I've made the headline news!

I had promised Bicsi I would write 600 words for the BICSI Backdrop section in Networking+, the monthly newspaper for fixed and wireless networks for the enterprise. The deadline was approaching quickly an dI still didn’t have any idea what I was going to write about when an email landed in my Inbox from Profressor Martin Cryan of the University of Bristol. He was after input and support for a technology he is developing for the market. My artical grabbed the interest of the editor of Networking+ and he made the news the front page headine.

Here’s a copy of the piece that I wrote:
The most interesting aspect of our industry is the development that’s happening at the cutting edge. Here’s something that could extend wireless LAN coverage to areas that are currently considered out of reach.

I’ve just heard that it’s possible to send wireless signals over optical fibre cable and then transmit the signal via an antenna without the need of a powered converter. When I first read the email I had received from Dr Martin Cryan of the University of Bristol, I thought I must have misunderstood it; surely you couldn’t convert light into radio signals without a injecting some power. So I phoned Dr Cryan and he confirmed that’s precisely what he’s done.

The device that’s making this possible is a semiconductor component called the Photonic Active Integrated Antenna (PhAIA, pronounced FIRE). It uses low cost VCSEL technology for the optical interface and can operate on multimode or singlemode optical fibre, overcoming the problem of distance associated with copper cables.

The applications under consideration are currently focused on any IEEE 802.11a/b/g WLAN networks where conventional copper cable can’t be used to feed remote access points, and an electrical power source is not available at the far end. For example, for hotspot range extension or long reach connections from central base stations or routers. However, this technology is not restricted to WiFi signals: standards such as UltraWideBand, 3G and UMTS could be implemented using the same fibre networks.

Fibre based systems can have very long reaches and aren’t restricted by earthing considerations, a particular problem when connecting between buildings. It can access difficult coverage areas such as tunnels, underground spaces and hazardous industrial environments where copper cables could create fire hazards.

A major restriction is that the range from the PhAIA antenna to wireless terminal is currently limited to 10 metres unless a power source is provided for the antenna. However, other research may help here. It’s possible that batteries to power the PhAIA could be charged via the fibre cable using another technology currently being developed at the University of Bristol: light transmitted down the fibre, without interfering with the signal, can be converted to electrical power at the remote end to continually trickle-charge a battery. The viability of this will depend on how much traffic the PhAIA has to handle which, in turn, determines the energy requirement.

Dr Cryan plans to develop his research into a business venture and would like to talk to companies involved in fibre-based communication systems to gauge the level of interest and to help him assess the market opportunities. He is building a case to raise investment to get his products to commercial prototype stage.

This is where you may be able to get involved with this cutting edge technology: Dr Cryan needs people to help him assess the technology and maybe runs trials in real systems once the product is at commercial prototype stage.

If you want to be involved, please email me (alan.bullen@lynxnetworks.co.uk) and I’ll put you in touch with Dr Cryan or you can contact him directly (m.cryan@bristol.ac.uk). And if you can’t be involved, don’t forget you heard it here first.

Alan Bullen
Lynx Networks plc