The technology, which would allow downloading a whole DVD in less than ten seconds, relies on the so-called E-band of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies between 71 and 76 GHz, also known as the milimetre-waves.
The team from the University of Stuttgart, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, said the system exceeds ten times existing state-of-the-art technology.
During the experiment, the researchers sent data between Cologne’s 45-story Uni-Centre and the Space Observation Radar TIRA located at Fraunhofer Institute for High-Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques in Wachtberg some 37km away. To achieve the high data rates together with the unprecedented distance, the researchers built innovative transmitters and receivers complete with powerful signal amplifiers. The transistor-based devices together form what the researchers call monolithically integrated...