For years now, Alphabet's Taara division has been delivering internet connectivity in far-flung areas with traffic-light-sized transmitters that communicate over long distances using beams of light. The team behind it has now reduced that tech down to a chip the size of a fingernail.
Taara was borne from a vision to provide internet access to underserved remote communities without the need to route cumbersome fiber-optic connections through to them. The Taara Lightbridge solved that with its wireless optical communication systems. Similar to how light carries data through fiber-optic cables, Taara's system uses precisely aligned transmitters mounted atop tall poles or building rooftops to beam light between each other using mirrors and sensors – without wires between them.
The full-size Lightbridge system manages fiber-like speeds of 20 Gbps across distances up to 12.4 miles (20 km). The tiny silicon photonic chips that could replace them can currently transmit data over the air at 10 Gbps over a distance of 0.62 miles (1 km).
Taara's general manager Mahesh Krishnaswamy explains that the chip replaces the hardware in the current Lightbridge tech with clever software to direct light accurately.
"While the Taara Lightbridge steers the light physically, with Taara’s chip we've removed many of the mechanical components and designed a solid-state solution for automatic beam steering," says Krishnaswamy. "At the heart of this innovation is the optical phased array, an advanced system that steers, tracks, and corrects light with extraordinary precision.
"On each Taara chip there are hundreds of tiny light emitters. By using software to control when each of these emit light, we can manipulate the light's wavefront and direct it where it needs to go."
If it's perfected to operate just like the bulky Lightbridge transmitters, the chip could make it even easier to deploy Taara's cost-effective, easy-to-maintain tech in hard-to-reach areas around the world.
What's cool about Taara already is how it enables local networking businesses to sidestep large internet service providers and deliver connectivity to communities in the area, while owning the infrastructure.
In July 2023, Taara noted its tech was in use across 'hundreds of communities in 13 countries' including India, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Rwanda, and New Zealand. The program also includes a platform called Taara Share, operational in Ghana and Kenya, which lets people sell fast, inexpensive data to others in the area using a mobile app and routers installed on their property. Taara said that's created an additional beneficial impact in places where mobile connectivity is slow or unavailable.
"... we’ve helped create new streams of income for entrepreneurs and new opportunities for folks who otherwise wouldn’t reap the benefits afforded by reliable internet access," says the project. "Taara Share has not only created livelihoods for local entrepreneurs, but also enabled remote work opportunities for residents, enriched forms of learning for students, and so much more."
Back to the chip – Krishnaswamy believes there are even more potential applications this could unlock. "... we see opportunities to bring high-speed internet to underserved regions, rethink the way data centers are built and operated, enable faster, (and) create safer communication for autonomous vehicles."
There's work to be done yet. The Taara team aims to "extend both the chip’s range and capacity by creating an iteration with thousands of emitters." It will also build a second-gen chip and incorporate it into the next Taara product, slated to arrive next year.
Source: X
