consultaglobal

“Proponents of the emerging 802.11n standard (…) argue that the speed and range improvements in 11n will let organizations relegate wired Ethernet to the core and distribution layers of the network. Wi-Fi will emerge as the main access medium (…) We tested [Apple's] Airport Extreme (…) with a newer MacBook (…) we achieved throughput of 137 Mbps“.

Dave Molta’s “The n factor” on Informationweek.

“The WirelessHD specification has been architected and optimized for wireless display connectivity, achieving in its first generation implementation high-speed rates from 2 Gbps to 5 Gbps for the CE, PC, and portable device segments. Its core technology promotes theoretical data rates as high as 20 Gbps, permitting it to scale to higher resolutions, color depth, and range”. 

WirelessHD Consortium

Right after having posted “Beyond Web 2.0: Ready To Cut The Cord“ some days ago, I received a couple of emails asking for additional insights on broadband wireless.

One of the questions related to satellite networks and talked about the notion of providing the ultimate freedom: being able to connect from anywhere in the world anytime. Most people are already familiar with satellite television and radio broadcast services. These days, an increasing number of portable devices and phones are equipped with GPS receivers, being able to determine location, speed, direction, and time. This is leading to quite interesting location relevant services and applications. Machine to machine communications have become relevant to the satellite business, asset tracking and other monitoring applications being the examples.

Terrestrial telecommunication networks continue to expand and improve their coverage, offering cost effective solutions in the process. Our planet is literally wired and continents are already linked by undersea telecommunication cables. Cellular wireless technologies have also evolved to deliver higher data rates, all of which is giving a real meaning to earth’s new digital nervous system. So some analysts question the appeal of broadband satellite for the mass market. Nonetheless, there “unserved” regions, such as remote locations for which broadband satellite is the only available option.

It should be noted that satellite networks have also been positioned to provide backhaul services to telecommunication companies. Backhauling is about transporting voice and data traffic between sites. Basically, this means if that you still connect to your local network using a regular phone, laptop, etc. and that, somewhere in the process, data traffic is transmitted by a satellite network.

This past summer Hughes Network Systems put a new Boeing satellite in orbit improving the delivery of high-speed, two-way communications for Internet, data, voice, video and multimedia applications, further advancing their broadband satellite offer for consumers and business users. Note that this kind of broadband satellite services requires the installation of a satellite dish. Further down I will talk about Iridium for mobile users.

A couple of years ago, industry analyst Max Engel stated in an interview that “if satellites cannot deliver speeds roughly comparable to terrestrial technologies they risk becoming a new version of dial up (…) Most broadband satellite systems require billions of dollars in capital for satellite construction, ground station networks, launch costs, and other expenses”.

I did a quick search on “Gigabit Satellite” initiatives and came across a couple which are sponsored by NASA and ARPA in the U.S. and by NASDA in Japan. Unfortunately, the papers I am reading happen to be a few years old and the telecommunications market is a fast evolving one. Please send me an email or leave your comment below if you happen to have up to date information on this.

As far as the delivery of mobile services, it is worth mentioning that Iridium Satellite is a profitable enterprise with 200,000+ subscribers, who can use portable devices such as the one shown in this picture, connecting directly to the satellite network. At present, the service appears to offer limited bandwidth and voice calls range from $3 to $14 a minute. Iridium has just four earth stations, its space-based backhaul takes care of routing calls. The U.S. Department of Defense is one of Iridium’s main customers.

“Whether you’re at 40,000 ft., cruising the North Atlantic, or roving through the Serengeti, Iridium has the right solutions to meet your needs. We have an extensive network of partners and developers capable of customizing your communications needs to fit any situation. Know a world without boundaries; join Iridium and experience true worldwide communications”.

Iridium

The company has developed products such as “Sky Connect INDOORS” allowing standard telephones and cordless phones to make Iridium calls, as well as checking email with a computer. You would need to install a satellite antenna outside.

Going back to the subject of ”backhauling services”, the telecommunications industry has been relying on the so-called T-carrier or E-carrier copper lines when dealing with 1-2 Megabits per second was good enough. These days increased network traffic and higher bandwidth requirements means that network operators are looking at replacement technologies such as fiber cables dealing with 1-2 Gigabits per second instead. For instance, the costs associated with T-carrier backhaul can make a WiFi hotspot struggle business wise.

Some vendors talk about “fiber in air technology” and ”fixed wireless” solutions. Point-to-point Microwave, Free Space Optics (FSO uses light), satellite networks as mentioned above, and WiMax are often quoted as “wireless” cost effective backhaul options when compared to the cost of laying out fiber cables. Product roadmaps portraying the evolution for FSO and Microwave products feature speeds of 1 Gigabit per second and beyond. There is also an expectation for a new standard 802.16m to see the light in 2009-10 making WiMax become a Gigabit wireless technology.

Switching tracks, not happy enough with single digit Gigabits, there is research going on to deliver multi-gigabit transmission systems:

“Researchers at the University of Essex are claiming a world record for the amount of computer data sent over a point-to-point wireless channel (…) they show that 10 Gigabit radio is feasible (…) The successful experiment at Essex demonstrates that a far greater capacity could be obtained from present generation wireless links (…) Such large capacity could revolutionize wireless Internet download times for many households and local businesses, small and large”.

Researchers Claim 10.4 Gigabit Wireless Transmission Record, September 2005

“A GEDC team recently established a new world record for the highest data rate transmitted wirelessly at 60GHz. GEDC researchers achieved a peak data transfer rate of 15 Gigabit/s at a distance of 1 meter, 10 Gigabit/s at a distance of 2 meters and 5 Gigabit/s at a distance of 5 meters”.

Georgia Tech’s Multigigabit Wireless

“Within three years, this “multi-gigabit wireless” approach could result in a bevy of personal area network (PAN) applications, including next generation home multimedia and wireless data connections able to transfer an entire DVD in seconds“.

Multi-gigabit Wireless Research Could Soon Make Wired Computers And Peripherals Obsolete, July 2007

There is growing interest in Gigabit WiFi, also known as wGTTD, Wireless Gigabit To The Desktop. In 2004 Siemens was reported to have shown a prototype 20 times faster than today’s 802.11g, which is what you typically find at WiFi hotspots and WLANs, wireless local area networks. Speaking of which:

“WLan companies claim that enterprises are becoming increasingly comfortable with the idea of replacing wired Lans with wireless, rather than just supplementing them, but they will demand that Wi-Fi keeps pace with Ethernet speed advances. Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop is starting to be widely adopted”.

Wireless Watch

In the meantime, you can already get higher WiFi performance than 802.11g by moving to pre-802.11n. You can experience 4-5x improvements in throughput, better range and reliability, easily exceeding 100 Megabits per second as pointed out at the top of this post. As an example, an entire DVD can be downloaded in approximately 5 minutes. While the “n” standard has not been formally issued yet, there are quite a few available products already.

UWB, Ultrawideband (also known as Wireless USB), and WHDI, Wireless High Definition Interface, work in shorter ranges than WiFi, but operate at faster speeds than 802.11g: 480 Megabits per second and 3 Gigabits per second respectively: SiBeam plans to replace the wires in your home with integrated transceivers leveraging WHDI.

The telecommunications industry is currently discussing the Fourth Generation Communication System, the so-called 4G: 

“Cellphones capable of transmitting data at blistering speeds have been demonstrated by NTT DoCoMo in Japan. In experiments, prototype phones were used to view 32 high definition video streams, while traveling in an automobile at 20 kilometers per hour. Officials from NTT DoCoMo say the phones could receive data at 100 Megabits per second on the move and at up to 1 Gigabit per second while static. At this rate, an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute (…) NTT DoCoMo hopes to launch a commercial 4G network by 2010″.

NewScientist, 2005

“Japanese mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, claims to have demonstrated communication at 5 Gigabits per second, to a vehicle moving at 10kph, using its experimental 4G wireless technology (…) NTT DoCoMo will present the details of the experiment at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 in Barcelona from February 12 to 15″.

ITWire, 2007

At this point, most industry analysts would enlist the following pre-4G technologies: WiMax, LTE (3GPPLong Term Evolution) and UMB (3GPP2 Ultra Mobile Broadband) as part of this discussion.

So, what specific broadband wireless technology helps with what depends on your requirements as well as settling on tradeoffs accounting for a variety of factors: bandwidth, range and coverage, reliability, power consumption, whether there is a need for being in line of sight or not, context (e.g. mobility vs. static users), the availability of consumer and enterprise products and… the overall affordability and cost effectiveness of the various solutions.

Multi-gigabit wireless networks are expected to enable you to do what you do today just better and faster. Most interestingly, there is an expectation for a new generation applications to surface. They will leverage high resolution interactive video and will enable holographic type of immersive experiences, all of that using the network (and anyone connected to it) as an ubiquitous platform. Some other more mundane applications will involve instant database searches, full blown backups, folder transfers, so on and so for. Needless to say that by the time multi-gigabit wireless becomes broadly available, we will be talking about the impact of Web 3.0 trends. Hope this was of interest. If that was the case, here is a list of related posts:

• Beyond Web 2.0: Ready To Cut The Cord (1)
• MANet: Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks
• Web 3.0 And Beyond 
• Mobile Mashups
• Mobile Applications
• Use Your Phone As A 3G Modem 
• PC Phones In Education