Scientists Twist Radio Beams to Send Data at Super Fast Speeds

Scientists may have uncovered a new way to send data at superfast speeds. Building on previous research that twisted light to send data, scientists have managed to develop a similar technique with radiowaves.

Transmitting data at faster and faster speeds has long been a goal for scientists. In previous research, scientists managed to twist light beams to transmit data at a blistering 2.56 terabits per second. Yet these methods relied on light to carry the data, which had associated complications. That's why researchers turned to radiowaves.

"The advantage of radio is that it uses wider, more robust beams," said Alan Willner, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Wider beams are better able to cope with obstacles between the transmitter and the receiver, and radio is not as affected by atmospheric turbulence as optics."

In order to achieve a high transmission rate, the researchers twisted radio beams together. They passed each beam carrying its own independent stream of data through a "spiral phase plate." This plate twisted each radio beam into a unique and orthogonal DNA-like helical shape. Then, a receiver on the other side of the room untwisted the radio beams and recovered the data.

"Not only is this a way to transmit multiple spatially collocated radio data streams through a single aperture, it is also one of the fastest data transmission via radio waves that has been demonstrated," said Willner.

In fact, the researchers managed to reach data transmission rates of 32 gigabits per second across 2.5 meters of free space. That's fast enough to transmit more than 10 hour-and-a-half-long HD movies in one second.

"This technology could have very important applications in ultra-high-speed links for the wireless 'backhaul' that connects base stations of next-generation cellular systems," said Andy Molisch, who co-designed the study with Willner.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.