Getting bandwidth to where it's needed has long been a difficult point to consider. With rural-dwellers the world over craving access to high-speed Internet while still having the option to see the stars at night, figuring out how to get service to them is no small task. The answer may well be in play over at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where they're currently at work on a 100Gbps wireless system with a dizzying 120-mile range.

Currently being called the 100 Gb/s RF Backbone--or just 100G--the program is set to provide super-fast wireless connectivity that allows deployed soldiers in the field access to a network that's as high on bandwidth and low on latency as a fiber-optic network might be, without the need to actually run a fiber-optic network.

While the United States has several fiber-optic networks in the area to ensure access, it doesn't necessarily have fiber throughout. One example is the Turkish network--there is a high-speed fiber-optic link to Turkey, but between Turkey and, say, Afghanistan, there's nearly a thousand miles of low bandwidth and high latency. The U.S. already has a solution in place for that called Common Data Link (CDL), which is a wireless protocol. But available reports--and there are only so many available reports given that this is a military operation--suggest that CDL tops out at 250Mbps.

DARPA, meanwhile, is out to ramp that up to a full 100Gbps, and do it with materials of sufficient weight and size that they can be deployed in the field. That's a tall order--most people's home networking equipment only runs about 100Mbps--and one that some question is even possible in the first place. While it is possible to send large amounts of data--some visible-light systems have already been spotted operating in the 2.5Tbps range--the question is how to get all that data to go any distance. That visible-light system, for example, could only transmit an entire meter, or around three feet. So getting a signal that powerful to go several miles is a much different issue.

Some believe a solution may be found in ViaSat (News - Alert)-1, the satellite used by Exede in the United States (Xplornet in Canada), which is a geosynchronous Ka-band satellite. It actually offers a total capacity of 134Gbps and can be used by almost anyone in the area with the right connections. But that represents fully 56 Ka transponders operating together, so actually getting that much bandwidth isn't likely. Still though, it represents a possibility, as some project that DARPA would do something similar, just with the Ku band, which doesn't have so many problems with inclement weather as the Ka band. From there, it's said to be a matter of getting the proper encoding and multiplexing down to yield the results that DARPA wants.

Naturally, once DARPA gets a handle on that kind of technology--which it stresses will be for military use--commercial networks will be eager to get it, or something like it, into place themselves as a way to roll out broadband networks to rural areas cost-effectively.

As more bandwidth is demanded and consumed by users, the need to get more of it into the field is important for ISPs everywhere. Considering how much of the United States is still either struggling along with dial-up Internet access, or paying huge prices to get minimal high-speed access via satellite or similar wireless methods, a method that will offer more bandwidth and higher speeds will be very welcome.

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