7Gbps WiGig Wants To Kill Your Cables

I think one thing we can all agree on when it comes to home theater and other gear in the living room or office despite what brand we prefer is that cables suck. In an ideal world, we would just put the gear where we want it and connectivity will be wireless and things just work. As it is now there, wireless tech we have doesn't always do a great job of connecting sans wires. WiGig looks like it might change all that with a huge increase in connectivity between the devices.

The WiGig system will offer 7Gbps of speed, which is enough to allow you to download your favorite HD episode of a show in seconds. WiGig uses a signal forming process called adaptive beam forming to reduce decay and make connectivity more robust. It has a combination of antennas and algorithms to tune the signal for the specific device. This sort of allows it to put all its power into a narrow beam of focus rather than wasting power shooting a signal all around the room to catch the device.

WiGig operates on 60GHz spectrum and has a bunch of other tech to optimize the signal. The device trying to connect has to be in range of the router or an antenna and the connection will take from a fraction of a second to seconds depending on the signal clarity. The big downside is that the gear needs line of sight to work so the signals won't pass though walls or ceilings. This makes the spec only appropriate for connectivity within a room for the most part. The spec does have native support for HDMI and DisplayPort so it would help cut the wires in your living room or office.

[via ArsTechnica]