PC Pro writes:
The technology would overcome the problem best exemplified by pilots having to say “over” each time they take turns in talking over radio, but it could also be applied to wireless data networks, scientists at Stanford University said.
“Textbooks say you can’t do it,” said Philip Levis, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford. “The new system completely reworks our assumptions about how wireless networks can be designed. Unlike radio before it has the unique ability that it can receive and transmit at the same time.
The technique works, in the abstract sense, in much the same way that humans can block out the sounds of their own voices during a conversation.
According to the researchers, the breakthrough uses two transmitters in the hardware at each end of a conversation, with the two transmitters working in a similar way to noise-cancelling headphones.
“The two transmit signals interfere destructively at the receive antenna to create a dead signal that the receiver can’t ‘hear’,” said Levis. “So you create this null position where the receiver can’t hear that signal and so is able to receive packets from other areas.”
The researchers claim this immediately makes radio equipment twice as fast as existing technology, and with further tweaking could lead to even faster and more efficient networks.