Samsung develops Wi-Fi 802.11ad standard with speeds of up to 4.6Gbps

Posted by : Shaheer Basheer Monday, 13 October 2014

Wi-Fi 802.11ac is just starting to gain traction, but Samsung is already looking ahead. The company has announced that it has managed to complete the development of the Wi-Fi 802.11ad standard and is ready to commercialize it.

The new standard operates at a 60GHz frequency and enables high transmission speeds of up to 4.6Gbps, which is 575MB/s. That’s an increase of five times compared to the 802.11ac standard, which is capable of 866Mbps, or 108MB/s.

Samsung says that the 802.11ad standard maintains maximum speed by eliminating the co-channel interface and thus removing the gap between theoretical and actual speeds. The 60GHz frequency is more than 10 times faster than that of 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi technologies. The company also went quite technical in explaining why commercializing the standard was a bit of an issue.

Until now, there have been significant challenges in commercially adopting 60GHz Wi-Fi technology , as millimeter waves that travel by line-of-sight has weak penetration properties and is susceptible to path loss, resulting in poor signal and data performance. By leveraging millimeter-wave circuit design and high performance modem technologies and by developing wide-coverage beam-forming antenna, Samsung was able to successfully achieve the highest quality, commercially viable 60GHz Wi-Fi technology.

But it’s not only the speed boost that the new standard offers. Just like its predecessor, the new standard enhances signal quality and distance by developing world’s first micro beam-forming control technology. Impressively, it optimizes the communications module in less than 1/3,000 seconds.

So, when can we have this sweet Wi-Fi 802.11ad goodness? Samsung says that worldwide commercialization of the standard is expected as early as next year. Make sure that the company will bring the 802.11ad standard to its SMARTPHONES

, tablets, Smart Home products as well as its medical devices.