World record 10.4 Gigabit wireless transmission: "University of Essex21.06.2005?World record 10.4 Gigabit wireless transmission Researchers at the University of Essex are claiming a world record for the amount of computer data sent over a point-to-point wireless channel.

The results achieved by the team from the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering are the equivalent of more than 162,000 phone calls or over 10,000 broadband internet connections being made simultaneously. Such large capacity could revolutionise wireless internet download times for many households and local businesses, small and large.

While the techniques used by the Essex group don%u2019t fit exactly to the MultiBand Alliance template in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.15 ultra-wideband radio standardisation process, they are important because they show that 10 Gigabit radio is feasible. The successful experiment at Essex demonstrates that far greater capacity could be obtained from present generation wireless links given appropriate standardisation.

The Essex Department of Electronics Systems Engineering is one of the strongest in the country, and currently has a grade 5 rating for carrying out research of national and international excellence. In 2001, researchers in the department achieved a world record for the amount of computer data sent over a single multimode optical fibre, which won them a slot in the Guinness Book of Records.

The latest record-breaking results came at the end of a two-year project by MSc student Terry Quinlan, part of precursor work which will be further enhanced by a recently-announced ?1 million Higher Education Funding Council for England equipment award. Eventually, the mm-wave region could be used where even higher data rates may be possible.

Head of the Essex project, Professor Stuart Walker, said: %u2019This achievement represents the culmination of many months of painstaking work. Multigigabit transmission systems of any sort require really detailed design and wireless is no exception. The original aim was just to investigate the performance of cheap flat patch antennas. We were pleasantly surprised by the initial results and kept on improving the experimental set-up. "