Can Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) benefit from full duplex wireless technology?

There was an interesting article today in Computerworld titled, “Rice demonstrates full duplex wireless technology” and a small snippet from there is given below:

“Full duplex technology would allow a cell phone or other wireless device to transmit and receive data on the same frequency; today’s networks require separate frequencies to send and receive. In effect, therefore, full duplex technology could double a network’s capacity”Read the entire article at Computer world website.

Its actually pretty much same situation for Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), as well. Wi-Fi networks are not full duplex. Meaning, they cannot transmit and receive in the same frequency which effectively halves its rated capacity. For example, if the latest 802.11n technology deployed in a campus is capable of delivering 450 Mbps, the effective throughput would be less than 225 Mbps due to this reason. Practically, its even lesser than that value due to packet loss and other factors like hardware configuration of the access point and the wireless client in 802.11n networks.

So, if this full-duplex transmission technology can be implemented with Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) networks as well (provided the technology is tested and established to work well), I guess it would be very useful indeed.

But what do you people think: Is 802.11n in its present form sufficient for your network needs or would you want to see a higher bandwidth implementation in the near future? A higher bandwidth capable implementation always comes with its hardware and firmware requirements. Let me know your thoughts, in the comments section.

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