Tuesday, 28. April 2009, 06:57:02
metamaterialsit, telecommunications, fibre optics, photonics
Metamaterials can be designed to interact with light in strange ways. By carefully structuring metal arrays at the nanoscale, for example, physicists can cloak an object from microwaves, or make superlenses that focus in on objects too small to be seen with conventional optics.
Now physicists have made designs for metamaterial optical fibers. Conventional optical fibers carry telecommunications data and are important components of some sensors and medical equipment. Fibers made up of metamaterials could carry light in ways that aren't possible using naturally existing materials.
Source:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23393/
Monday, 27. April 2009, 08:40:41
satellite, bandwidth, telecommunications, internet
A team of researchers funded by the European Union has developed methods for optimizing satellite bandwidth, potentially dropping the combined cost of satellite phone, television, and internet services to as little as 50 Euros a month.
The Integrated Multi-layer Optimization in broadband DVB-S.2 Satellite Networks (IMOSAN) project focuses on getting the most out of existing resources and creating a wireless interface to the satellite network in order to distribute the satellite bandwidth to the largest number of consumers possible.
Key elements of the new system include a Satellite Resource Management System (SRMS), a Bandwidth Manager and Multiplexer (BWMM), and hardware and software encoders for various audio and video formats (including SD MPEG-4/AVC / H.264 analog and HDTV video).
Source:
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/6855/inexpensive-satellite-bandwidth-under-development.html
Monday, 23. March 2009, 09:04:57
optical circuit, telecommunications, organic components, photonics
The next time an overnight snow begins to fall, take two bricks and place them side by side a few inches apart in your yard.
In the morning, the bricks will be covered with snow and barely discernible. The snowflakes will have filled every vacant space between and around the bricks.
What you will see, says Ivan Biaggio, resembles a phenomenon that, when it occurs at the smallest of scales on an integrated optical circuit, could hasten the day when the Internet works at superfast speeds.
Biaggio, an associate professor of physics at Lehigh University, is part of an international team of researchers that has developed an organic material with an unprecedented combination of high optical quality and strong ability to mediate light-light interaction and has engineered the integration of this material with silicon technology so it can be used in optical telecommunication devices.
A description of this material was published on the Nature Photonics Web site March 15.
Source:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/lu-nom031309.php
Monday, 13. October 2008, 11:34:21
wireless, wavelength, telecommunications, Networks
There's no shortage of demand for faster wireless, but today's fastest technologies--Wi-Fi, 3G cellular networks, and even the upcoming WiMax--max out at tens or hundreds of megabits per second. So far, no commercial wireless system can beat the raw speed of optical fiber, which can carry tens of gigabits per second.
One way to achieve faster speeds is to harness the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum, although this usually requires expensive and very complex equipment. Now, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have come up with a simpler way to send data through the air with millimeter-wave technology.
Source:
http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21464/?a=f
Tuesday, 8. January 2008, 07:52:08
crystal, telecommunications, fibre, photonics
Photonic crystal fibre’s ability to create broad spectra of light has been explained by researchers from Bath University, opening the way for developments in various technologies.
The fibre can create a supercontinuum, where a pulse of light with a narrow range of wavelengths is changed into a spectrum hundreds of times broader and ranging from visible light to the infra-red.
According to researchers, this effect could have potential in a range of technologies. In telecommunications optical systems could be hundreds of times more efficient as signals could be transmitted and processed at many wavelengths simultaneously.
Source:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/303686/Bath+light+the+way.htm
Tuesday, 4. December 2007, 08:13:52
crystals, network, telecommunications, communications
...
Smaller, faster, more efficient: BASF research scientists are helping to revolutionize the future world of telecommunications – with the aid of three-dimensional photonic crystals.
In a three-year project, BASF is researching into the development of these crystals together with partners such as Hanover Laser Center, Thales Aerospace Division, Photon Design Ltd., the Technical University of Denmark and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne.
By the end of 2008, the partners in the "NewTon" project expect to have developed the first functional components of this new technology. The long-term goal is to use three-dimensional photonic crystals as construction elements in telecommunication. Half of the project is being funded by the European Union.
Source:
http://corporate.basf.com/en/presse/mitteilungen/pm.htm?pmid=2917&id=V00-NWR*mBPWmbcp35X
WIDGETIZE