IR revamped - Transfer rate to 1 GBps

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According to KDDI R&D Laboratories, its new technique [Japanese; PDF] ups the IR transfer speed to 1Gbps, which is 250 times the old theoretical limit of 4Mbps. Not only that, it has added a layer of stability that should eliminate those old scenes where would-be IR exchangers ended up saying “Oh screw this - just tell me your number instead.”

The new IR method relies on swapping the old LED for a new semiconductor laser that can ‘blink’ far faster than any diode (think of a super-fast semaphore lamp). Throw in a chunk of nonvolatile memory for storing data during transfers and Bob’s your high-speed data-chucking uncle.

KDDI suggests the new infrared technology could be used in PCs and mobile devices, particularly phones. If its claims of transferring a full CD of music in under a second prove accurate, then we’re looking a seriously useful revival of some old gadgetry.

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