The IEEE Standards Association has approved WiGig, a short-range networking technology that operates in the 60GHz range at speeds of up to 7Gbps, as part of an amendment to the original IEEE 802.11 standard. The new technology was demonstrated by chip company Wilocity during the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 in Las Vegas, Nev. and has the potential to replace traditional Wi-Fi.
According to Wilocity, use of the 60GHz band shortens the possible range for data transfer but strengthens the signal, making the new technology ideal for transmission-heavy areas, such as offices and hospitals.
Improvements in spectral reuse and “beam forming” have also made it possible for the technology to maintain fast speeds while preventing interference and the necessity of bandwidth-sharing that current Wi-Fi technology requires, said the IEEE.
“By migrating up to the next ISM band (60GHz), we break ground on new spectrum for IEEE 802.11, enable an order of magnitude improvement in performance and enable usages that have never before been possible with existing IEEE 802.11—namely wireless docking and streaming video,” Bruce Kraemer, chairman of the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN working group, said in a statement.
The amendment also includes the addition of a “fast session transfer” feature that enables quick switching between WiGig and legacy technologies operating in the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
