‘Full-Duplex’ Technology Could Double Bandwidth

A new breakthrough could help avert the nearing bandwidth crisis, allowing all users to continue streaming video and music without fear of their Web providers tacking on extra charges for going over bandwidth limits.
‘Full-Duplex’ Technology Could Double Bandwidth
Joshua Philipp
9/14/2011
Updated:
9/29/2015

[youtube]tXMwn2mm0VY[/youtube]A new breakthrough could help avert the nearing bandwidth crisis, allowing all users to continue streaming video and music without fear of their Web providers tacking on extra charges for going over bandwidth limits.

New “full-duplex” technology, developed by researchers at Rice University, does this by more efficiently communicating with wireless cell towers. Devices need to exchange data with cell towers, which is usually done through two frequencies. Full-duplex, however, can do this using just one frequency and works with wireless devices including cell phones and tablets.

Bandwidth is running out, and although it hasn’t made much buzz yet, companies are scrambling for solutions. In Canada, AT&T DSL has already set a 250GB monthly cap and charge $10 for each additional 50GB. To cope with this, Netflix had to cut its video sizes for Canadian users, meaning they get lower quality picture and video, even with HD.

A report warning of the impending bandwidth drought, released in April by Public Knowledge, states, “The era of plentiful, low-cost bandwidth is approaching an end. The supply of bits, the raw material of our information economy, is rapidly dwindling.”

The report blames bandwidth “hogs” and “over-the-top” services including Netflix, Skype, and Google for consuming “copious amounts of bandwidth free of charge, without providing any valuable services in return,” adding, “While that may not seem like a major problem now, the long-term is bleak…Once bandwidth is gone, it’s gone.”

Full-duplex aims to change this. A paper arguing the technology was possible was released in 2010, that “set off a worldwide race to demonstrate that the technology could actually be used in a real network,” according to Rice University. A working, real-time demonstration was then given this summer that set new performance records, and “produced signal quality at least 10 times better than any previously published result.”

“We showed that our approach could support higher throughput and better link reliability than anything else that’s been demonstrated, which is a plus for wireless carriers,” Ashutosh Sabharwal, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, said in a press release.

The technology is already attracting interest from wireless companies. According to Sabharwal, full-duplex can be used on existing devices, but will require some new hardware—namely a new type of antenna they developed that they dubbed “multiple-input multiple-output” (MIMO).

Basically, the technology works by using an extra antenna and a few programming tweaks to send data. MIMO uses “several antennas to improve overall performance. We took advantage of the multiple antennas for our full-duplex scheme, which is the main reason why all wireless carriers are very comfortable with our technology,” Sabharwal said.

Full-duplex may be a ways off still, however. According to Sabharwal, the technology should start hitting markets “in just a few years” when wireless carriers upgrade to 4.5G or 5G networks.

Joshua Philipp is an award-winning investigative reporter with The Epoch Times and host of EpochTV's "Crossroads" program. He is a recognized expert on unrestricted warfare, asymmetrical hybrid warfare, subversion, and historical perspectives on today’s issues. His 10-plus years of research and investigations on the Chinese Communist Party, subversion, and related topics give him unique insight into the global threat and political landscape.
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