Scientists in Germany have managed to create the world’s fastest Wi-Fi internet connection, which clocks in at an incredible 100 Gbps.
The scientists responsible for this breakthrough are a joint team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). One of the most impressive things about their Wi-Fi speed record is that not only have they smashed the previous record of 40 Gbps but that they held the record themselves. Effectively, the team has been able to more than double their previous wireless internet speed record in less than half a year.
For those of you keeping count, this Wi-Fi speed is over 10 times faster than the internet connection offered by Google Fiber. With internet speeds like this, it would be possible for users to achieve a transfer rate of 12.5 gigabytes per second, meaning they could download a complete Blu-Ray disc in only a handful of seconds.
Currently, the technology is still too complex to be exported directly to home users, so don’t throw your Wi-Fi router out just yet. The technology relies on super high-frequency signals, which increases speed by allowing more data to be packed into a single stream, but which is unable to transmit through physical barriers like current, lower-frequency signals are capable of doing.
These developments all come as part of the Millilink Project, which was funded by the German government as part of an effort to bring internet connectivity to rural, under-connected areas. With a total budget of only €2.7 million ($3.6million), the advancements in Wi-Fi technology made by the Millilink Project team are impressive indeed. It is hoped that these high-frequency internet transmissions could be used to bridge the gap in areas where it is impossible or impractical to lay miles of cable infrastructure.
