Aussie Chip Achieves Scorching Wireless Data Speeds

By Greg McNevin

February 25, 2008: A tiny new Aussie chip is making waves this week, promising to shake up the wireless industry by not only drastically increasing data transfer speeds, but doing it at a fraction of the cost of today’s solutions.

Developed by research institute National ICT Australia (NICTA) and dubbed the “world’s first transceiver integrated on a single chip”, the chip uses inexpensive and common CMOS semiconductor technology to achieve wireless speeds ten-times faster than current technology can. And it can do it ten-times cheaper.

According to NICTA Chief Technology Officer, Embedded Systems, Dr. Chris Nicol the technology will “enable the wireless transfer of audio and video data at up to 5 gigabits per second, ten times the current maximum wireless transfer rate, at one-tenth the cost”.

“Consumers will be able to download a high definition DVD onto their personal digital assistants at a public kiosk in seconds, take it home and play it directly onto their high definition TV.”

The chip uses the 60Hz band and can transfer data at 5 gigabits per second, significantly faster than the 20 megabits per second standard used today.

Professor Stan Skafidas, the leader of NICTA’s Gigabit Wireless Project team, says that the chips are around three-years away from commercial production and that the project will be kept in Australia via a new company NICTA is starting to commercially develop the technology.

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