this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Explain Like I'm Five

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Remember reading an article a while back where they said they did it. Can't find it but never really explained how it is even possible or how or why someone said look light lets put some data in itl

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[–] Patnou@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Ok I understood the morse code part but you lost me after that.

[–] donuts@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (5 children)

If you flip a sine wave upside down (shift it 180 degrees), it can mean "1." If the wave stays as it is, it can mean "0." This flipping happens really fast, creating a pattern of 1s and 0s. That's your data.

A special receiver then measures the wave's shifts and turns them back into the original 1s and 0s.

Instead of just flipping the wave or not, you can also shift it by smaller angles:

  • No shift (0°) = 00
  • Small shift (90°) = 01
  • Bigger shift (180°) = 10
  • Biggest shift (270°) = 11

This way, each wave can carry two bits of data instead of one, making it faster.

[–] Patnou@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I may be going out on a limb but something tells me we are far off from like transmitting a whole book and storing it in light or beam?

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