Researchers from the University of California – Irvine have developed a chip that can send and receive data at a frequency above 100GHz, knows Venturebeat. This technology is expected to be at the basis of 6G.
The ultra-high frequencies used by the chip are expected to transfer extremely large amounts of data at high speed. The design is currently in the prototype phase. It would operate at a frequency of between 115 and 135 GHz, which means a transfer rate of 36 gigabit per second at a distance of about 30 centimeters. The prototype reaches a speed that is many times higher than chips that operate on a spectrum of 24 to 39 GHz, but these reach their speed of under 6 gigabit per second at a much greater distance.
New generation
The development of the chip shows a glimpse of speeds that mark the beginning of the 6G era, even though 5G has not yet been implemented. According to IT professor Payam Heydari, it is correct to classify the development as 6G: “We call our chip ‘beyond 5G’ because the speed we can achieve is two orders of magnitude higher than the power of the new wireless standard,” he explains. “Hossein Mohammadnezhad, lead author of the paper accompanying the project, states that the “new chip is the first to offer end-to-end capabilities in this part of the spectrum”.
The researchers were supported by TowerJazz and STMicroelectronics in the development of the chips, and they expect the technology to be able to perform other functions besides mobile electronics in the future. Even predictions such as making fibre-optic cables superfluous appear on the stage, although this will continue to be music for the future for some time to come.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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