[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #306: Another wireless advance

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #306: Another wireless advance
October 31st, 2012

We try to mix it up when we choose subjects for the /4cast/, but here we 
are talking again about a topic we featured just 2 weeks ago 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?p=3145>. At that time, we thought 
the promises of "5G" wireless were pretty significant, but since then 
some major universities have released news that could really boost 
wireless networks, although details are currently sparse due to 
nondisclosure agreements. Researchers from these American and European 
universities claim that they can increase wireless bandwidth 
tremendously with no need to replace equipment; they do it by handling 
the problem of dropped data packets in a new way.

  * Network coding speeds up wireless by 1000%
    <http://www.i-programmer.info/news/181-algorithms/4992-network-coding-speeds-up-wireless-by-1000.html>
    (i-programmer/Mike James) "TCP [Transmission Control Protocol] isn't
    a good protocol for an unreliable channel. It sends packets one at a
    time and relies on the receiver to acknowledge them. If any packets
    go missing then the receiver signals this and the transmitter sends
    the packet again. Over wired connections this works reasonably well
    because few packets are lost and the problem is usually network
    congestion for which slowing things down tends to help. However,
    over wireless networks, especially phone networks, packet loss is
    common. What happens in this case is that the network capacity is
    wasted in resending packets and in the handshaking needed to request
    a resend."
  * Increasing wireless network speed by 1000%, by replacing packets
    with algebra
    <http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138424-increasing-wireless-network-speed-by-1000-by-replacing-packets-with-algebra>
    (ExtremeTech/Sebastian Anthony) "With coded TCP, blocks of packets
    are clumped together and then transformed into algebraic equations
    that describe the packets. If part of the message is lost, the
    receiver can solve the equation to derive the missing data. The
    process of solving the equations is 'simple and linear,' meaning it
    doesn't require much processing on behalf of the
    router/smartphone/laptop."
  * A bandwidth breakthrough
    <http://www.technologyreview.com/news/429722/a-bandwidth-breakthrough/>
    (MIT Technology Review/David Talbot) "Testing the system on Wi-Fi
    networks at MIT, where 2 percent of packets are typically lost,
    Medard's group found that a normal bandwidth of one megabit per
    second was boosted to 16 megabits per second. In a circumstance
    where losses were 5 percent-common on a fast-moving train-the method
    boosted bandwidth from 0.5 megabits per second to 13.5 megabits per
    second."
  * A bit of algebra makes Wi-Fi go much faster
    <http://www.geekosystem.com/algebra-wi-fi-faster/>
    (Geekosystem/James Plafke) "There's no timetable for this technology
    to be gifted to the Wi-Fi world, but an estimate of two or three
    years was bandied about. At the rate Internet speeds are climbing
    nowadays, though, who knows where our standard speed will be by
    then, and who knows how much this technology will be able to boost
    that."

*/Packet fact:/*

TCP packets vary in size depending on the type of data they are 
transmitting, but the most common sizes for Internet TCP packets range 
from about 400 to 600 bytes. So it would take about 100 average-size 
packets to transmit the typical /oplin.org/4cast/ web page (around 
57,000 bytes).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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