WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2018) A project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a specialized unit in the US Department of Defense, has successfully demonstrated one of the worlds fastest wireless data links over a distance of 20 kilometers in the city of Los Angeles, the defense contractor Northrop Grumman said in a press release on Wednesday.
"The blazing data rate is fast enough to download a 50 gigabyte blue ray video in four seconds," the release said. "The demonstration marked the successful completion of Northrop Grummans Phase 2 contract for DARPAs 100 Gbps RF Backbone program."
Although faster data rates have been achieved, just five years ago, 100 Gbps represented a world record first achieved by German engineers, according to a report in the internet news site ExtremeTech.
The DARPA-Northrop Grumman 100 Gbps ground demonstration in the urban environment of Los Angeles sets the stage for the flight test phase of the RF Backbone program, the release said.
The project aims to create an air-to-ground link of up to 100 Gbps over a 100 km range and extended ranges with lower data rates, the release noted.
The 100 Gbps hardware will be flown aboard the Proteus demonstration aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites, according to the release.
