A pattern that transmits a signal diagonally at the speed of light was found by Jason Summers in 1999, shown below. It is composed of 88 gliders and 2 LWSSs.[2] If the input glider is present, it travels through the mechanism at the speed of light. However, because the pattern takes a while to get started and to settle down at the end, the effective speed is less, approximately 150 cells in 193 ticks, still much faster than the c/4 diagonal spaceship speed limit. Regardless of the presence or absence of an input glider, the mechanism soon dies, thus it is a single-use mechanism. The limitation with using this in a complete circuit is that generating gliders that are so closely spaced with current technology would require an immense pattern.[3]
SW input glider emerges to the NE. The 3 gliders furthest SW and the 2 LWSSs (from N and E) are for cleanup. (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE:herePlaintext:here
The 3 SW gliders are for cleanup. The input glider is shown in red.
