by Mark Ollig
Coffee shops with signs offering
“Free WiFi” bring us through the door so we can enjoy sipping our favorite brew
– a large dark-roast (with cream) for yours truly – while wirelessly accessing
the Internet using our laptops and mobile devices.
As we know, nothing stays the same
in this world, especially when it comes to technology.
Soon, we may be seeing those coffee
shop signs offering us “Free WiGig.”
Wireless Gigabit or WiGig, is the
next wireless technology standard we may be tethering to when accessing the
Internet from our mobile computing devices.
WiGig has been under development
since 2009, and in addition to being used to complement WiFi; it will free us
from the various cables used when connecting computing hardware.
“In the future, if it computes, it
connects. From the simplest embedded sensors to the most advanced cloud data
centers, we’re looking at techniques to allow all of them to connect without
wires,” said Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner at this year’s Intel
Developer Forum.
And WiGig will be able to handle the
job.
With data transmission speeds
reported at a lighting fast 7 to 10 gigabits per second, WiGig will be around
10 times faster than today’s fastest wireless 802.11n network based Wi-Fi
systems.
One of the reasons WiGig is so much
faster is because it operates in a different frequency bandwidth range.
Current WiFi networks use the 2.4
GHz (gigahertz) and 5 GHz radio frequency bands.
The 2.4 GHz range is used by most of
our laptops and mobile devices when accessing the Internet. This range works
well over a greater distance than the 5GHz bands, which is primarily used for
our electronic Bluetooth devices that only need to operate over short
distances.
When talking about WiGig, the amount
of wireless spectrum and speed that becomes available when compared to WiFi
opens up tremendously – we are talking WiGig wireless transmissions operating
in the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band.
When used with Protocol Adaptation
Layers (PAL), WiGig becomes functional for our personal computing and mobile
applications.
In the near future, we may be using
WiGig technology, instead of physical cords and cables for connections to our
monitor display screens, keyboards, computing devices, and external hardware.
During this year’s Intel Developers
Forum, Wireless Gigabit Alliance chairman Ali Sadri joined Rattner on stage to
demonstrate how an Intel Ultrabook computer could wirelessly sync at high speeds
to devices, such as docking stations, keyboards, monitors, and external network
drives.
While watching a video of the
demonstration, their first presentation didn’t work; not because the technology
failed, but because the Ultrabook computer’s battery was drained from having
been used the previous day and had not been re-charged.
This did cause a bit of
embarrassment to the presenters.
Once the Ultrabook had a
fully-charged battery installed, the demonstration went on without any
problems.
The demo showed how video (it could
just as well have been any type of data) was transmitted wirelessly from a
Vantec external hard drive sitting on the table, through the Ultrabook, and
then wirelessly streamed from the Ultrabook to a pair of display monitors – with
no inter-cabling of the devices used.
As I look at the cables currently
cluttering my desk from my two display monitors, I think about the day when I
will be able to get rid of them – it will be a welcomed change.
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance is an
organization which oversees and addresses the need for faster wireless
connectivity between computing, communications, and entertainment devices.
“Our mission is to establish a
global ecosystem of high-speed and easy-to-use wireless devices that work
together seamlessly to connect people in the digital age. WiGig technology
enables multi-gigabit wireless communications among consumer electronics,
handheld devices and PCs,” states their website.
WiGig technology is scheduled to be
demonstrated at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
By the end of 2013, we should begin
seeing WiGig 60 GHz products designed for use with our notebooks and laptops,
mobile computing devices, digital cameras, TV set-top boxes, and more.
These new WiGig products will be designed
to be compatible with today’s existing 802.11 Wi-Fi devices, so in the event
the 60 GHz high-speed signal is unmaintainable, a connection to the lower speed
802.11 Wi-Fi network will be used.
“Looking to the future, all
computing will become wireless computing, with an ever-increasing demand for
faster wireless communication,” said Rattner.
According to many folks in the
computing industry, WiGig looks like the next wireless road to be traveled
upon.
To watch the Intel demonstration
video, go to http://tinyurl.com/8aud5md.
For further information about the
Wireless Gigabit Alliance, visit http://www.wigig.org, or follow them
@WiGigAlliance on Twitter.
