60 GHz.

      Well,

  • WiGig, though, uses the 60GHz band that's unlicensed but not so busy.

    Yet. You forgot to say, "Yet."

    60GHz is squarely in the Extremely High Frequency [wikipedia.org] band. It is also subject to O2 resonance, so does not work well for long-distance (ie. several km) microwave links. However, for nearby, same-room links like what the article describes, I expect it will work very well. I also expect that people who are EM-sensitive, entering a room with one of these devices could feel like walking into a giant microwave oven..

    • Hypochondriacs (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:31PM (#53147083)

      I also expect that people who are EM-sensitive, entering a room with one of these devices could feel like walking into a giant microwave oven..

      I imagine you mean people who are hypochondriacs [wikipedia.org] since "EM-sensitivity" is a psychiatric illness [wikipedia.org], not a physical one.

      • Yes, that is what I mean. :)

        Except that I know a guy (well.. have talked to him a few times in the past) that swears his skin starts crawling if someone has a phone in their pocket when they come talk to him. Of course, the last time I talked to him was before cellphones were common...

        I figure who am I to say what bothers a person.

        • Delusions (Score:4, Insightful)

          by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @01:26PM (#53147649)

          Except that I know a guy (well.. have talked to him a few times in the past) that swears his skin starts crawling if someone has a phone in their pocket when they come talk to him. Of course, the last time I talked to him was before cellphones were common...

          I just see it as another manifestation of whatever causes people to have delusional parasitosis [wikipedia.org]. It's probably the same class of mental illness we find in people who (wrongly) think they have MSG or gluten sensitivities too.

          I figure who am I to say what bothers a person.

          I don't doubt that their brain is doing evil things to them. I worry about the ones that can't wrap their heads around the fact that it's almost certainly all in their head. I think they have a real illness and need real help, just not the with the disease they think they need help with.

      • I also expect that people who are EM-sensitive, entering a room with one of these devices could feel like walking into a giant microwave oven..

        I imagine you mean people who are hypochondriacs [wikipedia.org] since "EM-sensitivity" is a psychiatric illness [wikipedia.org], not a physical one.

        I suffer from EM sensitivity. Particularly in the range of 1 to 13 micrometers (called infra-red; it makes my skin feel hot).

        I am also sensitive to microwave EM radiation. I am preparing a home test to prove this – cutting a hole in the front of my microwave oven to defeat its interlock, and just stick my hand in for a good 60 seconds. I anticipate that the resulting burn (or cooking smell) will be proof enough of my sensitivity.

        I even suffer EM sensitivity to the so-called 'visible light range'.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Agripa ( 139780 )

          I am also sensitive to microwave EM radiation. I am preparing a home test to prove this – cutting a hole in the front of my microwave oven to defeat its interlock, and just stick my hand in for a good 60 seconds. I anticipate that the resulting burn (or cooking smell) will be proof enough of my sensitivity.

          Be careful with this test. I know from previous experience that we smell and sizzle like bacon when heated to cooking temperatures.

  • Ok, I'll bite. How far is "short range"?

    • For the most part, higher frequency = shorter range, so probably quite a bit shorter than today's 5GHz WiFi. I'm sure you could boost the range with more powerful transmitters, but that's not going to be feasible much of the time.

    • Ok, I'll bite. How far is "short range"?

      Line of sight. 60 GHz stops dead when it runs into anything solid, including cloth. It's attenuated by the oxygen in air, but air being mostly nitrogen, the effect isn't too terrible. Mostly it's short range because it can't go through walls, can't go through a desk, can't go through a monitor, can't go through a couch.

  • Lots of airports support wifi but the quality/speed is so bad ; don't care going to a terminal or something similar to enjoy fast speed.

  • 10 meter range with handoff to regular wifi (Score:5, Informative)

    by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:24PM (#53147013) Journal

    For those curious what "short range" means in this case, about ten meters. So it could be used where you might otherwise use USB or perhaps HDMI. It's designed to hand off seamlessly to regular wifi, so your laptop could have a 6 Gbps connection at your desk which would switch to lower speeds as you carry it into the other room.

  • VR, huh? (Score:3)

    by vadim_t ( 324782 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:35PM (#53147117) Homepage

    Let's see.

    2160 * 1200 (Oculus Rift CV1) 3 bytes per pixel * 8 bit depth * 90 FPS (Oculus Rift required spec) = 5.5 Gbps.

    3840 * 2160 (4K) * 3 bytes per pixel * 8 bit depth * 90 FPS (Oculus Rift required spec) = 17.9 Gbps. At 60 FPS that drops to 11.9 Gbps. To fit in 8 Gbps you have to drop the framerate to 40FPS, which isn't really good for VR.

    Yeah, it works for the CV1. But anyone who's used one knows that a higher resolution is badly needed, so obviously the next iteration will have to be better. I've been hearing talk of 8K not being enough for ideal performance.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      I push uncompressed 4K video around networks. 9.1gbps

      • No you don't.

        You just think you do. If you're not consuming 17.9Gbps you've either compressed something or you've dropped a few bits for quality purposes (oh wait that's compressed too).

    • I know latency is an issue, but surely we can use compression to some degree. 4:1 10:1? Run length encoding comes to mind. Maybe give up some theoretical resolution with a compression type that isn't designed to be 100:1 but nearly instantaneous in encoding and decoding (again, something like RLE).

      Note, the same goes for transmitting to your TV from your phone, focusing more on ease of encoding (to save phone battery life).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bws111 ( 1216812 )

      Isn't '8 bit depth' already accounted for in '3 bytes per pixel'? If so, your calculation is 8x too high.

    • DisplayPort 1.4 supports DSC, lossless line speed zero latency compression (up to 3:1). I imagine they will reuse that.

    • Also, doesn't HDR require 10bit on top of that?

  • It can not replace network cables in real world buildings sorry but 5Ghz utterly sucks going through walls.

    Actually it utterly sucks going through anything but dry open air. humidity goes over 80% you lose range.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Read the article much? It’s a SHORT distance technology, designed to go a couple of meters. Who said anything about replacing network wiring in buildings?

  • Doesn't go through walls (Score:4, Informative)

    by rahvin112 ( 446269 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @12:47PM (#53147241)

    Only problem is it can not penetrate walls making it essentially line of sight.

    • Only problem is it can not penetrate walls making it essentially line of sight.

      That's a good thing.

    • That's a feature. Adding in an access point in any room where you need high speeds should be possible, and meanwhile your neighbor's network won't crap on yours.

    • Only problem is it can not penetrate walls making it essentially line of sight.

      In that case, what makes using the 60GHz band better than using Infrared? This is looking like a new higher-bandwidth IrDA.

  • If it also uses the wi-fi freqencies to get more bandwidth, those signals are going to propogate a *lot* farther that 10m.

    I read this as a DOS attack on your neighbours' wi-fi (;-)) followed by the units being banned, followed by either

    1. - having them be given their own frequency band or
    2. - a series of lawsuits by the vendors to allow them to jam the industrial, scientific and medical radio bands (wi-fi)

  • It's a great technology (Score:3, Informative)

    by Sean Dunn ( 2861499 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @01:56PM (#53147961)
    802.11ad works in the 60GHz spectrum. This makes it perfect for in room network access and giving PAN functionality via WiFi Direct. Spectrum reuse for this band is insanely good.

    Why? 60GHz is heavily attenuated by just about everything. If it's in room, you'll get decent coverage either through directly through LOS, or slightly attenuated by multipath. But it won't go through the walls too well, and it gets attenuated pretty quickly even by the atmosphere.

    Check out this. https://transition.fcc.gov/bur... [fcc.gov]

    But isn't this bad? Well, if you are hoping to drop a single 802.11ad access point in a building, and hoping to get whole office coverage.

    But, if your 802.11 in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum are saturated, you can drop an 802.11ad AP into conference rooms, or places people use a ton of bandwidth, and offload it. Oh, and one more thing. Pretty much every implementation of 802.11ad that I've seen makes heavy use of either an array of highly directional antennas or beamforming. This just helps out more with spectrum re-use, and non-interference between different 802.11ad devices in proximity.

Slashdot Top Deals

BLISS is ignorance.

Close