Google is Working on Innovative Technique to Provide Internet Utilizing Light Structures
Google's lightbulb idea might just illuminate the future of internet access, potentially banishing the reliance on under-ground cables into the past. Nestled within Google's experimental lab, X, researchers have developed a groundbreaking technological breakthrough they've dubbed Taara. This project, announced on a sunny Friday, promises to enable high-speed internet access through beams of light, scrapping the need for those pricey, buried cables that have been our faithful internet conveyors for so long.
The Taara team's latest offering is a polished version of their silicon photonic chip. This diminutive marvel, about the size of a fingernail, can manipulate, monitor, and rectify beams of light used to transmit data wirelessly without the aid of physical cables. When compared to earlier generations of these chips, which were roughly as large as a traffic light, the advancement is quite noteworthy.
developed a chip that they believe should enable us to deliver high-speed internet access via beams of light, opening up the possibility of making all those underground cables we currently rely on a thing of the past.
Google claims that the Taara system isn't too dissimilar from how fiber optic cables function. Both rely on light to transport data but while traditional fiber-optics squeeze that data through costly underground cables, Taara utilizes invisible light beams to send the information directly through the air. Google touts its technology's ability to transfer data at speeds as high as 20 Gbps over distances up to 12 miles.
announced on Friday a new, next-generation chip that it believes can make light-based, high-speed internet a reality. The new Taara chip is a “silicon photonic chip,” per the company, that can steer, track, and correct beams of light used to transmit data through the air without the use of cables. Oh, and this chip is about the size of a fingernail, compared to earlier generations that measured in about as big as a traffic light.
Google isn't the only entity dancing with the light of innovation. The concept of Li-Fi has been twirling around for over a decade, and it's recently gained traction with prominent recognition from IEEE, establishing principles and standards for it in 2023. Starlink has also jumped on the laser-beam bandwagon, utilizing lasers from its orbiting satellites to connect with ground stations.
around for over a decade and has started to gain traction in recent years, including
However, unlike Starlink, which launches data from space, Taara focuses on connecting the world by light bridge, as long as the laser beams can navigate line-of-sight obstacles like birds, rain, and fog. Taara is no airy fairy thought experiment—it's already in use in 12 countries and even made its debut at music festivals like Coachella to help boost cellular networks.
IEEE officially recognizing the technology in 2023 and establishing standards for it. Starlink famously uses lasers to deliver data from its low-orbit satellites that communicate with base stations on the ground.
In fact, some experts predict that the light-based technology might become indispensable to the future evolution of the internet as radio frequency bandwidth starts to run low. With the world embracing evermore data-hungry technologies - streamed content, virtual realities, smart cities, and the Internet of Things – providing the bandwidth to sustain and fuel our digital world without just flipping a switch is a challenge that Taara may well meet head-on.
interview with Wired, project lead Mahesh Krishnaswamy offered some lofty promises—and a direct shot at some competition. “We can offer 10, if not 100 times more bandwidth to an end user than a typical Starlink antenna, and do it for a fraction of the cost,” he told the publication—though Wired noted that claim seems to be about Taara’s future potential and not something that it can actually achieve at scale right now.
Let there be light, indeed, as persistent innovation and unyielding determination continue to chase away the shackles of our conventional web-bound existence. The Taara project may be just the impetus necessary to illuminate a frontier where the virtual and the real world could forever be entwined.
it’s in use and commercially operational in 12 countries, per Wired. It was also deployed at Coachella to supplement phone networks. And, according to some experts, the light-based technology might be essential to future iterations of the internet, as radio frequency bands are
- The Taara chip, announced by Google's X lab, is a silicon photonic chip that is believed to enable high-speed internet access via beams of light, potentially making underground cables obsolete. (href)
- In the future, light-based internet access might become indispensable due to the limiting radio frequency bandwidth and the increasing demand for data-hungry technologies. (story)
- Google's Taara project, which uses light beams to send information directly through the air, could transfer data at speeds as high as 20 Gbps over distances up to 12 miles. (href)
- The concept of Li-Fi has gained traction in recent years and was officially recognized by IEEE in 2023, establishing standards for the technology. (around for over a decade)