Long-Distance Wi-Fi

[babylonsister]

Long-Distance Wi-Fi

Intel has found a way to stretch a Wi-Fi signal from one antenna to another located more than 60 miles away.

By Kate Greene


Intel has announced plans to sell a specialized Wi-Fi platform later this year that can send data from a city to outlying rural areas tens of miles away, connecting sparsely populated villages to the Internet. The wireless technology, called the rural connectivity platform (RCP), will be helpful to computer-equipped students in poor countries, says Jeff Galinovsky, a senior platform manager at Intel. And the data rates are high enough--up to about 6.5 megabits per second--that the connection could be used for video conferencing and telemedicine, he says.

The RCP, which essentially consists of a processor, radios, specialized software, and an antenna, is an appealing way to connect remote areas that otherwise would go without the Internet, says Galinovsky. Wireless satellite connections are expensive, he points out. And it's impractical to wire up some villages in Asian and African countries. "You can't lay cable," he says. "It's difficult, expensive, and someone is going to pull it up out of the ground to sell it."

Already, Intel has installed and tested the hardware in India, Panama, Vietnam, and South Africa. Later this year, the company will sell the device in India, with a target price below $500. The point-to-point technology will require two nodes, which could provide "full back-end infrastructure" for less than $1,000, Galinovsky says.

more...

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20432/?a=f

[northzax]

1. now THAT is sick

and it's about time that someone figured it out.

[babylonsister]

5. What's 'sick' about helping people in poor countries? nt

[Crabby Appleton]

6. Translation - 'sick' is modern-day slang for cool, neat-o, etc nt

[babylonsister]

7. Oh, my. My age is showing, but that makes no sense to me!

:rofl: Thanks. Up really IS down, left IS right, etc. :silly:

[Crabby Appleton]

8. Makes no sense to me either. nt

[I work for workers]

2. Slick! Always good news when someone finds

a better way to do something.

[tachyon]

3. Ham radio operators have been doing basically the same thing for decades.

The protocols are a little different but the hardware's more or less the same and the software is pretty trivial...

[TransitJohn]

4. This should be deployed where I live.

Wyoming.

[SpiralHawk]

9. Oh my, this will require Reinforced heavy-duty, etheric-grade tin-foil