Faster than fiber: The future of multi-G/s wireless

This article provides an introduction to a panel session at the 2009 International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2009) on enabling multi-gigabit per second (Gb/s) wireless communication links. Blasting beams of high-speed data through free space is not new. Terahertz spectrum near visible light has been used for ultrahigh-speed optical links for many years. Newly released millimeter-wave (mm-wave) bands provide a similar potential but with different operating characteristics. Advances in manufacturing are yielding high-reliability, high-frequency mm-wave devices, faster digital field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) processors, and superfast analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters that enable higher frequency transceivers, faster modems, and more cost-effective radio architectures that need to be reliably realized. This panel session will explore the technologies being developed within the industry to enable this new field of communications. The strengths and weakness of each technology will be debated, and the viability of each to provide a compelling alternative to fiber will be determined. The panel will bring together leading device engineers with system providers to provide a complete overview of the state-of-the-art Gb/s communications and a road map for the future.