Comparison of QAM Modulation Types

Comparing QAM Modulation

Comparison between 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256 QAM types of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

Gigabit Wireless Networks commonly use QAM modulation to achieve high data rate transmission.  So what is QAM?

Introducing Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

QAM, Quadrature amplitude modulation is widely used in many digital data radio communications and data communications applications. A variety of forms of QAM are available and some of the more common forms include 16 , 32 , 64 , 128 and 256 QAM. Here the figures refer to the number of points on the constellation, i.e. the number of distinct states that can exist.

The various flavours of QAM may be used when data-rates beyond those offered by 8-PSK are required by a radio communications system. This is because QAM achieves a greater distance between adjacent points in the I-Q plane by distributing the points more evenly. And in this way the points on the constellation are more distinct and data errors are reduced. While it is possible to transmit more bits per symbol, if the energy of the constellation is to remain the same, the points on the constellation must be closer together and the transmission becomes more susceptible to noise. This results in a higher bit error rate than for the lower order QAM variants. In this way there is a balance between obtaining the higher data rates and maintaining an acceptable bit error rate for any radio communications system.

Applications

QAM is in many radio communications and data delivery applications. However some specific variants of QAM are used in some specific applications and standards.

For domestic broadcast applications for example, 64 and 256 QAM are often used in digital cable television and cable modem applications. In the UK, 16 and 64 QAM are currently used for digital terrestrial television using DVB – Digital Video Broadcasting. In the US, 64 and 256 QAM are the mandated modulation schemes for digital cable as standardised by the SCTE in the standard ANSI/SCTE 07 2000.

In addition to this, variants of QAM are also used for many wireless and cellular technology applications.

Constellation diagrams

The constellation diagrams show the different positions for the states within different forms of QAM, quadrature amplitude modulation. As the order of the modulation increases, so does the number of points on the QAM constellation diagram.

The diagrams below show constellation diagrams for a variety of formats of modulation:

modulation-constellation-bpsk
modulation-constellation-16qam
modulation-constellation-32qam
modulation-constellation-64qam

Bits per symbol

The advantage of using QAM is that it is a higher order form of modulation and as a result it is able to carry more bits of information per symbol. By selecting a higher order format, the data rate of a link can be increased.

The table below gives a summary of the bit rates of different forms of QAM and PSK.

MODULATION BITS PER SYMBOL SYMBOL RATE
BPSK 1 1 x bit rate
QPSK 2 1/2 bit rate
8PSK 3 1/3 bit rate
16QAM 4 1/4 bit rate
32QAM 5 1/5 bit rate
64QAM 6 1/6 bit rate

QAM noise margin

While higher order modulation rates are able to offer much faster data rates and higher levels of spectral efficiency for the radio communications system, this comes at a price. The higher order modulation schemes are considerably less resilient to noise and interference.

As a result of this, many radio communications systems now use dynamic adaptive modulation techniques. They sense the channel conditions and adapt the modulation scheme to obtain the highest data rate for the given conditions. As signal to noise ratios decrease errors will increase along with re-sends of the data, thereby slowing throughput. By reverting to a lower order modulation scheme the link can be made more reliable with fewer data errors and re-sends.

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LTE Advanced and Gigabit Speeds for 4G

LTE: the roadmap ahead to Gigabit Speeds

Gigabit 4G LTE Technology
Gigabit 4G LTE Technology

LTE enabled smartphones made up only 1 in 4 new devices shipped back in 2013.  By 2015, that percentage share soared to over half of all new smartphones shipped globally.  In fact, LTE is arguably the most successful generational wireless technology having just been commercialized in late 2009 and evolved to capture the majority of the market for new handsets today.  Previous 3G technologies took over a decade to achieve what LTE has done in just 6 years.

The surge in LTE adoption, not coincidental, parallels the growth of the smartphone creating a symbiotic relationship that propelled massive adoption of wireless broadband and smartphone use.  The order of magnitude improvement in network latency provided by LTE wireless connectivity coupled with the rapid growth in digital content and the readily available computing power within everyone’s reach created a rich tapestry of mobile opportunities.

CableFree LTE CPE Indoor Desktop Router with WiFi and VOIP
CableFree LTE CPE Indoor Desktop Router with WiFi and VOIP

As the global LTE network deployments enter a new phase of network enhancements, the industry is now turning to enhanced wireless technologies to evolve the speed and capacity to keep up with consumer demand for ever faster downloads, video streams and mobile applications.  The first stage of LTE network improvement revolved around the use of carrier aggregation which is a method of combining disparate spectrum holdings to create a larger data pipe.  This development tracked with the evolution of LTE from single carrier Cat-3 devices to dual carrier Cat-4 and Cat-6 devices.  Further development of carrier aggregation extended the concept to include 3 carrier aggregation specified by Cat-9 LTE standards which brought the maximum throughput speed to 450mbps in the downlink.

However, in order for the industry to evolve further and keep up with the insatiable demand for mobile broadband, LTE Advanced will require further improvements.  The next step in the evolution of LTE relies on LTE Advanced.  This new set of technologies is destined to improve LTE speed to and past the gigabit-per-second barrier.  To this end, IHS will be delivering a series of LTE Advanced Insights to further explore the key enabling technologies to get us to that gigabit per second barrier. This article is the first of this series.

Critical Areas of Exploration

Operators typically ask critical questions including but not limited to:

  • What is higher order modulation and how does radio signaling enhancement lead to faster wireless broadband?
  • How can advanced antenna designs be incorporated into existing smartphone form factors and what are the physical challenges involved in doing so?
  • What are the opportunities to leverage additional spectrum use especially in the unlicensed portions of 3.5GHz and 5GHz?  What are the advantages as well as the challenges of doing so?
  • How can the industry take learnings from the 3G to 4G transition and build on the foundations of LTE moving into 5G?

QAM: Higher Order Modulation to Break Through Gigabit per Second Barrier

Higher order modulation schemes have been used throughout 3G technologies and now enabling the increased bandwidth coming into 4G LTE Advanced.   As WCDMA evolved into HSPA and HSPA+ in the 3G era, higher order modulations of 16QAM and 64QAM replaced the older QPSK modulation schemes to improve throughput data rates that enable mobile broadband services to take off.  Fundamentally, sophisticated signal processing such as 64QAM are used in wireless networks to improve the spectral efficiency of communications by packing in as many bits as possible into each transmission.  The bits-per-symbol carried by 16QAM modulation scheme is 4 bits while higher order 64QAM yields 6 bits per symbol, a 50% improvement.  Extending this concept, LTE Advanced will use 256QAM modulation from Category 11 onwards which is expected to provide a 33% improvement in spectral efficient over that of 64QAM over the same stream of LTE by increasing the bits-per-symbol to 8 from 6.

Modulation Level (QAM) Bits per Symbol Incremental Efficiency Gain
16QAM 4
64QAM 6 50%
256QAM 8 33%

Table 1 – Modulation Levels and Corresponding Efficiency Gains

While higher order modulations equate greater spectral efficiencies, within the framework of wireless networks, achieving higher order signaling remains a significant challenge.  Real world applications of higher order modulations are difficult to implement network wide as the more sophisticated signaling schemes are inherently less resilient to noise and interference.  In normal deployments of macro cellular coverage, network operators employ adaptive modulation techniques to detect signal channel conditions and adjust modulation schemes accordingly.  For example, if the wireless user is closer to the center of the macro cell area, the network will negotiate the signaling scheme to best take advantage of the wireless fidelity and communicate using the most efficient modulation scheme available.  However, if the conditions are deemed inadequate, for example, at a cell site coverage edge, the network may resort to lower orders of modulation signaling in order to achieve higher reliability of connections.

LTE Category Carrier Aggregation MIMO Spatial Streams Modulation Max. Throughput
Cat-4 2x10MHz 2×2 4 64QAM 150mbps
Cat-6 2x20MHz 2×2 4 64QAM 300mbps
Cat-9 3x20MHz 2×2 6 64QAM 450mbps
Cat-11 3x20MHz 2×2 6 256QAM 600mbps
Cat-16 3x20MHz 4×4 10 256QAM 1000mbps

Table 2 –LTE Categories and Corresponding Throughput Gains

LTE Advanced Base Station

The previous paragraph described limitation of higher order modulation was a hallmark of 3G networks.  However, as LTE deployments begin to rely a more 5G- like heterogeneous network architecture leveraging augmented network equipment such as small cells, the use of higher order modulation becomes more practical as the distance from LTE antenna and the mobile device is reduced.  Yet again, with a challenging transmission medium such as over the air wireless, obstacles still exist.  Even with the most optimized heterogeneous networks, issues such as site to site signal interference can negate much of the benefits of small cells. Therefore, network operators, with help from their equipment vendors, are working on network optimization software to accommodate these interferences.  At the end, any network, even ones designed for Cat-11 LTE and above, will not be able to cover all their mobile subscribers with the highest efficiency signaling.  In actual deployment, only a portion of the devices within a coverage area will be at 256QAM while the majority other devices will fall back to a lower modulation scheme such as 64QAM or 16QAM.  Also, additional challenges exist in carrier aggregated LTE connections whereby 2 or 3 carriers can be aggregated to form a wider virtual channel, here, depending on the frequencies used and the placement of cell towers associated with those specific spectrum, not all of the aggregated radio signals can be adapted to signal in higher order modulation.  Therefore, reaching the theoretical maximum throughput data rates using higher order modulation will be particularly difficult in actual network deployments.

With these real-world deployment limitations on the handset side in mind, higher order modulation schemes have been shown to be a net benefit for LTE networks.  Under trial tests, it has been shown that even a small fraction of users in a coverage cell using 256 QAM create improvements in network capacity performance.  As devices with 256QAM enter and exit a network faster and more efficiently, it frees up wireless capacity to serve non-256QAM signaling devices on the network.  Overall, enabling higher order modulation on an LTE network present a cost advantageous proposition to network carriers as the upgrade is primarily a software based solution.  Going to 256QAM gives network carriers immediate benefits without significant hardware changes that are typically associated with other LTE Advanced features such as adding additional carriers or scaling MIMO antennas.

Evolving LTE Advanced to Gigabit Speeds

Putting the Pieces Together:

In order to achieve gigabit speeds in LTE Advanced, higher order modulation is one tool in a vast tool box of technologies the industry can use to propel 4G LTE further as the market waits for the consensus around the next generation 5G networks.  By building on top of carrier aggregation technology discussed earlier in this series, the implementation of higher order modulation in Cat-11 LTE increased the maximum theoretical throughput to 600mbps using the same 3-carrier aggregated spectrum as dictated by LTE Cat-9.  This 33% improvement from 450mbps is directly accredited to the improved bits-per-symbol efficiency described in this paper.

QAM Modulation, MIMO, CA and Spectrum

So what else is required to take LTE Advanced to gigabit speeds? Well, if we look at the 3GPP Release 12, Cat-16 LTE can get to a theoretical gigabit per second speed using the following combination of the following technologies in concert:

  • 256QAM modulation
  • 4×4 MIMO with 10 spatial streams (2 high frequency carriers with 4 layers each and 1 low frequency carrier at 2 layers)
  • Multi-carrier aggregation (3x20MHz or greater)
  • Use of additional spectrum such as LTE over unlicensed frequencies

What’s needed? Chipset advances

LTE Advanced Category 6 CPE Devices
LTE Advanced Category 6 CPE Devices

Currently, while the bulk of LTE smartphones sold today is still on Cat-6 modems, modem manufacturers are fast working to prepare the electronic component ecosystem with very capable LTE modems that can take advantage of the huge potential and headroom of evolved LTE.  Qualcomm in particular has recently announced their X16 modem chipset which has been designed to take advantage of LTE Cat-16.  The company claims that volume shipment of X16 modem devices will begin in H2 2016.  Other modem makers have not yet announced a CAT-16 capable LTE modem yet but the next iteration of LTE Advanced will clearly be on their roadmap. Meanwhile, wireless infrastructure equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson are lining up technologies to achieve CAT-16 network deployments.  Therefore, technically, commercial gigabit speed LTE Advanced Pro networks and devices can be realized in early 2017.

For Further Information

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Time to fix “Slow Internet Blues”: choose a CableFree Wireless Network instead!

Researchers agree that slow internet can stress you out

CableFree Solves Slow Internet
CableFree Solves Slow Internet

You’re not the only one who gets frustrated when videos buffer too much and too often. Ericsson found that the stress caused by trying to load videos on a slow mobile connection is comparable to the stress you feel while watching a horror movie. The Swedish company discovered that when it conducted an experiment called “The Stress of Streaming Delays.” Sure, Ericsson did it to show brands how slow internet affects them, and it’s true it only had 30 subjects. But we don’t think anyone would disagree that having to endure several seconds to minutes of buffering is frustrating.

CableFree Solves Slow Internet Problems
CableFree Solves Slow Internet Problems

Researchers measured the subjects’ brain, pulse and heart activities while they were performing tasks on a phone, found that video streaming delays increase heart rate by 38 percent. They also found that a two-second buffering period can double stress levels. When the researchers observed the subjects who were subjected to longer delays (around six seconds), though, they saw their stress levels rise, then fall. The participants showed signs of resignation, including eye movements that indicated distraction — they were already giving up.

We’ll bet that’s a feeling you only know too well. Why wait around for downloads and buffering on Slow Internet?  Choose a CableFree Wireless network and get into the fast lane with capacities up to 10Gbps!

www.cablefree.net  or visit our Facebook Page

Via: New York Mag Source: Ericsson (1), (2)

 

The Real Cost of Fiber Cuts: How to solve using Gigabit Wireless

Fiber Cuts – The Real Cost – How to solve using Gigabit Wireless

Fibre Optic Cable - Fibre Cuts cost time and moneyOften you can’t avoid fiber cuts: they happen on public land or under public streets, outside your control.  The vast majority of corporate LAN connections, cable, Internet and LTE backhaul, is done over fiber optic cable.   In one report CNN stated that about 99 percent of all international communications occur over undersea cabling. Alan Mauldin, research director at U.S.-based research firm Telegeography, noted that while some major cabling projects can come with high price tags, fiber optics is considered more robust and more cost-effective than common wireless alternatives like satellite.

Gigabit Wireless solves Fibre Cut outagesBut while fiber optic cabling is traditionally seen as the safer option, that may be a misconception.  When installed correctly, fiber optics is the “perfect” media, transmitting Gigabits of data without interruption.  However, any disruption to the fragile fiber causes data outages which take days or weeks to locate and repair. According to data from the Federal Communications Commission. about a quarter of all network outages that happened between 1993 and 2001 were from cables being cut. Regardless of how the fiber cut occurred, such outages can be particularly damaging.

How easy is it to repair a fiber cut?

Fiber is not a “self healing” media: skilled teams with specialist fiber-splicing and terminating equipment are required to repair a broken fiber connection.  Most data communication engineers do not have this equipment or training on using them. fiber repair is a specialist business and getting trained people and splicing equipment to site costs time and money.  Factoring the anticipated cost of a fiber repair into a budget for “downtime” and “unproductivity” for corporates – and missing SLA’s for uptime for Service Providers – is a serious issue, including business continuity planning.  For rural areas, access to sites can be limited, with some locations limited by poor weather, and for islands sometimes only with infrequent access by sea or air.

Common causes of fiber cut outages

As these instances show, there are many different ways in which fiber optic cabling can be disrupted:

By vandalism – This type of fiber cut outage has been worryingly common of late. According to CNN, there have been 11 separate incidents involving the cutting of fiber optic cable in the Bay Area since July 2015. The FBI noted that there have been more than 12 in the region since January, and that it’s been hard to stop in part because there is so much critical cabling in the area and because cables are typically clearly marked, The Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities noted that these incidents show no sign of slowing down either, as they don’t have a clear suspect(s) or motive at this time. The Journal also noted that some instances of fiber optic-related downtime are not due to vandalism, but rather someone trying to steal metal.
fiber cut duct causes outageBy accident – This is perhaps one of the most common causes of fiber cuts, but nevertheless they are just as damaging. In one example a 75-year-old woman in the country of Georgia was digging in a field when she accidentally severed a fiber optic cable, in an article in The Guardian. As a result of the mishap, close to 90 percent of Armenia and parts of Azerbaijan and Georgia were completely without Internet for five plus hours.

Fire and Ice cause cable outage network downtimeBy force of nature – Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and other major natural disasters all have the potential to cut or entirely destroy fiber optic cabling. Other seemingly more benign forces of nature can also cripple connectivity, as Level 3 reported that 28 percent of all damages it sustained to its infrastructure in 2010 were caused by squirrels.

Calculating the impact of a fiber outage

trench digging causes fiber optic cut network outageIn some of these fiber cut outage incidents, the fallout can be relatively minor. A cut that occurs in the middle of the night on a redundant line can be easy enough to deal with, with service providers sometimes able to reroute traffic in the interim. Unfortunately however, such incidents often lead to much bigger problems for end users. For example, a cut fiber optic cable in northern Arizona in April caused many thousands of people and businesses to go about 15 hours with telephone and Internet service. This meant many shops had to either close or resort to manual tracking, and that personal Internet usage grinded to a halt, The Associated Press reported. More importantly, 911 emergency communications were disrupted in the incident.

It’s not just a hassle for end users, as cut fiber can severely impact public health when emergency services like police departments, fire stations and EMTs can’t take and receive calls. Plus, such incidents are very costly for service providers, forced to repair expensive infrastructure. They can also lead to canceled service, as customers become irate at service providers for failing to provide reliable connectivity at all times.

What’s a solution to fiber cut outages?

One easy way to avoid the problems related to cut fiber is to not have fiber at all and instead pursue a wireless dark fiber alternative. For example, after a cable snafu caused residents of Washington state’s San Juan Islands to go without telephone, Internet and cell service for 10 days in 2013, CenturyLink installed a wireless mobile backhaul option there, according to The AP.

By opting for a solution like a Gigabit Wireless Microwave, MMW, Free Space Optics or MIMO OFDM Radio, service providers gain a wireless alternative to cabling that is just as robust and fast as fiber. With the Gigabit Wireless link in place, cut fiber optic cabling is less disruptive to end users and ISPs.

Where do I found out more information on solving fiber Cut Issues?

For more information please contact us

FSO Guide – Free Space Optics, Optical Wireless

FSO (Free Space Optics, Laser, Optical Wireless) Guide

Free Space Optics (FSO) communications, also called Optical Wireless (OW) or Infrared Laser, refers to the transmission of modulated visible or infrared (IR) beams through the atmosphere to obtain optical communications. Like fibre, Free Space Optics (FSO) uses lasers to transmit data, but instead of enclosing the data stream in a glass fibre, it is transmitted through the air. Free Space Optics (FSO) works on the same basic principle as Infrared television remote controls, wireless keyboards or IRDA ports on laptops or cellular phones.

History of Free Space Optics (FSO)
The engineering maturity of Free Space Optics (FSO) is often underestimated, due to a misunderstanding of how long Free Space Optics (FSO) systems have been under development. Historically, Free Space Optics (FSO) or optical wireless communications was first demonstrated by Alexander Graham Bell in the late nineteenth century (prior to his demonstration of the telephone!). Bell’s Free Space Optics (FSO) experiment converted voice sounds into telephone signals and transmitted them between receivers through free air space along a beam of light for a distance of some 600 feet. Calling his experimental device the “photophone,” Bell considered this optical technology – and not the telephone – his pre-eminent invention because it did not require wires for transmission.

Although Bell’s photophone never became a commercial reality, it demonstrated the basic principle of optical communications. Essentially all of the engineering of today’s Free Space Optics (FSO) or free space optical communications systems was done over the past 40 years or so, mostly for defense applications. By addressing the principal engineering challenges of Free Space Optics (FSO), this aerospace/defence activity established a strong foundation upon which today’s commercial laser-based Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are based.

How Free Space Optics (FSO) Works
Free Space Optics (FSO) transmits invisible, eye-safe light beams from one “telescope” to another using low power infrared lasers in the terahertz spectrum. The beams of light in Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are transmitted by laser light focused on highly sensitive photon detector receivers. These receivers are telescopic lenses able to collect the photon stream and transmit digital data containing a mix of Internet messages, video images, radio signals or computer files. Commercially available systems offer capacities in the range of 100 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps, and demonstration systems report data rates as high as 160 Gbps.

Free Space Optics (FSO) systems can function over distances of several kilometres. As long as there is a clear line of sight between the source and the destination, and enough transmitter power, Free Space Optics (FSO) communication is possible.

FSO: Wireless Links at the Speed of Light
Unlike radio and microwave systems, Free Space Optics (FSO) is an optical technology and no spectrum licensing or frequency coordination with other users is required, interference from or to other systems or equipment is not a concern, and the point-to-point laser signal is extremely difficult to intercept, and therefore secure. Data rates comparable to optical fibre transmission can be carried by Free Space Optics (FSO) systems with very low error rates, while the extremely narrow laser beam widths ensure that there is almost no practical limit to the number of separate Free Space Optics (FSO) links that can be installed in a given location.

How Free Space Optics (FSO) benefits you
FSO is free from licensing and regulation which translates into ease, speed and low cost of deployment. Since Free Space Optics (FSO) transceivers can transmit and receive through windows, it is possible to mount Free Space Optics (FSO) systems inside buildings, reducing the need to compete for roof space, simplifying wiring and cabling, and permitting Free Space Optics (FSO) equipment to operate in a very favourable environment. The only essential requirement for Free Space Optics (FSO) or optical wireless transmission is line of sight between the two ends of the link.

For Metro Area Network (MAN) providers the last mile or even feet can be the most daunting. Free Space Optics (FSO) networks can close this gap and allow new customers access to high-speed MAN’s. Providers also can take advantage of the reduced risk of installing an Free Space Optics (FSO) network which can later be redeployed.

The Market. Why FSO? Breaking the Bandwidth Bottleneck
Why FSO? The global telecommunications network has seen massive expansion over the last few years. First came the tremendous growth of the optical fiber long-haul, wide-area network (WAN), followed by a more recent emphasis on metropolitan area networks (MANs). Meanwhile, local area networks (LANs) and gigabit Ethernet ports are being deployed with a comparable growth rate. In order for this tremendous network capacity to be exploited, and for the users to be able to utilize the broad array of new services becoming available, network designers must provide a flexible and cost-effective means for the users to access the telecommunications network. Presently, however, most local loop network connections are limited to 1.5 Mbps (a T1 line). As a consequence, there is a strong need for a high-bandwidth bridge (the “last mile” or “first mile”) between the LANs and the MANs or WANs.

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A recent New York Times article reported that more than 100 million miles of optical fibre was laid around the world in the last two years, as carriers reacted to the Internet phenomenon and end users’ insatiable demand for bandwidth. The sheer scale of connecting whole communities, cities and regions to that fiber optic cable or “backbone” is something not many players understood well. Despite the huge investment in trenching and optical cable, most of the fibre remains unlit, 80 to 90% of office, commercial and industrial buildings are not connected to fibre, and transport prices are dropping dramatically.

Free Space Optics (FSO) systems represent one of the most promising approaches for addressing the emerging broadband access market and its “last mile” bottleneck. Free Space Optics (FSO) systems offer many features, principal among them being low start-up and operational costs, rapid deployment, and high fiber-like bandwidths due to the optical nature of the technology.

Broadband Bandwidth Alternatives
Access technologies in general use today include telco-provisioned copper wire, wireless Internet access, broadband RF/microwave, coaxial cable and direct optical fiber connections (fiber to the building; fiber to the home). Telco/PTT telephone networks are still trapped in the old Time Division Multiplex (TDM) based network infrastructure that rations bandwidth to the customer in increments of 1.5 Mbps (T-1) or 2.024 Mbps (E-1). DSL penetration rates have been throttled by slow deployment and the pricing strategies of the PTTs. Cable modem access has had more success in residential markets, but suffers from security and capacity problems, and is generally conditional on the user subscribing to a package of cable TV channels. Wireless Internet access is still slow, and the tiny screen renders it of little appeal for web browsing.

Broadband RF/microwave systems have severe limitations and are losing favor. The radio spectrum is a scarce and expensive licensed commodity, sold or leased to the highest bidder, or on a first-come first-served basis, and all too often, simply unavailable due to congestion. As building owners have realized the value of their roof space, the price of roof rights has risen sharply. Furthermore, radio equipment is not inexpensive, the maximum data rates achievable with RF systems are low compared to optical fiber, and communications channels are insecure and subject to interference from and to other systems (a major constraint on the use of radio systems).

Free Space Optics (FSO) Advantages
Free space optical (FSO) systems offers a flexible networking solution that delivers on the promise of broadband. Only free space optics or Free Space Optics (FSO) provides the essential combination of qualities required to bring the traffic to the optical fiber backbone – virtually unlimited bandwidth, low cost, ease and speed of deployment. Freedom from licensing and regulation translates into ease, speed and low cost of deployment. Since Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless transceivers can transmit and receive through windows, it is possible to mount Free Space Optics (FSO) systems inside buildings, reducing the need to compete for roof space, simplifying wiring and cabling, and permitting the equipment to operate in a very favorable environment. The only essential for Free Space Optics (FSO) is line of sight between the two ends of the link.

Security and Free Space Optics (FSO)
The common perception of wireless is that it offers less security than wireline connections. In fact, Free Space Optics (FSO) is far more secure than RF or other wireless-based transmission technologies for several reasons:
Free Space Optics (FSO) laser beams cannot be detected with spectrum analyzers or RF meters
Free Space Optics (FSO) laser transmissions are optical and travel along a line of sight path that cannot be intercepted easily. It requires a matching Free Space Optics (FSO) transceiver carefully aligned to complete the transmission. Interception is very difficult and extremely unlikely
The laser beams generated by Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are narrow and invisible, making them harder to find and even harder to intercept and crack
Data can be transmitted over an encrypted connection adding to the degree of security available in Free Space Optics (FSO) network transmissions.
Free Space Optics (FSO) Challenges
The advantages of free space optical wireless or Free Space Optics (FSO) do not come without some cost. When light is transmitted through optical fiber, transmission integrity is quite predictable – barring unforseen events such as backhoes or animal interference. When light is transmitted through the air, as with Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless systems, it must contend with a a complex and not always quantifiable subject – the atmosphere.

Attenuation, Fog and Free Space Optics (FSO)
Fog substantially attenuates visible radiation, and it has a similar affect on the near-infrared wavelengths that are employed in Free Space Optics (FSO) systems. Note that the effect of fog on Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless radiation is entirely analogous to the attenuation – and fades – suffered by RF wireless systems due to rainfall. Similar to the case of rain attenuation with RF wireless, fog attenuation is not a “show-stopper” for Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless, because the optical link can be engineered such that, for a large fraction of the time, an acceptable power will be received even in the presence of heavy fog. Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless-based communication systems can be enhanced to yield even greater availabilities.

Fog is a major source of attenuation of FSO (Free Space Optics) infrared signals
Fog is a major source of attenuation of FSO (Free Space Optics) infrared signals

Free Space Optics (FSO) and Physical Obstructions
Free Space Optics (FSO) products which have widely spaced redundant transmitters and large receive optics will all but eliminate interference concerns from objects such as birds. On a typical day, an object covering 98% of the receive aperture and all but 1 transmitter; will not cause an Free Space Optics (FSO) link to drop out. Thus birds are unlikely to have any impact on Free Space Optics (FSO) transmission.

Free Space Optics (FSO) Pointing Stability – Building Sway, Tower Movement
Only wide-beamwidth fixed pointed Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are capable of handling the vast majority of movement found in deployments on buildings. Narrow beam systems are unreliable, requiring manual re-alignment on a regular basis, due to building movement. ‘Wide beam’ means more than 5milliradians. Narrow systems (1-2mRad) are not reliable without a tracking system
The combination of effective beam divergence and a well matched receive Field-of-View (FOV) provide for an extremely robust fixed pointed Free Space Optics (FSO) system suitable for most deployments. Fixed-pointed Free Space Optics (FSO) systems are generally preferred over actively-tracked Free Space Optics (FSO) systems due to their lower cost.

Free Space Optics (FSO) and Scintillation
Performance of many Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless systems is adversely affected by scintillation on bright sunny days; the effects of which are typically reflected in BER statistics. Some optical wireless products have a unique combination of large aperture receiver, widely spaced transmitters, finely tuned receive filtering, and automatic gain control characteristics. In addition, certain optical wireless systems also apply a clock recovery phase-lock-loop time constant that all but eliminate the affects of atmospheric scintillation and jitter transference.

Solar Interference and Free Space Optics (FSO)
Solar interference in Free Space Optics (FSO) free space optical systems can be combated in two ways. Optical narrowband filter proceeding the receive detector used to filter all but the wavelength actually used for intersystem communications. To handle off-axis solar energy, sophisticated spatial filters have been implemented in CableFree systems, allowing them to operate unaffected by solar interference that is more than 1 degree off-axis.

Free Space Optics (FSO) Reliability
Employing an adaptive laser power (Automatic Transmit Power Control or ATPC) scheme to dynamically adjust the laser power in response to weather conditions will improve the reliability of Free Space Optics (FSO) optical wireless systems. In clear weather the transmit power is greatly reduced, enhancing the laser lifetime by operating the laser at very low-stress conditions. In severe weather, the laser power is increased as needed to maintain the optical link – then decreased again as the weather clears. A TEC controller that maintains the temperature of the laser transmitter diodes in the optimum region will maximize reliability and lifetime, consistent with power output allowing the FSO optical wireless system to operate more efficiently and reliably at higher power levels.

For more information on Free Space Optics, please Contact Us

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Gigabit Leased Line Replacement

Leased Line Alternatives and Resilience using Wireless

Leased lines are often very expensive to install, with high operating costs. Unless you already have fibre connected to your building then you will need to get fibre installed from the nearest point of presence (PoP), this involves digging a trench and laying an armoured glass fibre cable between the 2 locations.

Leased Line installations are expensive and slow to instal
Digging and installing leased lines in Urban areas can be expensive, slow and disruptive

The costs of doing these civil works be over £100 a metre in city locations. Urban areas require road closures, permits, traffic control, and repair bills to existing infrastructure such as drains. Therefore, the capital expenditure required for a wireless bridge is a fraction the cost, saving time and budget.

With a CableFree Wireless Network we can offer;

  • Gigabit Full Duplex connectivity
  • Multi-mile connectivity
  • 5 Nines or higher availability (99.999+% uptime)
  • Gigabit Links from under £8,000 fully installed
  • Rapid deployment
  • Fully supported and licenced

We offer a complete suite of variety of wireless link technologies including

  • Microwave
  • Millimeter Wave (E-band and V-band)
  • Free Space Optics (FSO)
  • AC MIMO OFDM Radio

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Free Space Optics Technology

Introduction to Free Space Optics

CableFree FSO - Free Space Optics
CableFree Free Space Optics

FSO is a line-of-sight wireless communication technology that uses invisible beams of light to provide high speed wireless connections that can send and receive voice, video, and data information. Today, FSO technology – pioneered and championed by CableFree’s optical wireless offerings – has enabled the development of a new category of outdoor wireless products that can transmit voice, data, and video at bandwidths up to 1.25 Gbps. Free Space Optics connectivity doesn’t require expensive fibre-optic cable and removes need for securing spectrum licenses for radio frequency (RF) solutions. FSO technology requires light. The use of light is a simple concept similar to optical transmissions using fiber-optic cables; the only difference is the medium. Light travels through air faster than it does through glass, so it is fair to classify FSO technology as optical communications at the speed of light.

History of Free Space Optics

Optical communications, in various forms, have been used for thousands of years. The Ancient Greeks used a coded alphabetic system of signalling with torches developed by Cleoxenus, Democleitus and Polybius. In the modern era, semaphores and wireless solar telegraphs called heliographs were developed, using coded signals to communicate with their recipients. In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter created the Photophone, at Bell’s newly established Volta Laboratory in Washington, DC. Bell considered it his most important invention. The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light. On June 3, 1880, Bell conducted the world’s first wireless telephone transmission between two buildings, some 213 meters (700 feet) apart.  Its first practical use came in military communication systems many decades later, first for optical telegraphy. German colonial troops used Heliograph telegraphy transmitters during the 1904/05 Herero Genocide in German South-West Africa (today’s Namibia) as did British, French, US or Ottoman signals.

During the trench warfare of World War I when wire communications were often cut, German signals used three types of optical Morse transmitters called Blinkgerät, the intermediate type for distances of up to 4 km (2.5 miles) at daylight and of up to 8 km (5 miles) at night, using red filters for undetected communications. Optical telephone communications were tested at the end of the war, but not introduced at troop level. In addition, special blinkgeräts were used for communication with airplanes, balloons, and tanks, with varying success. A major technological step was to replace the Morse code by modulating optical waves in speech transmission. Carl Zeiss Jena developed the Lichtsprechgerät 80/80 (literal translation: optical speaking device) that the German army used in their World War II anti-aircraft defense units, or in bunkers at the Atlantic Wall.

The invention of lasers in the 1960s revolutionized free space optics. Military organizations were particularly interested and boosted their development. However the technology lost market momentum when the installation of optical fiber networks for civilian uses was at its peak.

FSO vendor CableFree has extensive experience in this area: CableFree developed some of the world’s first successful commercial FSO links, with world-first achievements including

  • World’s first commercial 622Mbps wireless link:  1997
  • World’s first commercial Gigabit Ethernet 1.25Gbps wireless link:  1999

While fibre-optic communications gained worldwide acceptance in the telecommunications industry, FSO communications is still considered relatively new. CableFree Free Space Optical technology from Wireless Excellence enables bandwidth transmission capabilities that are similar to fibre optics, using similar optical transmitters and receivers and even enabling WDM-like technologies to operate through free space.

How Free Space Optics / Laser Communications Work

CableFree Free Space Optics at London 2012 OlympicsThe concept behind FSO technology is very simple. It’s based on connectivity between FSO-based optical wireless units, each consisting of an optical transceiver with a transmitter and a receiver to provide full-duplex (bi-directional) capability. Each optical wireless unit uses an optical source, plus a lens or telescope that transmits light through the atmosphere to another lens receiving the information. At this point, the receiving lens or telescope connects to a high-sensitivity receiver via optical fibre. This Free Space Optics technology approach has a number of advantages: Requires no RF spectrum licensing. Is easily upgradeable, and its open interfaces support equipment from a variety of vendors, which helps enterprises and service providers protect their investment in embedded telecommunications infrastructures. Requires no security software upgrades. Is immune to radio frequency interference or saturation. FSO Can be deployed behind windows, eliminating the need for costly rooftop rights.

Choosing Free Space Optics or Radio Frequency Wireless

CableFree FSO links in Cairo, EgyptOptical wireless, using FSO technology, is an outdoor wireless product category that provides the speed of fibre, with the flexibility of wireless. It enables optical transmission at speeds of up to 1.25 Gbps and, in the future, is capable of speeds of 10 Gbps using WDM. This is not possible with any fixed wireless or RF technology. Optical wireless also eliminates the need to buy expensive spectrum (it requires no FCC or municipal license approvals worldwide), which further distinguishes it from fixed wireless technologies. Moreover, FSO technology’s narrow beam transmission is typically two meters versus 20 meters and more for traditional, even newer radio-based technologies such as millimeter-wave radio. Optical wireless products’ similarities with conventional wired optical solutions enable the seamless integration of access networks with optical core networks and helps to realize the vision of an all-optical network.

Free Space Technology in Communication Networks

CableFree FSO used in CCTV NetworksFree-space optics technology (FSO) has several applications in communications networks, where a connectivity gap exists between two or more points. FSO technology delivers cost-effective optical wireless connectivity and a faster return on investment (ROI) for Enterprises and Mobile Carriers. With the ever-increasing demand for greater bandwidth by Enterprise and Mobile Carrier subscribers comes a critical need for FSO-based products for a balance of throughput, distance and availability. During the last few years, customer deployments of FSO-based products have grown. Here are some of the primary network uses:

CableFree FSO NetworkEnterprise

Because of the scalability and flexibility of FSO technology, optical wireless products can be deployed in many enterprise applications including building-to-building connectivity, disaster recovery, network redundancy and temporary connectivity for applications such as data, voice and data, video services, medical imaging, CAD and engineering services, and fixed-line carrier bypass.

Mobile Carrier Backhaul

FSO - Free Space Optics InstallationFree Space Optics is valuable tool in Mobile Carrier Backhaul: FSO technology and optical wireless products can be deployed to provide traditional PDH 16xE1/T1, STM-1 and STM-4, and Modern IP Gigabit Ethernet backhaul connectivity and Greenfield mobile networks.

Front-Haul: Mobile Carrier Base Station “Hoteling”

Free Space Optics CPRI Front-Haul for 4G NetworksFSO-based products can be used to expand Mobile Carrier Network footprints through base station “hoteling.” using CPRI interface. Free Space Optics with CPRI enables “front haul” networks where the remote radio heads can be separated by up to 2km from the Base station with a 1.22Gbps CPRI “native” link between them.

Low Latency Networks

CableFree Free Space OpticsFree Space Optics is an inherently Low Latency Technology, with effectively no delay between packets being transmitted and received at the other end, except the Line of Sight propagation delay.  The Speed of Light through the air is approximately 40% higher than through fibre optics, giving customers an immediate 40% reduction in latency compared to fibre optics.  In addition, fibre optic installations are almost never in a straight line, with realities of building layout, street ducts and requirement to use existing telecom infrastructure, the fibre run can be 100% longer than the direct Line of Sight path between two end points.  Hence FSO is popular in Low Latency Applications such as High Frequency Trading and other uses.

Welcome to Gigabit-Wireless.com!

Welcome to Gigabit-Wireless.com

Welcome – to the informational site for Gigabit Wireless Networking.  We consider the available technologies for Gigabit Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks including:

Welcome to Gigabit-Wireless.com
Welcome to Gigabit-Wireless.com

Feel welcome to read our site and find out more about building modern, reliable and scalable Gigabit Wireless Networks for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (Wi-Man), 4G/LTE backhaul networks, Small Cell Backhaul, Corporate Networks and Campus and CCTV wireless networks.

We include technology introduction papers as well as usage cases to guide users in the very latest in Gigabit Wireless technology and deployment.  Modern wireless products can reach 10Gbps or higher capacity.

Applications for Wireless

Welcome - Gigabit Wireless
Gigabit Wireless Technology

Gigabit Wireless networks are used in a wide range of applications which include

  • Safe Cities
  • Smart Cities
  • 4G/LTE Backhaul Networks
  • Broadband Wireless
  • Last Mile Networks
  • Campus Sites
  • Corporate Networks
  • Education networks
  • Metro WiFi
  • Security and CCTV

If you are considering a wireless network with 10Gbps or higher capacity, please ask our team of experts who will be delighted to assist:

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