Ahutosh Sabharwal, a Rice professor of electrical and computer engineering, said the innovative full-duplex technology requires a minimal amount of new hardware for both mobile devices and networks.

However, he added that full-duplex technology does require new wireless standards, meaning it might not be available for several years as carriers move to 5G, or Fifth Generation, networks, he added.

Today, the largest national carriers in the U.S., AT&T and Verizon Wireless, are in the early stages of rolling 4G networks on LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, while Sprint has a more fully developed 4G network running over WiMax.

Full-duplex technology would allow a cell phone or other wireless device to transmit data 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.