New industry alliance to promote wireless optics as a viable last-mile option

Two Canadian companies will be among about a dozen firms meeting in Boston this summer to promote a new wireless technology that uses lasers to deliver last-mile broadband connectivity. Plaintree Systems Inc, Ottawa, and fSONA Communications, Richmond BC, are members of the recently formed Free Space Optics (FSO) Alliance, which will hold its inaugural meeting at the Wireless Communications Association International conference, June 24-27. Topping their agenda in Boston will be how to educate potential users that the technology is a viable alternative to both RF-based wireless systems and in-building fibre. "The classic issues are educating the user community as to the strengths, while at the same time, the weaknesses of the technology," says David Kahn VP product development at Plaintree. "The strengths are that it carries enormous payloads at extremely low costs and the weaknesses are that it’s not necessarily as reliable a medium as fibre because you have things like fog that can get in the way." The FSO Alliance was formed in February primarily to promote the interests and credibility of the industry. "The fact that the industry group has now swelled to about a dozen or so (companies) gives (wireless optics) more credibility and should help doubtful buyers realize it’s not just a crazy idea of one company," Kahn told Report on Wireless. Beaming light signals over the air has been around since the 1980s. The technology has now advanced to the point where it’s possible to use FSO in commercial point-to-point and point-to-multipoint deployments. The technology operates in the terahertz band – 1,000 GHz – which is currently exempt from licences due to the lack of traffic in that frequency range. Two independent studies estimate the FSO market will become significant by 2005. The Yankee Group predicts it will reach the hundreds of millions or low billions, while the Strategis Group’s indications point to about US$2 billion in four years. The main advantages to the technology are its speed and cost of deployment. Major FSO vendor AirFiber Inc says it can get a link up and running within two to three days for about US$20,000 per building. In comparison, it often takes four to 12 months to fibre a building, and at a cost of between US$100,000-$200,000. FSO also boasts higher connection speeds than even DSL or cable, from 155 Mbs to 622 Mbs, with some companies offering even faster speeds. Even in the wireless world, data throughput rates coming from LMCS or MDS systems don’t come close. But the technology isn’t without its problems. While rain and snow can distort some of the signals, fog is the real enemy of wireless optics. The tiny moisture particles in fog act like mini prisms scattering the light beam which can cause damage or loss of the signal. Vendors are working to make a more robust system that can withstand such weather. Another challenge facing the FSO industry will be reassuring users and the general public that these lasers are safe. While some vendors insist their products are safe, others aren’t so confident and that’s sure to raise alarm bells. Kahn admits there may be some risk associated with these systems, but overall it is low.

New industry alliance to promote wireless optics as a viable last-mile option

News | May 14, 2001

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