Researchers from Canada have unveiled a two-way wireless technology breakthrough that allows wireless signals to be sent and received both ways simultaneously on a single radio channel frequency.
The breakthrough means wireless companies can now greatly enhance voice and data services. Existing wireless technology is more like the old walkie-talkies. Users cannot talk and listen simultaneously over the same frequency. The researchers have overcome this “walkie-talkie” deficiency that has beleaguered the use of wireless technology for decades.
The technological breakthrough is the work of a University of Waterloo engineering research team led by Amir K. Khandani. Khandani is a Waterloo electrical and computer engineering professor and Canada Research Chair in Wireless Systems.
According to Khandani, the new technology now means “wireless firms are able to increase the bandwidth of voice and data services by at least a factor of two by sending and receiving at the same time, and potentially by a much higher factor through better adaptive transmission and user management in existing networks”.