Instead of using microwave for wireless data transmission, Facebook is thinking of using a built-in laser detector to provide connections at speeds up to 2.1Gbps.
The Connectivity Lab at Facebook's internet.org believes that the laser approach could, along with drones that uses the company, to help connect four billion people, especially those living in remote and rural areas.
The researchers have managed to describe a new technique they call free-space optical (FSO) communication. The new technology can overcome the microwave data transmission limits by extending the available spectrum to much larger sizes. They demonstrated that they could transmit data at 2Gbps using bandwidth of 100 MHz.
The Facebook team borrowed a technique used to collect sunlight, and applied it for data transmission.
The collector absorbs blue light and emits green light. Facebook notes the fast speeds are possible due to the lapse of less than two nanometersseconds between absorption and emission of light.
"Fiber optics absorb light coming from any direction over a large area, and the emitted light travels through the optical fiber, which directs it to a small, very fast photodetector."
"The fact that these fluorescent optical fibers emit a different color than they absorb makes it possible to increase the brightness of the light entering the system," said Tobias Tiecke, project manager.
"This approach has been used in luminescence concentrators for collecting sunlight, where the speed of conversions color doesn't matter. We have shown that the same concept can be used to communicate at very high speeds."
According to Tiecke, Facebook is trying to build a prototype of the concept to test it in reality and explore whether its use can be expanded as a commercial product.
