I wonder what they did, though. Because the article is omitting most of the interesting details and frames it as if this as if optical communication in itself was something new or disruptive... I mean if I read the Wikipedia article on Long-range optical wireless communication, it seems a bunch of companies have already invested 3digit million sums into solving this exact issue...
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Well, most likely they’ll never say what they did to solve it, assuming it is solved. That’s how capitalism works. Everyone tries to keep innovation secret, so we have to invent the same thing dozens of times.
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 1 day ago
Nah, all it takes is one person buying it, disassemble it and look at the mechanics to see whether there are things like motors and mirrors inside the transmitter. And I mean physics, lenses and near infraread lasers along with signal processing are well-understood as well. I think it won't be a big secret once it turns into a real thing... I mean as long as it's hype only it might be.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Maybe, though processes and algorithms won’t be copied easily legally. If they did some special coating to lenses or something, or if they have a really smart algorithm to correct for different effects, those are protected by law. You can examine it and try to replicate it, but you can’t copy it.
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 1 day ago
Sure. I think we're talking a bit about different things here. I didn't want to copy it, just know how it's done 😆 But yeah, you're right. And what you said has another benefit, if they want to protect it by law, we have a process for that: Patents. And those require to publish how it's done...