Wireless Optical/Radio TErabit Communications

Project Information

WORTECS

Grant agreement ID: 761329

DOI

10.3030/761329

Project closed

EC signature date 2 June 2017

Start date 1 September 2017

End date 31 October 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 2 999 155,00

EU contribution

€ 2 999 155,00

Coordinated by

ORANGE SA
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WORTECS (Wireless Optical/Radio TErabit Communications)

Reporting period: 2018-09-01 to 2020-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The challenge of WORTECS is to propose “scientific and technology advances for novel use of the spectrum potential, de-risking technological building blocks at frequencies above 90 Ghz up to Thz communications backed by innovative usage scenarios*”, for instance, Virtual Reality (VR). It will also “address visible light communications and develop radically new approaches for spectrum efficiency*” (https://wortecs.eurestools.eu/).

WORTECS aims to offer:
• Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) device with Gigabit per second (Gbps) data rate target.
• Radio 240 GHz Proof of Concept with several Gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput
• New wireless communication prototype with Fiber Wireless Fiber (FiWi) Proof of Concep.
• Heterogeneous wireless Network architecture studies with new architectures and protocols for routing, latency and caching.
• WORTECS SaaS (Software as a Service) with a channel simulation tool for beyond 60 GHz RF and optical spectrum.
• New Virtual Reality content HDMI/Ethernet Gbps converter with low latency video compression/decompression features.
• New prototype by design of a hybrid RF and OWC system capable to process multiple baseband signals at the same time.

The 7 prototypes developed within WORTECS project should have been integrated (all in one) in order to propose a global multi-techno wireless communication solution that can reach Tbps (Terabits per second) with an additional device (HetNet) for quickly managing these links in case of failure of one of them. The Covid19 situation has stopped this objective but building blocks are operational (https://www.wortecs.com/program) and some of them have or will have in the coming weeks or months a commercial implementation or a deepening under a new project.

Contributors & Contacts
Contact: Olivier Bouchet – Orange Labs - WORTECS Project manager - + 33 2 99 12 46 08 – [e-mail]

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work carried out during WORTECS project was mainly oriented towards different Proof of Concepts developpement (PoCs) for indoor communication (see deliverables D3.4 D4.5 et D4.6 and picture WORTECS PoC.jpg):

• First, IHP developed a wireless transmitter and receiver chips working in the 240 GHz band (PoC 1).
• This project presented also a channel simulation tool, which models wireless propagation channel for beyond 60 GHz RF and optical spectrum (PoC 2).
• The Optical Wireless Communications (OWC) PoC (PoC 3) relies on the use of ITU-T G.hn standard chip for the design of the digital board. Two different digital boards (each by partner PLF and OLD) were developed and the performance of each board was evaluated to ensure Gbps capability.
• Additionally, IHP integrated the implementation of the Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet), i.e. the Layer 2.5 running on FPGA boards (PoC 4).
• To illustrate the wide bandwidth of the wireless link, a virtual reality use case is selected (PoC 5).
• The design, implementation and performance evaluation of Fiber Wireless Fiber (FiWi) PoC (PoC 6) for OWC with realistic communication and localisation coverage was also defined.
• Finally, the design of a hybrid RF and optical wireless communication system (PoC 7) was also defined.

Additionally, during the period WORTECS partners have:
• Define dissemination plan: During the last period, WORTECS partners contributed 3 patents, 12 conference papers (including one best paper award), 3 Journal papers and two talks.
• Propose Open Event: The major activity of last period was the WORTECS Open Event. This was a virtual event due to travel and gathering restrictions (https://www.wortecs.com/).
• Provided inputs to IEEE 802.11 and ITU standardization body: Two standardisation activities relevant to VLC (Visible Light Communication) are still underway in the IEEE; 802.11 TGbb and 802.15.7. There is also a THz interest group in 802.15 (IG THz).
• Closely interacted with other European competing projects to ensure that WORTECS solutions actually integrate into the H2020 ecosystem (listed in dissemination deliverables). This interaction will continue, with Orange Labs presentation already planned during the 3TTCW conference, on March 12th, 2021.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

"In a Beyond 5G / 6G perspective, WORTECS Partners will put, on the same priority level, societal requirements and more traditional performance requirements, such as capacity, data rates, latency, and reliability. Indeed, even if a new technology has to bring improved performance compared to its predecessor, it is today of primary importance to take into account, from day one in the design of the technology, the expectations of the society, in a context where opposition to the deployment of 5G arises in different areas of the world. A couple of concerns expressed by the society are summarized below:
• The energy consumption of mobile networks, which has to remain stable even with an ever increasing traffic
• The environmental impact (carbon footprint) of ICT has to be limited, end-to-end, meaning that energy consumption and CO2 impact have to be quantified not only at the network level once deployed and in operation but also including the manufacturing of network equipment and devices, as well as the power consumption induced by the usages of customers themselves (OTT services, datacenters…)
• As the backbone of digital society, networks are already today essential for social life, economy and public services. As connectivity expands to more critical fields, expectations on resilience, security and privacy grow stronger (resilience = high robustness + fast recovery over failure)
• Digital inclusion is a growing societal concern and WORTECS partners commitment. It does not only mean coverage of low-density areas at affordable cost but also access to technology for all (need for affordable terminals and need for a technology simple and intuitive to use)
• Networks need to become more EMF-aware: 5G deployments are impacted in some areas with tight EMF limits, what requires to lower the transmit power, which reduces coverage; to develop EMF-aware transmission is needed to ensure future technology deployability.
A future technology then needs to provide built-in capabilities to maximize the performance of each design dimension in a cost-efficient way (TCO) and to allow network operators to set the trade-offs according to their needs.
Coming back to WORTECS project and EC call request, it give us the opportunity to “push” optical wireless and radio communications solutions to assess their limits (“Reach Terabit per second in wireless communications”), and also to ""released"" from laboratory another wireless optical communication solution (FiWi) which seem to be promising, e.g. in terms of data rate, energy consumption efficiency and reduction of EMF The management of several technological solutions was also an important objective in order to have handover due to the failure of one of link with an extremely low latency at data rates up to 10 Gbps. Another approach also relates to throughput aggregation with the help of several wireless links in parallel. Finally, online optical wireless modeling software offers the opportunity to ease customer appropriation of these new wireless optical solutions. We now hope that a significant part of these results or Proof of Concept will have resonance in commercial field."

WORTECS Team Thanks

WORTECS Board during Board meeting

7 Proof of Concept proposed by WORTECS partners