Passive Optical Networks

Don Wade from Nassau Community College on Long Island passed along an interesting article from EE Times today titled “'Last mile may be light-centric” (http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197005751). The article discusses last mile options for voice, video and data services and references a "Last Mile Options" panel held at the International Solid State Circuits Conference. The panel discussed the advantages and disadvantages of passive optical networks or “PONs”.

A passive optical network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises network architecture that uses fiber and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to pass multiple signals (typically 32) over a single fiber strand. Point-to-multipoint networks are more efficient that the legacy point-to-point copper networks the phone companies have been installing and maintaining over the years. In addition to using less fiber, PON optical splitters do not require power.

Here is a list of popular PON versionstaken from Wikipedia:

• APON (ATM Passive Optical Network). This was the first Passive optical network standard. It was used primarily for business applications, and was based on ATM.
• BPON (Broadband PON) is a standard based on APON. It adds support for WDM, dynamic and higher upstream bandwidth allocation, and survivability. It also created a standard management interface, called OMCI, between the OLT and ONU/ONT, enabling mixed-vendor networks.
• GPON (Gigabit PON) is an evolution of the BPON standard. It supports higher rates, enhanced security, and choice of Layer 2 protocol (ATM, GEM, Ethernet). In actuality, ATM has not been implemented.
• EPON (Ethernet PON) is an IEEE/EFM standard for using Ethernet for packet data.

A PON is basically a shared network with an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) in a provider central office feeding a single fiber with multiple signals. Imagine a single fiber running down your street serving 32 homes with voice, video and data services. At your home you have another box called an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) that reads all encrypted packets (all packets are encrypted for security) on the fiber and only accepts ones addressed to you.

The EE Times article discusses current technical plans for cable and telco companies including a brief piece on using wireless for the last mile.

References:

Last mile may be light-centric: http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197005751

Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_optical_network

802.11 Moving Fast

According to TG Daily and posted at Netstumbler.com Intel announced the release of a new 802.11n WiFi chipset code-named Kedron on 1/30/07. According to Netstumbler.com:

The firm originally planned to launch the product along with its new mobile chipset code-named Santa Rosa in the second quarter of 2008. The Kedron 802.11 n draft-capable version will be named "WiFi Link 4965 AGN" while the non-draft n capable variant will go by the name "WiFi Link 4965 AG".

802.11, with its high theoretical data rates of up to 540 Mbit/s, has been bouncing around without a standard since first proposed by the IEEE in 2004. The lack of a standard has not stopped the manufacturers with the first pre-standard or “pre-n” routers made available to consumers in April 2006. I am sure you have seen these products from most of the big manufacturers including D-link, Netgear and Buffalo for sale in the Sunday papers and many of you may have actually purchased pre-n devices.

It looks like we may be getting a little closer to a standard now. On January 19 the IEEE 802.11 Working Group unanimously approved a request by the 802.11n Task Group to issue a new Draft 2.0 of the proposed standard.

With the Apple TV product announcement at Mac World it may be more than just a coincidence that we are seeing movement now. According to Netstumbler.com, AppleInsider and MacFixIt are reporting Apple will charge $1.99 per machine to enable the draft 802.11 standard on:

…. any Mac running Core 2 Duo or Xeon processors, with the exception of the entry-level 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac. These machines have had 802.11n technology built in, but not switched on.

If you do go out and purchase a new $179 Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station, you will not have to pay the $1.99 per Apple machine for the upgrade. It is important for Apple to move quickly here because the Apple TV product shipping in February depends on the higher 802.11 bandwidth for video and audio streaming. The Apple TV box connects to your ED or HD television and content is streamed from a Mac or PC running iTunes. You can get more information on the Apple TV box here: http://store.apple.com

It is important to realize these are local area network bandwidths – this means transfers machine to machine inside your home or business network will be very fast but you will still be limited by your broadband provider bandwidth when accessing the Internet.

References:

Intel To Launch 802.11n Wi-Fi Chipset Next Week: http://www.netstumbler.com/2007/01/25/report-apple-will-charge-for-802.11n-access/

802.11n Devices Are Fully Compatible With .11b/g: http://www.netstumbler.com/2007/01/25/report-apple-will-charge-for-802.11n-access/

Report: Apple Will Charge For 802.11n Access: http://www.netstumbler.com/2007/01/25/report-apple-will-charge-for-802.11n-access/

Google On the Move

Google has been quietly spending $100M purchasing dark fiber connecting major metropolitan areas in the United States and the rumor is they will be building a free WiFi network. Take a look at https://wifi.google.com/download.html where Google has been offering a Google Secure Access application. When installed this application looks for Google access points that allow the user to securely access the Internet. According to the FAQ on the site Google Secure Access is a new product that is only available at certain locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. This, in combination with a possible Sun StarOffice collaboration (Google has hired Joerg Heilig, Sun’s former StarOffice project manager), Gmail, photo management, instant messaging and rumors of a Google desktop will make for some interesting times.

Student Options

Posted on: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:17:32 -0400  by: G. Snyder

The recent London bombings have opened many eyes to the potential level of surveillance we may find ourselves under in this country. According to the UK Financial Times, Britain now has in operation over 4 million CCTV cameras! These cameras do not appear to have had much of an effect on stopping terrorism but have helped considerably in the identification of terrorists after attacks. Research continues in the development of surveillance cameras, face-recognition software, ID cards, phone monitoring systems, chemical sensors, RF ID and other anti-terrorism technologies.

For example:

• ObjectVideo in Reston, Virginia, has developed software that detects unusual video patterns such as abandoned bags or suspicious movement. Systems using this software are currently being used in military bases in the United States, Europe and Asia.
• Nexidia, a voice recognition software company in Georgia, is developing speech recognition software that filters thousands of hours of recorded conversations looking for specific key words. Gartner says $140 million worldwide was spent on security based speech recognition software in 2004.

Most surveillance is currently done by monitoring mobile telephone conversations and the fear is, with terrorists knowing this, communications will go back to age old mouth-to-ear-to-mouth methods, leaving authorities in the dark. Other methods need to be developed that identify terrorists before they attack. Catherine Yang, and Kerry Capell in London and Otis Port in New York have an interesting article in the August 8, 2005 edition of Business Week. In the article they discuss several developing identification methods including DNA, saliva, body odor, breath, video gait recognition and RFID identification.

As long as we are under some level of threat many will not object to a rapidly ramping level of surveillance (we won’t get into civil liberties here but it is a serious concern we probably all have thought about). As it stands right now development in this area will continue will continue at a swift pace.

Much of work done in these emerging fields requires a cross disciplinary background at a level higher than an AS degree. It is important we give our Community College grads the option of moving in different directions whether it be directly to work with a two year degree or on to a four year program with all 2-year degree courses accepted.

Tapping Our Potential - An Industry Challenge

Posted on: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:17:51 -0400  by: G. Snyder

On July 27 the following top business and technology associations called for doubling the number of math, science, technology and engineering graduates by 2015:

• AeA
• Business-Higher Education Forum
• Business Roundtable
• Council on Competitiveness
• Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP)
• Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
• Information Technology Industry Council
• Minority Business RoundTable
• National Association of Manufacturers
• Semiconductor Industry Association
• Software and Information Industry Association
• TechNet
• Telecommunications Industry Association
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce

This group released a report entitled, "Tapping America's Potential (TAP): the Education for Innovation Initiative" that can be found at: http://www.technet.org/resources/TAP.pdf


The report focuses on five areas to increase number of bachelor's degrees awarded in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics:

1. Build public support for making improvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics performance a national priority.

2. Motivate U.S. students and adults, using a variety of incentives, to study and enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers, with a special effort geared to those in currently underrepresented groups.

3. Upgrade K-12 mathematics and science teaching to foster higher student achievement, including differentiated pay scales for mathematics and science teachers.

4. Reform visa and immigration policies to enable the United States to attract and retain the best and brightest science, technology, math and engineering students from around the world to study for advanced degrees and stay to work in the United States.

5. Boost and sustain funding for basic research, especially in the physical sciences and engineering.
Most of us have seen the stats - here are a few examples pulled from the report:

- Although U.S. fourth graders score well against international competition, they fall near the bottom or dead last by 12th grade in mathematics and science, respectively.
- By 2010, if current trends continue, more than 90 percent of all scientists and engineers in the world will be living in Asia.
- The percentage of students in the U.S. planning to pursue engineering degrees declined by one-third between 1992 and 2002.

Funding for basic research in the physical sciences as a percentage of the gross domestic product has declined by half since 1970.

We are being clobbered in science, technology, engineering and math achievement by the rest of the world and should make us realize how critical our academic work is for our country. The 18 page report (including endnotes) is worth a careful read.

Are We There Yet?

Posted on: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:03:36 -0400  by: G. Snyder

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics has released some very interesting statistics in this year's second quarter report. According to the report the IT workforce is just about back to where it was during the summer of 2001.
In 2001 3.46 million people in the U.S. defined themselves as IT professionals and in the second quarter of this year 3.43 million people defined themselves as IT professionals. This is the highest number of employed IT professionals since 2001 and is up 128,000 from the same quarter last year.
Where is the growth since 2001?

• IS managers have increased 70,000 to 340,000
• Computer software engineers have increased 87,000 to 736,000
• Database admins have increased 27,000 to 195,000
• Computer systems admins have increased 21,000 to 195,000

Where is the loss since 2001?

• Programmers have declined by 180,000 to 558,000
• Computer scientists and analysts have declined 38,000 to 777,000
• Computer support specialists have declined 8,000 to 349,000
• Network systems and data communications analysts have declined 10,000 to 346,000

Annualized unemployment rates for this same quarter are down to 3.4% compared to 5.2% during the same quarter last year.

Interesting information!

A Mobile Wallet?

Posted on: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 09:23:20 -0400  by: G. Snyder

Many of us have cell phones with built in email capabilities, organizers and cameras and mp3 players. The voice cell phone industry is rapidly becoming commoditized and providers must continue to integrate new services to remain profitable.

The next application to hit the United States and currently hot in Japan, will be the use of cell phones as debit cards. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is taking a 34% stake in Japan's number two credit card issuer Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and is in negotiations with the top issuer JCB International.
Since last July, DoCoMo has sold over 3 million handsets with FeliCa chips that have built in transmitters and send a signal when the phone is placed near a sensor. The company is projecting sales of 10 million handsets by March 2006.

The technology, developed with Sony uses a 13.56 MHz carrier frequency and a transfer speed of 212 Kbps that currently lets Japanese users securely purchase (in a debit card arrangement) from vending machines, buy groceries, pay cover charges in clubs, go to cinemas and pass through turnstiles to board commuter trains. The credit card infrastructure build out (store sensors, etc) is in progress in Japan.
In the United States carriers are very interested - it is estimated between 10 and 20 million people in the U.S. do not have bank accounts but have cell phones.

You can get more info following these links:

Felica Technology
http://www.sony.net/Products/felica/pdf/FeliCa_E.pdf
http://www.sony.net/Products/felica/contents02_02.html

NTT DoCoMo
http://www.nttdocomo.com/