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As the race for high capacity and higher bandwidth transport networks heats up, there is a strong desire to find a true alternative to fiber. One promising contender is a true hybrid solution, that fully integrates millimeter wave and Adaptive Optics (AO) technologies in a single system.

Before we discuss AO, some background information is warranted on the origins of AO Free Space Optics (FSO). FSO is a laser driven technology which uses light sources to send and receive information through the atmosphere, somewhat similar to fiber transmission which also uses light sources but transports them through a fiber optic cable. FSO has some key advantages, the obvious ones being high capacity wireless technology, exemption from spectrum regulation and quick installation cycles. On the negative side, FSO systems are impacted significantly by atmospheric scintillations in addition to weather conditions such as fog, dust, and others impacting visibility. Such atmospheric distortions have an adverse effect on traditional and most FSO systems limiting their reachability, i.e. distance, and more critically impacting the availability of the FSO link. These limitations have sidelined FSO from being a leading contender for mass commercial deployments.

Fast forward to Adaptive Optics . AO is a technology that not only improves the performance of standard FSO but also overcomes the key limitations described above. AO reduces the effects of wave-front distortions which are typically caused by atmospheric turbulence and scintillations. The atmospheric turbulence and scintillations occur on a daily basis due to the temperature gradients at various layers of the atmosphere. AO corrects the wave-front by sensing the distortion using a wave-front sensor and correcting it in real time. This results in a very tightly collimated optical beam that can travel almost 100 to 200 times the distance of a standard FSO.

This innovative AO technology, when coupled with another complementary wireless technology, overcomes all the major issues of standard FSO. The resulting hybrid wireless transport system enables high capacity date rates over long distances with 99.999 % availability.

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Bernhard Warner presents an interesting perspective in his recent BusinessWeek article  After Boston Marathon Outages, a ‘Wireless Fiber’ Alternative Is Coming. In it he presents the current challenge mobile carriers have supporting massive mobile device usage with their current network infrastructure. Today, their customers expect voice, data, photo, video, games, work and social media outlets to operate on their mobile devices – and they expect it instantaneously. More importantly, they count on being able to communicate under all circumstances, especially emergency situations like the Boston marathon bombing on April 15.

In emergencies, traditional networks may get overloaded and in some cases, destroyed. AOptix has developed the first true alternative to fiber wireless transport solution that can be deployed and operational within 20 minutes and installs on any structure.  AOptix technology transports vast amounts of data and voice long distances through all weather conditions for overburdened mobile phone networks in emergency or disaster recovery scenarios, as well as everyday.

Excerpts from Bernhard Warner’s article:

“AOptix’s wireless technology can beam multiple gigabits of voice and data capacity over a mobile carrier’s existing network, providing extra “backhaul” capacity without having to erect new cell towers.” 

“Its first commercial deployment later this spring could keep mobile networks up and running when crisis hits. It could eventually pave the way for super-fast wireless broadband that approaches speeds of Google Fiber (GOOG).”

I encourage everyone to read what Warner says. We’d like to hear your comments.

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Recently, Wired magazine published an article called Entering the Exabyte Era, penned by AOptix’ own Dr. Chandra Pusarla, GM and VP Communications. Chandra presents the challenges with mobile backhaul congestion that network operators face today that cannot be addressed using current network transport technologies. 

Chandra writes:

“Before the introduction of the first Apple iPhone, about 80 terabytes of data was being sent across mobile networks globally every month, according to Cisco. Since then, data volumes have soared by a factor of more than 13,000: 2013, according to a recent Cisco report, will be the first time in history that more than an exabyte of data will travel across the global mobile network every month. An exabyte, if you were wondering, is more than a billion gigabytes or the equivalent of downloading the entire Star Wars series 130 million times.

This rapid growth has put the mobile network infrastructure under tremendous strain. The biggest bottleneck is occurring in the short distance between the cell tower and the core network – known as mobile backhaul. You experience this strain every time you encounter difficulty trying to connect your mobile device to the cellular network or endure agonizingly slow connection speeds. Network operators are aware of their system bottlenecks and they are working as fast as they can to upgrade their mobile networks.”

Read Entering the Exabyte Era for more description of AOptix’ new wireless solution to the enormous, and still growing, problem of mobile backhaul congestion.

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“Air travel, more than any other mode of transportation, is challenged by significant bottlenecks, many of which are caused by the need for manual identity checks.”

Director of Product Marketing for Identity Solutions, Joey Pritikin’s contributed article on Wired.com was featured on the front page of their website Wednesday, December 19. In the article he describes how our InSight Iris Recognition Systems are revolutionizing travel and improving the passenger experience. Automated identity verification is gaining attention as airports continue to trial iris recognition to automate every point where identity verification is required. To read more from Joey click here.

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Joey Pritikin, our Director of Product Marketing for Identity Solutions, discussed our recent win at Dubai International Airport and our newly launched Smart Mobile Identity product line with FindBIOMETRICS at London Biometrics 2012. This was the last of our 2012 shows for Identity Solutions and was another success in terms of product response for both Smart Mobile Identity and our InSight product line.