ePanorama.net » Science news

Laser and light communications news

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:53:32 +0000

Light communications is hot in news now. Here are few headlines:

LiFi 802.11bb standard uses light for in-room data transmission up to 224GB/s
https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/07/14/lifi-802-11bb-wifi-standard-uses-light-for-in-room-data-transmission-up-to-224gb-s/
The 802.11bb WiFi-like standard, also called LiFi, was ratified in June 2023. It enables data transmission up to 224GB/s at a few meters range within a room using light instead of RF signals used in most other wireless standards

https://www.facebook.com/100063998805272/posts/pfbid0Dq8BBgTkxL91LjcFD6WR9YSU6SMwF96ZBKNfk7UMqD7CnSyV6GaCQMtZJRwEQhBhl/
The LiFi (802.11bb) standard has just been ratified. It uses light for private, high-speed data connectivity within a room and works like WiFi from the end-user perspective. #wireless #technology #innovation

POSTED ONJULY 14, 2023 BY JEAN-LUC AUFRANC (CNXSOFT) - NO COMMENTSON LIFI 802.11BB STANDARD USES LIGHT FOR IN-ROOM DATA TRANSMISSION UP TO 224GB/S

LiFi 802.11bb standard uses light for in-room data transmission up to 224GB/s

The 802.11bb WiFi-like standard, also called LiFi, was ratified in June 2023. It enables data transmission up to 224GB/s at a few meters range within a room using light instead of RF signals used in most other wireless standards.

The technology has been worked on for many years, and we first covered (a version of) LiFi in 2014 that was still part of the IEEE 802.15 standard with speeds up to 1 Gbps. But the Light Communications 802.11bb Task Group was only formed in 2018 chaired by pureLiFi and supported by Fraunhofer HHI, and led to be ratification of the IEEE 802.11bb standard last month.

https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/07/14/lifi-802-11bb-wifi-standard-uses-light-for-in-room-data-transmission-up-to-224gb-s/?fbclid=IwAR3-k5HAxyGO2J2FGYhNggXNWd0a8_BZ20UhgELxKHPUignVle9MA7-nrik

100x Faster Than Wi-Fi: Li-Fi, Light-Based Networking Standard Released
By Mark Tyson published 1 day ago
Proponents boast that 802.11bb is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi and more secure
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/li-fi-standard-released

LiFi specification released, enabling wide adoption of light-based wireless internet
Secure wireless speeds of up to 224GB/s through LED lights, cutting down on spectrum congestion
https://www.techspot.com/news/99377-lifi-specification-standards-released-enabling-wide-adoption-light.html

Laser Communications Relay Demonstration
TOPIC:
LASER COMMUNICATIONS
R&D AREA:
Communication Systems
R&D GROUP:
Advanced Lasercom Systems and OperationsOptical and Quantum Communications Technology
Optical communications technologies decades in the making at Lincoln Laboratory were transferred to NASA for its first two-way laser relay communications system.
https://www.ll.mit.edu/r-d/projects/laser-communications-relay-demonstration

About leap seconds

Tomi Engdahl — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 20:51:19 +0000

Doing away with leap seconds has been up for debate since at least 2013, on grounds that they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Leap seconds have represented risks to important communications and computing systems. Time Lords decree an end to leap seconds before risky attempt to reverse time article tells that The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) has made a decision, and declared that the world can do without leap seconds. Last week, the BIPM’s 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures decided [PDF] the leap second’s day is done: The body called for an end to leap seconds and for work to commence on a proposal for a “new maximum value for the difference (UT1-UTC) that will ensure the continuity of UTC for at least a century.” The change does not come any time soon. A 2035 deadline for formulating that maximum value was set, and the 28th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 2026 will vote on a resolution to make it happen.

It was considered that today leap second causes more problems than what benefits it gives. Leap seconds have occasionally been added to official timekeeping records to reflect changes in the Earth’s angular rotation. Leap seconds are painful to promulgate in the digital realm. There are many systems that do not handle leap seconds correctly. Remember that one time the Linux kernel couldn’t cope for a moment? The Linux kernel’s inability to handle added leap seconds caused plenty of crashes in 2012. A 2015 leap second also caused issues and in 2016 Cloudflare stumbled when confronted with the need to add a second. I also remember debugging some computer system issues caused by leap second.

Maybe we should also get rid of Summer time in Europe disruptions also?

Sources:
https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/22/leap_seconds_discontinued/
https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/64811223/Resolutions-2022.pdf/281f3160-fc56-3e63-dbf7-77b76500990f

LUMI supercomputer

Tomi Engdahl — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 18:34:51 +0000

New European supercomputer is inaugurated in Finland. LUMI is the fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer in Europe, ranked also the third fastest in the world.

It will have an expected peak performance of 550 petaflops (550 million billion calculations per second) while being fully powered by renewable energy: LUMI uses natural cooling systems and its waste heat will account for about 20 percent of the district heating in the city of Kajaani.

LUMI supercomputer is based on HPE Cray EX235a, AMD Optimized 3rd Generation EPYC 64C 2GHz, AMD Instinct MI250X, Slingshot-11.

The project cost was around 200 million Euros.

Picture from press release:

Sources and more information:
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/new-european-supercomputer-inaugurated-finland
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12490372
https://top500.org/system/180048/

James Webb telescope

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 09:09:41 +0000

The American space agency has achieved a major milestone in its preparation of the new James Webb Space Telescope. James Webb telescope mirror alignments has been finished, and the results are exceeding expectations. Still some work to go before actual science operation can start.

NASA’s Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-webb-reaches-alignment-milestone-optics-working-successfully

James Webb: ‘Fully focused’ telescope beats expectations
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60771210

James Webb Telescope

Tomi Engdahl — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 19:52:17 +0000

James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope designed primarily to conduct infrared astronomy. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) led development of the telescope[8] in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The good space news has been that the the James Webb Space Telescope is proceeding according to schedule. NASA is now aligning the telescope.

The alignment process is complex, and it required operators to start gathering the first of many photons the telescope will see over the next couple of decades. The video below is a fascinating look at the alignment process, which is needed to move the 18 separate hexagonal mirror segments into a single optical surface. This amazing telescope has not only spread its wings, but it has now opened its eyes.

How James Webb’s Mirrors MUST Work

Photons Incoming: Webb Team Begins Aligning the Telescope
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/03/photons-incoming-webb-team-begins-aligning-the-telescope/

Working Model Reveals Amazing Engineering Of Webb’s Mirror Actuators
https://hackaday.com/2022/02/08/working-model-reveals-amazing-engineering-of-webbs-mirror-actuators/

NASA unveils the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images
The first step in a long process of aligning the telescope’s mirrors
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/11/22929054/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-first-images

Photons Received: Webb Sees Its First Star – 18 Times
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/11/photons-received-webb-sees-its-first-star-18-times/

The James Webb Space Telescope’s first images have scientists excited (and a bit relieved)
https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-first-images-excitement

Animals drive and play for science

Tomi Engdahl — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 21:33:58 +0000

There’s an amusing joke about some fish in a tank, idly wondering how they drive it. this can be tested by building them an FOV (fish-operated vehicle).

Fish Discover How To Drive Raspberry Pi Powered Tank and These fish can drive their tank to get treats tell how scientists have taught fish to drive their tank around an enclosure using a motion-detecting algorithm running on Raspberry Pi 3B+.

Check this video:

Can animals play video games? SOMEBODY TRAINED RATS TO PLAY DOOM II USING A MINI ‘VR’ RIG article tells that the engineer says he had “fun building a rodent VR rig and training rats to kinda play” Doom II. The engineer has written a blog post that tells how he was able to build his system for the “ridiculously cheap” price of $2,000.

VR Setup Overview

Special transverse sound wave

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 21:09:44 +0000

Research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered a new type of sound wave: The airborne sound wave vibrates transversely and carries both spin and orbital angular momentum like light does. The findings shattered scientists’ previous beliefs about the sound wave.

“While the airborne sound is a longitudinal wave in usual cases, we demonstrated for the first time that it can be a transverse wave under certain conditions.”

Researchers designed a type of artificial material called “micropolar metamaterial” to implement this idea, which appears like a complex network of resonators. Air behaves like an elastic material inside the micropolar metamaterial.

The findings demonstrated that airborne sound, or sound in fluids, can be a transverse wave and carry full vector properties such as spin angular momentum the same as light does. This may have applications in acoustic communications, acoustic sensing and imaging.

Friday Fun: Ig Nobels

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 05:21:16 +0000

Ig Nobel spoof prizes are not as famous as the “real” Nobels – not quite. All the fun occurred online instead of traditional cerenomy.

BBC reports:
Upside-down rhino research wins Ig Nobel Prize
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58507100

An experiment that hung rhinoceroses upside down to see what effect it had on the animals has been awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.

Other recipients included teams that studied the bacteria in chewing gum stuck to pavements, and how to control cockroaches on submarines.

2-nanometer (nm) node chip

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 06 May 2021 19:05:44 +0000

IBM has become the first in the world to introduce a 2-nanometer (nm) node chip.
It claims will improve performance by 45% using the same amount of power.

IBM Introduces the World’s First 2-nm Node Chip
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/ibm-introduces-the-worlds-first-2nm-node-chip

IBM has become the first in the world to introduce a 2-nanometer (nm) node chip. IBM claims this new chip will improve performance by 45 percent using the same amount of power, or use 75 percent less energy while maintaining the same performance level, as today’s 7 nm-based chips. To give some sense of scale, with 2-nm technology, IBM could put 50 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail.

The foundation of the chip is nanosheet technology in which each transistor is made up of three stacked horizontal sheets of silicon, each only a few nanometers thick and completely surrounded by a gate.

The Nanosheet Transistor Is the Next (and Maybe Last) Step in Moore’s Law
https://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/the-nanosheet-transistor-is-the-next-and-maybe-last-step-in-moores-law

The largest radio telescope is no more

Tomi Engdahl — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 23:25:39 +0000

A huge radio telescope in Puerto Rico has collapsed after decades of astronomical discoveries.

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. It features prominently in the last part of the 1995 movie GoldenEye.

At that that time the crash was fiction, but fiction became in some way reality 25 years later!

Puerto Rico: Iconic Arecibo Observatory telescope collapses
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55147973

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) said the telescope’s 900-ton instrument platform fell onto a reflector dish some 450ft (137m) below.