reliable and feasible technology for more than one gigabit over standard SI-POF

APPLICATIONS OF OUR TECHNOLOGY

POF in home networks

POF offers a great part of the advantages of optical fiber (GOF - Glass Optical Fiber) with less challenges. POF is an established medium in industrial and automobile networks due to its high reliability in very harsh environments, and it has found another niche in home networks.

POF provides numerous advantages over other home network transmission media, as PLC, MoCA, G.hn or CAT5/CAT6. At the ultra-thin diameter of 1.5 mm, POF can be easily deployed in new construction or retrofit installations either inside wall cavities or outside the wall - along baseboards, under carpets, or anywhere cable is typically run.

POF can be deployed by a professional or do-it-yourself installer using basic tools, such as a cutter or scissors, and inexpensive plastic connectors. It is immune to misalignment and easy to guide, so it can be installed by a non-skilled person.

Because it is optical, POF is completely immune to electrical noise. That means existing copper wiring will not interfere with data passing through POF so it can even be installed next to electrical cabling. POF, connectors, and optoelectronics are low-cost consumer parts which is ideal for installers who save on cable costs and installation, testing and maintenance time.

Following table summarizes the main advantages of POF versus typical Ethernet cable:

Today, commercially available products provide data connections of 100 Mbps up to 80 meters over standard SI-POF or 100 Mbps up to 100 meters over low NA 0.3 SI-POF.

Advantages of KDPOF in home networks

Providing data rates around 1 Gbps and assured Quality of Service (QoS) to every device in the home, KDPOF can be considered as a long term solution and good alternative for the distribution of present an future multimedia services as well as data sharing along the residence. Their features are especially advantageous for emerging IPTV implementations and other triple play services, where the Quality of Experience (QoE) and guaranteed data-rate are the most important factors for a successful deployment.

Because it is an adaptive system, KDPOF provides a flexible technology adapting its operation to achieve the highest communication capacity for any kind of amateur or professional installation.

KDPOF in access networks

The ultimate goal of the network operators is to deliver as much bandwidth as possible to any new revenue generating service. Offering hundreds of megabits transport capacity to many homes is a requirement to provide future services such as high definition digital broadcasting.

A full and direct upgrade to Fiber to the Home (FTTH), based on GOF, might be feasible, but the investment can be prohibitive in many cases (locations) due to the high installation costs of the last fiber drop. When GOF is not viable, POF can be offered in a more cost-effective way and can provide a long-term solution. This alternative solution consists in using KDPOF for the last drop, up to 200 meters, for rates of hundreds of megabits, hence reducing the costs, time and complexity of the installation.

The adaptability that provides KDPOF plays a key role, because  the same technology can be installed in very different deployment scenarios: residential buildings, hotels, etc.

As in the home network applications, the multimedia streaming services, like IPTV, impose the hardest requirements to the access networks. The most important requirements to deliver IPTV are the bandwidth and QoE. Bandwidth must increase to accommodate the interactivity and the growing contents in standard and high definition. Whilst basic internet applications have best effort requirements, the video streaming requires guaranteed bandwidth and QoE, because excess jitter or loss of video packets may degrade the quality of the related services to unacceptable levels.

Thanks to the inherent characteristics of the plastic fiber (low cost and time of installation, no plug to attach, EMI immunity, low diameter, etc) and the advanced communication technology provided by KDPOF technology, POF can be considered as a long term alternative for future access network deployments. We show that more than 400 Mbps could be provided at lengths around 200 meters of standard SI-POF.

POF in industrial communications

Traditionally, the industrial automation factory floor has been comprised of three levels. At the device and sensor Level, low-level machine code controls actuators, drives, motion devices, and sensors. The control level contains the controller networks based on typical factory PLC controlled by proprietary and non-proprietary field-bus networks. The enterprise level encapsulates the intranet based on Fast Ethernet information networks that connect PCs and laptops via Ethernet cards.

Each one of theses levels operate efficiently and separately. This arise problems from the fact that each level is impervious to the other. Consider, for example, a typical engineer with a laptop on the factory floor. The engineer typically uses a RS-232 cable to make machine sequence changes, run diagnostics and production process changes at individual PLC. Another problem is the lack of interoperability of proprietary field-buses which prevents hardware compatibility between suppliers.

In answer to these problems several important companies have envisaged Fast Ethernet networks that operate over POF; the most established fiber medium in the factory automation space. The ability to merge seamlessly the field-buses with enterprise intranet and operate on Fast Ethernet protocols enables devices on the factory floor to be assigned IP and/or MAC addresses.

Equipment manufacturers and factory assembly vendors can then remotely perform tasks like running diagnostics, making machine sequence changes and production process. Within the factory, the engineer can now remain at his desk while carrying out the tasks that once would only have been accomplished by connecting directly with the factory PLC.

Today, Industrial Fast Ethernet transceivers operate 100 Mbps on SI-POF links up to 50 meters.

Advantages of KDPOF for industrial communications

Operating on industrial environments, KDPOF will provide a great coverage improvement for Fast Ethernet installations along the factory floor. KDPOF technology, by means of its design based on capacity achieving modulations and coupled optimization of all their components, will provide Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) over SI-POF links up to more than 300 meters. This means a capacity upgrade of industrial buses maintaining the installed low cost infrastructure.

Automotive infotainment networks

Consumer demand for more electronic devices in cars, such as anti-collision cameras, DVD players, and navigation systems, has led to the deployment of POF in automobile networks. Its high bandwidth and ease of use, coupled with its high tolerance to vibrations and external noise sources make POF ideal for in-vehicle embedded multimedia networks.

In this field is remarkable the development of Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST), that is a network optimized for multimedia and infotainment applications inside the automobile. MOST defines from the physical layer to the application layer of OSI model and it is usually installed following ring topologies. Three versions have been developed, providing from 25 Mbps to 150 Mbps over POF.

MOST has been developed based on a partnership of carmakers, systems architects and key component suppliers. Audi, BMW, Daimler, Harman/Becker and SMSC are the core partners. MOST has been widely used in over 20 million cars for infotainment networks.

KDPOF for automotive infotainment networks

KDPOF technology is ready to produce a capacity upgrade to the current status of MOST technology. It can be used in the same ring topologies and with the same fiber and optoelectronics components currently installed in MOST networks.

KDPOF could be seen as a new physical layer able to provide 1 Gbps over longer fiber stretches (up to 40 meters per stretch), enabling MOST to be installed in longer vehicles, such as a train or an airplane, and to deliver more multimedia services using the same POF infrastructure. 

Ⓒ2010 Knowledge Development for POF S.A.