US-made wireless transceiver delivers fiber optic cable-like speeds

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have developed a 140-gigahertz (GHz) wireless transceiver chip capable of delivering data speeds comparable to fiber-optic cables, marking a significant advancement toward 6G and beyond. Led by Professor Payam Heydari, the team addressed the limitations of conventional chip architectures, which face exponential increases in power consumption at higher wireless speeds. They overcame the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) bottleneck by generating signals directly in the radio-frequency domain using three synchronized subtransmitters, enabling efficient data transmission without overheating. To tackle the receiver side challenges, the researchers introduced a novel hierarchical analog demodulation technique that processes complex data layers in the analog domain before digitization, significantly reducing power consumption. The receiver chip, built on a 22-nanometer architecture, consumes only 230 milliwatts while supporting transmissions in the 140 GHz range. This design not only achieves ultrafast wireless speeds but also supports mass production, potentially