A team of researchers from Germany has set a new world record by transferring the contents of a conventional DVD in under 10 seconds by radio transmission with a data rate of six gigabit per second (Gbps) over a distance of 37 kms.
The team achieved the record data transmission on a stretch between Cologne and the 36.7 km distant town of Wachtberg. The extremely high data rate was achieved by the group through efficient transmitters and receivers at a radio frequency of 71-76 GHz in the so-called “E band”, regulated for terrestrial and satellite broadcasting.
Researchers from University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF participated in this collaborative project. The transmission of high quantities of data by radio over large distances serves a high number of important application areas.
The next generation of satellite communication requires an ever-increasing data offload from earth observation satellites down to earth. With this technology, not only rural area and remote regions could be supplied with fast internet, but also 250 internet connections can be supplied with 24 Mbits/s ADSL, University of Stuttgart said in a statement.
Terrestrial radio transmissions in the “E-band” are suitable as a cost-effective replacement for deployment of optical fibre or as ad-hoc networks in the case of crises and catastrophe and for connecting base stations in the backhaul of mobile communication systems.
The collaborative project ACCESS (Advanced E Band Satellite Link Studies) was carried out by a team headed by Professor Ingmar Kallfass from the Institute of Robust Power Semiconductor Systems (ILH) at University of Stuttgart.