Melbourne (Australia) scientists have built and demonstrated a tiny 5mm per side CMOS chips (pictured above) that can transmit 5Gbps over short distances – about 10m – featuring a tiny 1mm antenna, a power amp that is only a few microns wide, and a low 2 watt power consumption . “GiFi” appears set to revolutionise short distance data transmission, and transmits in the relatively uncrowded 60GHz range.

Best of all, the chip is only about a year away from public release, and will only cost around AUD$10 (US$9.20) to produce.

It will be very interesting indeed to read the initial reviews of the new XR6Turbo.

In addition to a turbo that spools up significantly faster than the current XR6 Turbo, and boost increased from 6psi to 10psi, a much improved intercooler is provided, with significant increases in volume and reduced flow restriction.

But that’s nothing compared to two other features which now have more detail available:

1) Overboost: the T will allow overboost of approximately 10% for a few seconds, likely under high load wide-open-throttle conditions. This, assuming the power figures don’t take this into account, could mean brief peak output much nearer to 300kW.

2) More detail on launch control: when the clutch is engaged and sufficient accelerator depression made to allow the engine to reach the new 3500rpm clutch-in (stationary) limit, after three seconds the turbo will be spooled up using exhaust mixed with air that’s been pumped into the cylinders deactivated as part of the launch control process. When the clutch is released the cylinders are brought back online, and the car is able to take off with the turbo already partially spooled up. This is potentially significantly closer to genuine launch control than the simple 3500rpm clutch-in rev limit that was initially revealed.

Its refreshing to see Ford looking outside the square for ideas that will help give a competitive edge against competitors like the Holden VE-SS, and the more detail that comes to hand, the more it sounds like the new GF XR6Turbo will be a large change – large enough to help stop declining sales of what is a great but until now ageing car.

Some new information on the 2008 FG Series XR6 Turbo

Now Updated! Click here for latest info on launch control and overboost system!

Changes to the turbo:

The engine now puts out 270kW, and 533Nm from 2000-4750rpm. Effectively the specs from the outgoing F6 Typhoon.

Aside from apparently using the stronger LPG conrods, the other internal engine changes are not known at this stage.

However, Ford has made some changes to the turbo itself.

The turbo is still a Garrett turbo, but now has a smaller compressor wheel. While this will mean faster spool-up when the engine is off the boil – rumoured to be 30% faster spool up which will mean less lag – it will also likely limit the ability of the turbo to cope with larger boost. In other words while it will be possible to increase boost via editing of the ECU software, you may not be able to increase boost as far as you can with the existing turbo.

Whether this is an actual problem for tuners remains to be seen – the existing turbo has a very high capacity for increased boost which may not be pushed to its limits anyway in normal tuning. The upper limits of the new turbo setup should be able to be calculated once the new compressor wheel has been properly identified.

Launch control:

Rumours of launch control in the manual XR6 Turbo may be exaggerated. Proper launch control involves the ECU taking control of some aspects of the car (clutch, ignition or similar depending on how they choose to implement it), and has the aim of producing searing take-offs where in wet or dry the car will take off pretty much as fast as possible – without the normal complexity of balancing clutch use with power application to avoid either bogging down or spinning the wheels.

In the FG Series XR6 Turbo, the launch control is said to consist of a ~3500rpm rev limiter which applies when the clutch is depressed. What this means is that you cant rev the car higher before you release the clutch even if you floor it. If true, this seems more aimed at reducing driveline damage and abuse than as a launch control, as even in the BA or BF XR6Turbo 3500rpm will tend to smoke the tyres if launched quickly at that many revs (with no traction control engaged). Add the extra torque and power of the FG series, and it will likely do so even more easily.

Editing the software to increase boost:

The BF introduced a flag in the ECU which is tripped when any calibration has been over-written. This means that despite efforts to reflash the “standard” tune back to the ECU before servicing the car, Ford can tell that at some stage the ECU was reflashed. This will then void aspects of the warrantee related to the impacts of reflashing the ECU (ie engine, potentially powertrain etc).

This flag is also present in the FG series, so it is important that people editing/flashing the ECU know that they are voiding parts of their warrantee – and that even if Ford dont say anything to you, it is very likely if you ruin a relevant part of the car and try to claim it on warrantee that you will be (rightfully) declined at that stage.

No additional protections to stop flashing the ECU have been introduced – but people should be aware of the possible consequences and lack of warrantee support if something goes wrong.

iPod:

The Optional Technology Pack inlcudes iPod and Bluetooth integration. iPods are connected to an interface box in the centre console and it feeds directly into the car’s entertainment system. This interface is much more complex than the current audio-only interface: it means all the relevant information from the iPod (song titles etc) can be displayed on the centre display, and via the car’s controls the driver can control the ipod (select different tracks etc).

The FG Series XR6 Turbo is available starting May 2008.

Click here for update: More detail on launch control, and turbo over-boost will be available! WooHoo!

A security issue has been located that enables a specifically crafted request to allow a valid user to edit any post on the blog.

WordPress has released a fix.

The recommended action is to update WordPress to 2.3.3 (which includes a couple of other minor tweaks) or for those seeking a quicker, easier to implement solution to fix the security flaw only, download an updated xmlrpc.php file from WordPress and over-write your existing xmlrpc.php file in your WordPress root folder.