High-Speed Mobile Wireless at Rates of 20 Mbps - Brief Article

Wireless Internet, Sept, 2001

Carucel LLC recently announced a mobile wireless broadband infrastructure that provides data rates of 20 megabits/second per user traveling at highway speeds. The Carucela system achieves high data rates by employing a small-cell, moving base station infrastructure. This new type of infrastructure provides mobile wireless users traveling at highway speeds access to a large number of broadband channels at a cost per minute comparable to a cellular voice call and greatly surpasses current third-generation (3G) proposals.

The moving base station infrastructure addresses and solves the limitations of 3G:

- At highway speeds, each user of the moving base station system can have a dedicated channel with a guaranteed data rate of 20 Mbps compared to a theoretical max of 144 Kbps for 3G proposals. Additionally, unlike the moving base station system, 3G available data rates are highly dependent on user demand. Therefore, the actual data rates per user in 3G system will likely be much less in highly dense commuter rush-hour traffic.

- The moving base station infrastructure utilizes the 60 GHz spectrum, unlicensed in the US, saving providers billions in license fees. In addition, US 3G providers are finding it difficult to secure spectrum space as proposed spectrum is currently in use by the government and other commercial entities.

The moving base station infrastructure is confined to a highway median thus eliminating issues with zoning permits for antenna sites.