Abstract
This report addresses technologies and marketplace for two Free Space Optics
communications types. They are:
- Wireless Fiber Communications (WFC), and
- Visible Light Communications (VLC).
As shown in the report, though these technologies are based on different
principles, they both use light as a transmission media and have many other
similarities.
The WFC market development still remains uncertain. Though this report showed
the potential market with wide open doors, it is presented only by a compact
group of vendors (with such leaders as fSONA and LightPointe); recently, some
vendors went out of business, or discontinued WFC products. On the one hand,
the push for ever-greater bandwidth could eventually outrun any RF capacity,
forcing a shift to WFC. On the other hand, RF techniques have a long head
start in inside-building applications, and the weather problem remains a
severe one for WFC inter-building links. Perhaps the best overall prospects
are in space, where progress is being made in improving acquisition and
tracking. Once these are perfected, the bandwidth advantages of optical
free-space communications should open up a substantial market niche. Another
segment of the WFC market-military-is also developing relatively fast and is
supported by various government-sponsored programs. The report summarizes
recent trends in the WFC market development and shows benefits of its use in
multiple applications. The technology is perfecting, using multiple lasers
and optical-microwave protection as well as advances in optics; it is also
shifting from the 800 nm widow to the 1500 nm window, allowing more transmit
power.
In the WFC channel, the highest speed achieved for practical purposes is 10
Gb/s; some vendors claim a transmission path up to 5 km with at least 99.9%
availability for lower speeds. The report also analyzes the WFC market and
assesses its characteristics. In the authors' opinion, WFSs will continue to
be used in niche applications, and the technology advances will make this
industry stronger and stronger each year. Several of the most important
factors that help the FSO market to grow are cost, short deployment time and
maintenance-free communications channel. It seems that in the today weak
economy users are looking for technologies that can produce satisfactory
results for minimum investments-and that what WFSs can do better than RF
systems.
The second part of the report discusses Visible Light Communications (VLC)
properties, advantages and limitations. A visible light communication
utilizing LEDs has many advantages such as visibility of information, high SNR
(Signal to Noise Ratio), low installation cost, usage of existing
illuminators, and high security. Furthermore, exponentially increasing needs
and quality of LED have helped the development of visible light communication.
The visible light communication is very suitable to the ubiquitous environment
in terms of human interface to assure the comfortable human life.
VLC is still in a stage of development. It is in the process of
standardization by the IEEE 802.15.7 group and Visible Light Communications
Consortium (VLCC), as well as other standard organizations (such as Jeita).
The VLCC was formed in 2003; but only at the present time it published the
specifications (in cooperation with the IrDA and ICSA). Jeita also issued two
documents to standardize VLC. The IEEE 802.15.7 group work is in progress.
There are experimental VLC systems and prototypes. The majority of the
development is concentrated in Japan; in the U.S, projects are concentrated
mainly in research arms of universities (such as Boston University).
The report provides the analysis of the current VLC trends, and shows great
potential of this technology. Its utilization is in the agreement with Green
Telecom concept-LEDs have long life span and do not contain any harmful
materials (such as mercury); they also require much less power than
traditional light sources. It is also in the agreement with the overall
requirement to telecom- sustain as large as possible the ratio of b/$
(transmit bits per dollars spent). The progress in the LED development allows
currently supporting the LED modulation speed in the range of 50 Mb/s-200
Mb/s; with experimental devices allow increasing this speed to 1Gb/s-3 Gb/s.
As it is envisioned, the VLC market will evolve in the 2012-2014 time frame,
with multiple indoor and even outdoor applications.
Research Methodology
Considerable research was done using the Internet. Information from various
Web sites was studied and analyzed. Evaluation of publicly available marketing
and technical publications was conducted. Telephone conversations and
interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives.
In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were
used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including
industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.
The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and
relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the
information content.
Target Audience
This report is important to a wide audience of researches, technical and sales
staff involved in the developing of last mile accesses or intra-building
communications. It is recommended for both service providers and vendors that
are working with related technologies. The report also helps to understand
issues associated with relationship between discussed systems and other
technologies.
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