IANS | 21 May, 2018
Facebook on Monday was reported to have enlisted US-based chipmaker
Qualcomm to provide the technology for its gigabit Wi-Fi project that
the social media giant announced during its annual developer conference
in 2016.
"This is a solution for both rural and urban areas that
simply have spotty Wi-Fi in certain regions," The Verge quoted a
Qualcomm spokesperson as saying.
With Qualcomm chipsets being
integrated to the "Terragraph" technology, manufacturers would be able
to upgrade routers and increase broadband data-sending frequency up to
60GHz.
The "gigabit Wi-Fi project" was launched as part of
Facebook's multi-node wireless Terragraph system that was meant to focus
on improving high speed connectivity to dense urban areas.
This project uses technology that transmits higher frequencies to send data through the air -- at rates as high as 7 GB/s.
Facebook has not given any official information, but field tests are expected to begin in the middle of next year.
Facebook
had said in a blogpost in 2016 that Terragraph's reduced interference
and ability to operate in non-line-of-sight conditions increases
customer reach.
"For customers or business in multi-dwelling
units or high-rises, the 'Terragraph system' can be externally attached
to a building and connected to an in-building ethernet data network,"
the company had said.
Combined with Wi-Fi access points, Facebook
claimed that Terragraph is one of the lowest-cost solutions to achieve
100 per cent street-level coverage of "gigabit Wi-Fi".