Infrared module can transfer data wirelessly at 1Gbit/s

The 'multi gigabit communication module' was created by a team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden and is said to be six times faster than a usb cable, 46 times faster than WiFi and 1430 times faster than a Bluetooth connection. "We achieved this ultimately through a clever combination of different technical solutions," said Fraunhofer researcher Frank Deicke. One of these is the transceiver, which the team says is approximately the size of a child's fingernail but includes a laser diode to send light pulses and a photo detector to detect them. With the decoders that translate the data, the researchers also programmed innovative error correction mechanisms to combat the light signals becoming weakened and distorted in the air. "Our current infrared module has already demonstrated that infrared technology is able to go far beyond established standards. We plan to improve performance even more in the future," added Deicke. The researchers say they have been able to raise the transfer rate of the current model to 3Gbit/s and are now aiming for 10Gbit/s.