Full-duplex, asynchronous broadband wireless on deck
Earlier this month, Rice University announced that its engineering researchers had figured out a way to double the capacity of today’s mobile WANs without having to add cell towers. The answer: full-duplex technology.
In a full-duplex world, cellphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices would be able to both transmit and receive to and from wireless cell towers on the same frequency, a function that requires two frequencies on today’s 3G/4G networks.
BACKGROUND: Rice demonstrates full-duplex wireless technology
Enabling two-way communications on half the number of frequencies currently required would help mobile operators conserve spectrum. Other good news: The university has indicated that it might be possible to add the full-duplex capability as an additional mode on existing client hardware.
Said Ashutosh Sabharwal, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, in a university-issued press release: “The bigger change will be developing new wireless standards for full-duplex. I expect people may start seeing this when carriers upgrade to 4.5G or 5G networks in just a few years.”
Rice’s team, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, built on the concept of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) to achieve full-duplex transmission on a single frequency in that a wireless device sends two signals that cancel each other out at the receiving antenna. “The canceling effect is purely local, so the other node can still hear what we’re sending,” Sabharwal is reported as saying.
The Rice team reportedly was able to achieve asynchronous full-duplex capabilities, too; in other words, one wireless node can start receiving a signal while it’s in the midst of transmitting.
