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Aussie wireless system could replace Bluetooth, HDMI

Australian researchers have developed a low-cost wireless system that they say could replace Bluetooth and wireless HDMI.

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Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
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Ty Pendlebury
(Credit: NICTA )
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Wireless HDMI has been promised for several years, but the handful of systems that have surfaced so far have been criticised for being impractical and expensive.

Researchers at NICTA have developed a system called "GiFi" — short for gigabit Wi-Fi — which offers up to 10 times the bandwidth of existing wireless technologies. Researchers say it uses a tenth of the power of other systems, just 0.5W, meaning it can not only be used between your set-top box and television but to stream video between your mobile phone and your TV.

The system operates wirelessly in the 60GHz spectrum and can operate up to 10 metres away.

GiFi offers a high-bandwidth connection (between 4 and 6Gbps), which is enough to transmit full-high definition video (1080p) in real time.

The researchers say they plan to have the pre-production unit ready in September 2011 with a view to producing the technology in 2013.

Researcher Tim Walsh said NICTA was in talks with "venture capital" to finance production of the technology and that he was hopeful GiFi could become part of the next wireless HDMI or Bluetooth standard.