Infinite number of wireless channels possible in a fixed bandwidth

Infinite number of wireless channels possible in a fixed bandwidth

Italian researchers have demonstrated in Venice a technique which could allow the implementation of an infinite number of channels in a given, fixed bandwidth.

“We have experimentally shown that by using helicoidal parabolic antennae, the use of OAM (orbital angular momentum) states might dramatically increase the capacity of any frequency band, allowing the use of dense coding techniques in each of these new vortex radio channels,” say the researchers, “this might represent a concrete proposal for a possible solution to the band saturation problem.”

Most of the researchers are from the University of Padova, with one from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and one from the Padova Nanofabrication Laboratory.

The experimental transmission, from the isle of San Giorgio across the water to the Doge’s Palace – a distance of 442m - showed  that it is possible to use two beams of incoherent radio waves, transmitted on the same frequency but encoded in two different orbital angular momentum states, to simultaneously transmit two independent radio channels.

The location of the experiment was chosen because it is where Galileo first demonstrated his invention of the telescope 400 years ago.

The technique could be used in TV broadcasts, WiFi and radio.

‘This novel radio technique allows the implementation of, in principle, an infinite number of channels in a given, fixed bandwidth, even without using polarization, multiport or dense coding techniques,’ say the researchers in a paper describing the experiment, ‘this paves the way for innovative techniques in radio science and entirely new paradigms in radio communication protocols that might offer a solution to the problem of radio-band congestion.’

Source: Epoch Times