Mercedes Speeds Up Wireless TransmissionMercedes Speeds Up Wireless Transmission

Automaker Mercedes-Benz Tuesday showed off the latest creation of its research division, a C320 sedan that incorporates next-generation wireless LAN technology in a high-speed wireless communications system capable of sending and receiving large amounts of data in quick bursts.

The test car, which was demonstrated at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, is part of Mercedes DriveBy InfoFueling project and is based on the emerging 802.11a standard for next-generation wireless LANs.

In tests, the Mercedes system sent and received data from a moving vehicle at 54 Mbps, many times faster than data transfer rates achieved using cellular telephone frequencies. The 802.11a standard potentially can be used for even faster transmissions, since it's a standard for wireless LANs that can reach speeds up to 100 Mbps.

Unlike regular cell-phone networks, which are designed to provide ubiquitous coverage, the DriveBy InfoFueling system sends data quickly as vehicles pass transceiver sites with limited range. A car, for instance, would send and receive as much data as it needed to as it sped past a transceiver at a base station and would not be able to send or receive again until it passed another base station.

"We've set up a network that has wireless hot spots that the car can use to download large amounts of data as the car drives by at highway speeds," says Wieland Holfelder, manager of smart vehicles research at Daimler Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz USA's parent company. Potential uses for the system include downloading updated maps, real-time traffic data, and digital music or video without having to stop or slow down, Holfelder says.

It also could be used to send large amounts of data from a moving car to a person connected to a conventional LAN or the Internet, the system's creators say. Those applications would involve transmitting the data on a wireless connection from the car to a receiving site, which would have to be wired to the Internet or a corporate LAN.

The Mercedes-Benz test project is part of the company's exploration of dedicated short-range communications systems. Two years ago, the FCC set aside the 5.9-GHz radio frequency for dedicated short-range communications systems to be used for driver information and assistance services. In addition to communications between cars and fixed points, the communications technology also allows for vehicle-to-vehicle exchanges.