A group of researchers in Taiwan have discovered (PDF) a method of implementing cheap, yet relatively high-bandwidth fibre optic connections.
The new technology has a link speed of 1.25Gbps and replaces the array of LASER diodes regularly used in fibre optic connections with a “single amplified spontaneous emission source.” In other words, the researchers replaced the most expensive component of a fibre optic link with a cheaper, sufficiently robust substitute.
The researchers claim that the solution is primarily to service remote rural areas which consistently go underserved as ISPs cannot recoup the cost of deployment.
“Good bit error rate (BER) performance was achieved to demonstrate the practice of providing wire/wireless connections for long-haul wide-spread rural villages. Since our proposed system uses only a broadband ASE light source to achieve multi-wavelengths transmissions, it also reveals an outstanding one with simpler and more economic advantages,” the proposal reads.
The report continues with details over how such a network might maintain reliability: “If, for example, the one-directional full-duplex transmission characteristic in the experimental configuration is modified to bi-directional full-duplex structure, a single fiber-link broken can be logically re-healed by transmitting the blocked traffics from another direction. This advancement provides system maintainers enough time to fix the disconnected fiber without interrupting network services.”
Divorced from researcher moonspeak, the technology uses a connection architecture which allows village-wide traffic to be delivered from multiple network paths. If one path is blocked due to congestion, cable damage or equipment failure, then traffic may be rerouted along one of the alternate paths to provide continued connectivity while the ISP works to heal the fault.
As the US and Canada struggle to define and deploy faster rural WANs, solutions like this could make Fibre to the Home, Block or Neighborhood (FTTX) more palatable to ISPs for whom no investment is too small to give the cold shoulder.
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