IPHOBAC taking the wireless world by storm
High-frequency wireless communication is growing and a team of EU-funded researchers is combining radio and optics technologies to develop millimetre-wave photonic components and integrated functions. The IPHOBAC ('Integrated photonic mm-wave functions for broadband connectivity') project is funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to the tune of EUR 5.7 million. The 11-member project consortium is developing the components for wireless connections in the extra-high frequency (EHF) bands running from 30GHz to 300GHz. The IPHOBAC partners from Germany, Spain, France, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK are active in research, academia and industry. According to the researchers, the components will help make 60GHz connections an economical and reliable tool for people who do not have access to ADSL-supporting infrastructure. Since the project's launch, the consortium has produced a transmitter capable of yielding a continuous signal across the entire EHF band. The transmitter can also be used in data communications and radar applications. The researchers have already carried out field tests and shown how 60GHz is capable of providing reliable connectivity at 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s) in 25 mm/hour of rain over a 1km range. IPHOBAC has a number of objectives including the development of advanced and compact photonic sources including ultra-wideband high power photomixers based on UTC (unitravelling carrier) and TW (travelling-wave) sources for integration with antennas, the development of ultra-wideband transmitters based on a travelling-wave electroabsorption modulator approach (up to 110 GHz), as well as the implementation of photonic vector modulator and demodulator schemes using the components developed by the project, and the demonstration of the wireless transmission of a 10 Gb/s signal in a laboratory environment. It should be noted that no extension of individual optics or radio technologies can implement the compact sources, which will be used in Gb/s radio-over-fibre systems, instrumentation applications and controlled antennas. The success of these objectives will help fully develop millimetre-wave photonics components and integrated functions and make them available for the industry. The IPHOBAC-enabled functions will benefit a number of applications such as broadband communications, radar, security and instrumentation. In another development, IPHOBAC, together with eight other EU-funded projects, will launch the 'European workshop on photonic solutions for wireless, access, and in-house networks' in Duisburg, Germany from 18-20 May 2009. The workshop will target photonic technologies, as well as bridging access and in-house networks, the researchers said. Aspects to be covered include optoelectronic hardware developments for wireless photonics applications and convergence of wireless and FTTx technologies.