Final Report Summary - CONNECTTOO (Development of a wireless high capacity broadband product, based on Free Space Optics, providing a new opportunity for low cost connection of houses to the fibre-based digital highway.)
Executive Summary:
The objective of the ConnectTOO project, initiated by Polewall AS, was to develop a Free Space Optics solution for distribution of data at a quality similar to fiber broadband. The development in the project has been based on Polewalls’ patented solution for free-space optics. A new Free Space Optics system has been developed with GigE (1Gbit/second) data throughput and 4 individual links with a theoretical bandwidth of 4 Gbit/s. Each link is aligned using a web interface and an image from the integrated camera and motors to rotate and tilt the laser beam carrying the data signal. All electronics and optical systems are integrated in a weather protection housing with pole mount installation clamps for outdoor installation. The performances has been tested and verified with error free transmission capacity of 1 Gbit/second which was the requirements for the product and a range of 165m has been achieved which is 65m better than the requirements. Demonstration has been performed for customers and new markets as the flight industry has shown interest in the products and it’s ability to make a fast and license free connection without the need for manual operation.
A top level design of the optical solution was made for an error-free long-distance FSO system. The top level design of the optical module has been refined in order to integrate the selected optical components into the system. Moderate cost adaptive spherical glass lenses with optimal performance suitable for the ConnectTOO system have been identified and tested.
The ConnectTOO system implementation have been identified and tested with laser transmitters and receivers. Successful dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle in SFP transceivers is demonstrated.
A complete opto-mechanical solution, the first prototype of ConnectTOO system based on FSO transceivers in the form of integrated opto-electro-mechanical units operated by using software interface has been successfully demonstrated.
Technical risk regarding high speed signal integrity has been minimized by finding appropriate parts and using balanced signaling in high speed harness. A controller board and a link board with optical camera interface have been implemented.
The electronics integrating the motor control into the link board and the FPGA on the controller board has been devloped. The complete electronics board has been tested to verify functionality of the CPU and Ethernet connection as part of the SW integration. The mechanical design concept was prepared with respect to all aspects of the product, from design to market, installation, material selection, assembly, production, weather and environment. A new housing prepared for pan/tilt (TI) was developed. Parts have been designed in Solid Works design studio and printed out by 3D print for testing .
The control system has been implemented and includes an embedded Linux running in the CPU on the system on a FPGA chip. A web server with a hardware interface provides information of the link status and an image of the optical link. Performance tests with of a complete FSO integrated unit has been performed by Acreo.
Dissemination activities by Polewall: There have been extensive demonstrations of the developed technology to targeted customers and possible partners. In particular the testing and demonstration of the product and its feasibility done at to a US customer in Overland Park , Kansas, USA, is worth mentioning. The test is in a realistic setting and the test results are fully satisfactory with respect to system performance.
Project Context and Objectives:
ConnectTOO project, initiated by Polewall AS, has develop Polewalls’ patented solution for free-space, low cost distribution of fibre-quality broadband to homes. The ConnectTOO solution will enable significantly increased access to high speed broadband, a fundamental requirement for fulfilment of the European Commission Digital Agenda: 50% of European homes connected to 100 Mbit/sec by 2020. The project makes the SMEs more competitive through providing them with a new high capacity low cost product, opening new market possibilities to the partners, increasing their technological competence and building new and valuable business networks.
In modern society, virtually every home and enterprise is dependent on an internet connection, and the required capacity is constantly increasing. In the early days of internet use, bit rates at ISDN level 64k-128kbit/sec were often used for connection to the global network. At the time, the internet was mainly used for data communication. More recently, multimedia applications have become an important part of internet use. Combined voice and video communication demand specific requirements for capacity, constant data streaming and short delays.
High definition video streaming requires approximately 25 Mbit/sec. If 2 persons in a household are to watch two different movies concurrently, the bandwidth required for this activity alone will be 50 Mbit/sec. One single film in MPEG-2 format will typically have a total size of 20 Giga Byte. A download of 20 Giga Byte will take almost 30 minutes if supported by one available 100 Mbit/sec data channel. The use of 3D TV will further increase data capacity required by streaming films and TV signals. However more efficient signal coding is also available, and new and better methods are constantly developed, compensating for some of the requirements for higher bitrates required is moving towards the high end.
All over the world, the task of supporting homes with broadband connections is on the public agenda. Supporting high capacity internet connection to end users requires first of all a solid backbone. This is either a public responsibility or taken care of by dedicated large enterprises. High capacity fibre backbone is constantly built. The high speed data carrying capacity of optical fibres is superior to any other known physical communication media and makes it the preferred option.
Several terms are used to describe how the fibre infrastructure is connected to th homes. Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) is used where the fibre is terminated in a street cabinet up to several kilometres away from the customer premises. Fibre To The Curb (FTTC) is very similar to FTTN, but the street cabinet is closer to the user's premises; typically within 300m. To take full advantage of the speed fibre has to offer, Fibre To The Home (FTTH) or Fibre To The Building (FTTB) is required.
Despite the fact that high capacity fibre access networks are constantly being extended, many subscribers turn down the offer for a fiber based broadband plan due to cost and inconvenience from re-trenching and re-landscaping the garden. Homes passed is the potential number of premises to which an operator has capability to connect in a service area, but the premises may or may not be connected to the network. On the one hand, a solid 26% increase in the number of FTTH/B homes passed was reported in the first half of 2011 in Europe (EU-35), proving a solid development of fibre access networks. On the other hand, when it comes to actual subscribers accepting a fibre-based plan the growth has been only 14% in the same period. This proves that expanding coverage is still the top priority for players, and that there are certain challenges in actually connecting new subscribers to the fibre net. There were nearly 4.6 million FTTH/B subscribers in the EU-35 by mid-year, and more than 25 million homes passed, leaving a total of more than 20 million non connected potential FTTH/B subscribers in areas already fully covered by the fibre access.
As can be concluded from the published status by IDATE describing the relationship between FTTH/B homes connected and FTTH/B homes passed, actual residential fibre quality data connection uptake is lagging far behind the potential stemming from massive investment in FTTN/FTTC. Based on figures provided by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe5 we can note that by the end of 2010 only 7 EU countries have higher than 7% of FTTH/B penetration. A provided forecast of connected households estimates a solid growth in FTTH/B subscribers, reaching a total of 32 million FTTH connections in 2015. However, the FTTH Council calculates this to be no more than about 11% of all the homes in the region.
The main objective of the project have been:
• Product design specification. Develop and agree on a complete product design specification based on thorough background work on market requirements and design possibilities
• Customized adaptive optical system. Based on existing patent. A compact electro-mechanical unit for mounting of laser transmitter and receiver, optical splitter of transmitted and received signal. Fine adjustment of the optics by electrical control of focus and direction of the beam. The complete new optics wil be prepared for 2,5 Gbit/sec, with adaptivity of 1 º
• Achieve an Electronics main board supporting speed of 1 Gbit/sec, and prepared for 2,5 Gbit/sec including electronics for power supply and pan/tilt.
• Deliver FPGA code for 1 Gbit/sec communication speed. Possibly incorporating a soft core processor.
• A fully functional mechanical unit. Integrating the adaptive optics system, main lens, the main electronics board and additional electronics. Prepared for motor controlled pan/tilt both for manual adjustment and for potential smart alignment.
• Embedded software code with OS prepared for the unit, and system software developed that handle monitoring and control of the communication link. Errors and warnings displayed in remote supervisory terminal when FSO units or communication links are not operating as expected.
• Smart alignment code. A support functionality that can assist alignment of the two units of a link, by controlling direction of each unit. Controlling implemented motors for pan/tilt.
• Pilot product delivered. Complete new low cost FSO design, tailored to be the preferred cable free FTTH/B alternative. Solution prepared for large scale production.
Project Results:
WP1: The consortium agreed on a specification with the following key features: An enclosure containing four independent 1Gb/s transceivers with a link length of up to 100m. The links will have automatic alignment and tracking. The links will interface standard telecom industry management systems with a list of manageable parameters. The full set of requirements is published as an appendix to deliverable D1.1 Product Design Specification. Both esthetical and functional aspects have been evaluated in task 1.2. An important but not objective requirement was that the unit should not look like a surveillance camera and have an appealing look to the customer. The most appealing design was to make a unit look like an outdoor lamp, and adding white LED lamps could enhance the effect of this. Different concepts were suggested regarding exterior look, methods to attach to poles or walls and how to implement the alignment mechanics of the internal laser modules. Size and material is another critical issue and the first material selected for the exterior window that the laser light should pass through distorted the beam in such order that it would drastically reduce the communication distance. The final concept to be implemented consists of 4 laser links split in to two sections and connected to the wall mount bracket. Each section has an electronic board connected to the motherboard in the wall mount bracket. The mechanics include means of heating and cooling the electronics and to avoid moisture inside the glass and remove excessive heat in case the unit is exposed in direct sunshine. The alignment is a difficult task as the resolution and required stability is very high in order to direct a 4cm beam to a 2cm spot at 100m. Engineering tests has been performed to test the different solutions and the results looks promising as the prototype is able to adjust the beam inside a 1cm spot at 70m while the laser requires 2 cm at 100m. There are improvements regarding the stability by using thicker material and plastic bearings, thus one of the critical issues regarding alignment looks less critical after the engineering tests. Task 1.2 is successfully accomplished. The low-cost nature of the end product dictates the re-use of already industrialized and mass-produced optical components in task 1.3. It was determined that the optical transceivers for optical Local Area Networks (LAN) could be reused in this project. They are available for our 1Gb/s data rate at a cost of around €10 each. The choice of optical wavelength was deferred. The overall dimensions of the optical unit are set to be 5x5x10 centimeters, with the diameter of the exit lens at 4,5cm. A camera module similar to the one used in mobile telephones will be used for alignment and tracking of the beam. The electronics is split into two separate boards, a main controller board including the switch matrix and most of the control intelligence, and a smaller link board for each transceiver for laser and detector management. The main controller board will be FPGA-based. The key results for the mechanical system are described separately in section 1.2. A high level product design specification was produced based on the requirements of the functional specification. The specification is published as deliverable D1.1.
WP2: Low-cost commercially available Gigabit SFP transceivers for multimode optical fiber links and optical lenses suitable for application in ConnectTOO system have been identified and experimentally tested in task 2.1. SFP transceivers have been successfully modified by dismounting the optical fiber receptacle in order to suit application in FSO system. The output optical power has been increased by about 6dB due to dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle, which is very beneficial for the FSO system performance. The optical power budget of modified SFP transceivers has been estimated to be at least 30dB in back-to-back configuration. We successfully performed an error-free long-distance FSO system experiments (over the distance of 80m) by using the modified SFP transceiver modules and identified two types of lenses to be used in ConnectTOO system: sphericalglass lenses (priority 1) and achromatic glass lenses (priority 2: increased cost but better performance).
High pointing accuracy of mechanical system for the laser beam steering has been demonstrated (see WP4 Mechanical design). Deviation: The deviation from DoW
(Annex 1), i.e. the decision not to use any adaptive lenses, does not lead to any critical issues because the required performance of the optical beam steering is achieved by employing a fine mechanical solution.
Section 2.2 of the DOW details the development of an adaptive lens system for beam tracking. Early research revealed this to be too complex and could possibly jeopardize the entire project. A decision was made to limit tracking to mechanical movement by traditional stepper motors and initialize side efforts to address the adaptive optics. This way all remaining parts of the project could proceed and all the other desired result could be obtained.
Polewall applied for separate funding from the Norwegian Research Council and was awarded the project “Optosteer”, grant 225844 with the purpose of researching possible beam steering technologies. This study revealed that many promising technologies existed, but very few were developed to a commercially available stage. A few micromechanical technologies were available, but they were too expensive for the low-cost ConnectTOO product, and required high-voltage drive electronics as a further cost-driver. The project report is provided in the attachments.
During this research Polewall was made aware of a novel MEMS mirror under development in the ENAIC project “Lab4MEMS” (http://www.lab4mems.upb.ro/). This is a very robust mirror specifically designed for inexpensive mass production. Prototypes of this mirror was made available to, and tested by Polewall, but not in time to impact the ConnectTOO results. Polewall is now a partner in the follow-up Lab4MEMS II project which just had project kick-off on Dec. 11th 2014. A key goal of this project is to develp the production methods to enable high volume, low cost manufacturing. Further development of the mirror performance is also included. However, the current state of the mirror is already verified by Polewall to be adequate for the use in the ConnectTOO product. The remaining hurdle to exploitation is stable production, which the Lab4MEMS II project will address.
It should be noted that the complete system is functional and has been tested in the field without the beam tracking capabilities of the MEMS-mirror. Basic tracking is provided by stepper motors. The mirror will enable higher speed tracking for installation environments subject to high frequency vibrations, and also reduce wear on the stepper motors. However, for most installations the system will perform well without the added benefit of the mirror.
Successful dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle in SFP transceivers was demonstrated in task 2.3. Optical power budget of more than 30dB is achieved. Error-free (very low bit error rate) optical signal transmission is demonstrated in the office corridor over the distance of 80m. It is demonstrated that SFPEX SFP transceivers that are specified for signal transmission at 1Gb/s and 1.25Gb/s can be operated up to 2Gb/s. However, when SFP transceivers are operated at 2Gb/s, the optical power budget is reduced by 5dB in comparison with the performance at 1.25Gbps. The main results on the development of the optical system achieved are summarized in the following:
- a suitable low-cost image sensor that is based on CMOS technology has been identified and successfully tested in the system for performing the laser beam tracking and automatic alignment of the Gigabit optical wireless link by using a software interface;
- a suitable dichroic long-pass beam splitter having the function of tapping of the light that is projected onto the CMOS image sensor has been selected by considering several options;
- beacon LEDs characteristics have been specified and suitable LED samples have been selected and successfully tested;
- a suitable IR filter to be placed in front of the image sensor for increasing the visibility of beacon LEDs has been selected;
- it has been verified that the sub-system that consists of beacon LEDs operating at 850nm, exit lens, dichroic beam splitter and CMOS image sensor with IR filter provides the image of a very high quality enabling reliable alignment of the optical free-space link (up to and beyond 100m) with a large budget of the image sensor sensitivity;
- it has been verified that ConnectTOO FSO transceivers can be accurately pre-aligned in a dark laboratory environment in such a way that the Gigabit signal laserbeam is projected onto the geometrical centre of the remote exit/input lens, which is same as the geometrical centre of beacon LEDs, whose angle position is visualizedby employing the CMOS image sensor in the system;
WP3: A final architecture of the electronics has been decided upon and all main components for Task 3.1 have been identified. Technical risk regarding high speed signal integrity has been minimized by finding appropriate parts and using balanced signaling in high speed harness. Motors for the tilt and horizontal movement has been tested, both electrically and physical in a rapid prototype and is considered as a low complexity design. A FPGA solution has been selected and the main functionality at block level is described. An upside regarding performance is likely due to better performance of the optics and the use of a FPGA with multi gigabit transceivers. The design has been performed by TI within the planned time. Description of the functionality is described in D3.1 Electronics Design Document. All main details regarding architecture and detailed design have been defined in this document.
A controller board with optical camera interface has been implemented in task 3.3. The electronics includes elements from task 3.2 integrating the motor control into the link board. The power input to the card is 12V delivered from the Controller board. The on-board DCDC converters based on MP1469 make voltages of 3.3V and 5V. The 5V is used for driving the stepper motors, where as the 3.3V is used for everything else. The stepper motors are controlled by the microcontroller and uses an H-bridge MP6507GQ stepper motor driver with current limit control set at 0.5A. The motors contain gears of ratio 1:100, and the mechanics also contains worm gear, so for practical purposes there does not seem to be a need for micro stepping, and thus the motors may be run in half-step mode. The electronics also includes peripherals for the final product as specified in the requirements.
FPGA code development was done in cooperation with the board and SW developers. The hi-level of dependency between the different design components required constant communication between the development teams.
All requirements stated in PDS were met. Additional FPGA code elements such as the HW Board tests were developed by the FPGA designers. Current code is verified on module and subsystems level and ready for integration with PS CPU SW and Link Boards. There are sufficient amounts of internal resources such as RAMs and logic blocks to accommodate these modules as well as the tweaks on the existing throughput parameters.
The modular design of the FPGA code allows the development team to quickly respond to any changing requirements. Changing the characteristics of one particular design feature will not affect the rest of the design.
The physical electronics is hosted inside the mechanics and consists of two different types of boards. One board is referred to as the controller board, and the other board is referred to as the link board. The connection between the controller board and the link boards are by means of micro-coaxial cables capable of carrying high-speed signals with good signal integrity between the boards. Basic tests of the controller board have been performed in task 3.5. Though the controller board is not tested 100%, the major parts of the board has been tested such as the Xilinx processing and FPGA system. This also includes DDR3 memory, QSPI and SD card. A test program for the link board has been written in order to test and verify basic functionality of the hardware. The tests included step motor control and driving, IR Beacon LED, UART communication and temperature and compass readings.
WP4: In WP1 we began a design process where we started to analyze the needs of users, from those who will buy it till those who will install the product. We also looked at different types of products that hang on the walls and slowly approached the design of the product by analyzing different technical solutions. This process ended with a design concept that was agreed upon in the consortium. This process can be read about in D1.1 and a summery in D4.2. During first project period, we have focused on developing a practical housing solution that encapsulates the movable mechanical parts inside the product. In this stage of the process we looked at the chosen design concept with respect to all aspects of the product, from design to market, installation, material selection, assembly, production, weather and environment. This is detailed further in the D4.2 chapter 3 product design description. To ensure that we remember all parameters of the product we have worked from the inside and out too. All the moveable components must fit together with the housing, therefore it is important to see how the components should be placed inside the camera module to achieve the required function. After several concept drawings were completed we entered a phase where we wanted to do some practical test to verify the concept. During the second project period a new functional prototype has been build with special focus on each component and its role in the product. Prototype could transfer data and then verify the main function of the product and is ready for complete integration with electronic boards and laser/ camera components. TI has worked with the design and construction of the housing, interior and exterior design including integration of electronics and optical modules. The exterior mechanical parts provides the environmental protection of the optics and electronics, while the internal parts includes a turret with pan and tilt function that has a very fine adjustment for alignment of the laser beam.
WP5: The control SW includes an embedded Linux running in the CPU on the system on chip FPGA. A web server with a hardware interface provides information of the link status and an image of the optical link. Task 5.1 included integration of drivers for the Ethernet interface.
As stated by DoW, the support for alignment demonstration is a major target for the development of the embedded software. The system provides a web based user interface to enable the operator to manually adjust the beam till it points directly to the other-end device. The interface provides both “instant” movement buttons, “click-in-image” movement, and dialogs to enter angle directly. Unit alignment code control SW sends pan and tilt motor commands using a web interface with an image from the link board that shows the optical view of the laser, and provides a user interface to move the direction of the laser link. The control and alignment software has been developed as an application with a low lever interface to the electronics and a GUI web system.
WP6: The final integration and verification took place at the Acreo facilities in Kista on June 17th and 18th 2014. Prior to this, separate testing had been conducted on both the electronics including software, the optics and the mechanical housing. This was the first time all components were assembled in the final version of the mechanical housing and tested as a complete system. The general concept of the optical design has remained unchanged throughout this project. Separate testing has induced some minor changes incorporated in this final version. The most visible are the beam splitter and the position of the camera. In the early version the camera was on the side. The beam splitter has since been re-positioned 90 degrees and the camera moved to the top of the module. This is because the beam splitter causes some ellipticity to the beam. With the camera mounted to the side, the beam profile would be stretched in the horizontal direction. By flipping the splitter 90 degrees and relocating the camera to the top, the ellipticity is now in the vertical direction. The cylindrical outer window will introduce some ellipticity in the horizontal direction. The two effects will then cancel out rather than add up, giving a more rounded beam profile.
The finished units were brought to the corridor for testing. One unit was placed at the end of the corridor and the other unit was placed near the exit door. The units were aligned using the image sensors and the artificial cross. A signal was received immediately. Fine tuning using read-out of the power intensity gave more than 100uW (-10dBm) received optical power. Going from 40m to 100m the geometrical losses would typically add another 7dB to the losses giving an expected -17dBm. The sensitivity limit is -28dBm, so we are within the specified 10dB margin even before any optimalization has been done. We therefore consider the design of the optical module a success, and are confident the field demonstrations will give the desired results. The PDS written in WP1 as D1.1 is the basis for the entire development. What is in there has been evaluated, modified and implemented continuously by the RTD partners in good cooperation as conditions change and/or new knowledge surfaces. The overall objective for the project remains unchanged, and minor changes along the
way are nothing that jeopardizes the end result or the quality hereof.
WP7: The finished product will come with active tracking and FEC. This is already part of the 100Mbps product that Polewall has previously tested on the same location. The active tracking is handled by two separate mechanisms. Firstly, the individual optical modules come with a set of stepper motors which steer the modules both in the pan and tilt direction. These motors can perform initial alignment and coarse adjustments. However, they are too slow for the high speed vibrations that a street pole might en counter due to wind or the passing of a heavy vehicle. Also, electrical motors are prone to failure if used extensively. The stepper motors are included on the ConnectTOO prototype.
A high speed beam steering mechanism is therefore needed which is outside the scope of the ConnectTOO project. The high-speed mirrors available on the market today are too expensive and bulky for our product. However, a high speed beam steering mirror has been developed in the ENIAC project “Lab4MEMS”. This is a very versatile mirror with many uses. For example, it can be used to steer the lasers in a laser based projector system. Polewall realized the potential of this mirror at an early stage and has already secured participation in the Lab4MEMS-II follow-up project starting in November 2014.
The mirror is the missing part that will take this product from a technology verification prototype to a fully deployable product for several mass markets. In addition to the Fiber to the Home and Small-Cell backhaul, Polewall has realized the potential this technology has for the transport sector. There is not much difference between tracking a moving street pole and a moving vehicle. Polewall has delivered a sample of the early 100Mbps solution to Airbus, a leading manufacturer of commercial aircrwaft. The system is used to test the feasibility of uploading content to the in-flight entertainment.
Polewall performed final testing of the ConnectTOO prototype in Overland Park, Kansas, August 11-14, 2014. The testing demonstrates the product and its feasibility at a major international customer. The test is in a realistic setting and the test results are fully satisfactory. Throughput is very good as well as latency results. Feedback from customer is very satisfactory and shows that future work toward the market is very promising. It is of great value to the project that these results have been achieved together with a customer at their test site.
WP8: The SMEs performed internet and market searches confirming the uniqueness of the ConnetTOO system that is developed in the project. Several parts of the ConnectTOO system were identified to be potential patentable. Ownership and rights was targeted at the management board meetings. The strategy for use and dissemination of the foreground was prepared on the beginning of RP2. In short these plans are referred to as DUP (Dissemination and Use Plan). The dissemination plan has a dynamic nature and is adjusted and revised in the course of the project. Through the plan for use and dissemination of the knowledge the project will provide for dissemination of results within and outside the consortium, facilitating the take-up of results by the SMEs and facilitating the protection, use and exploitation of results.
The dissemination activities during the project period are implemented as part of the draft plan for use and dissemination of the knowledge.
WP9: Project Management
Potential Impact:
As the prime market segment, the SME partners have agreed to target homes in established urban and suburban environments where trenching is undesired and costly. Providing a non-intrusive and rapidly deployable alternative to fiber, the introduction of this new wireless alternative will have a massive positive impact on the “homes connected”/”homes passed” ratio and facilitate faster return on investment for the infrastructure providers. The basic size of the ConnectTOO market is defined by those homes passed by fibre, but not connected. The partners assume a time to market of about 6 months to 1 year. They aim at product launch within 6 months, to get sufficient experience with installations ahead of full scale introduction to the market. The first year will be spent obtaining CE marking of the product, and signing the first contracts and start-up of manufacturing. The partners are aware that this is ambitious, as it leaves little time for further technological development to cover the period after the termination of the ConnecTOO project. And the first product deliveries can if necessary be with some reduced functionality.
The ConnectTOO partners aim at capturing an annual market share of 1% within 2020, measured against their defined potential in the residential market. The FTTH council Europe and FTTH council North America are providing market data and forecasts on the potential subscribers of fibre (FTTH homes passed) and the number of actual FTTH subscribers.
The accumulated net sales revenue of the ConnectTOO product is estimated to reach € 77 million by 2020, and this is of course quite ambitious. The plan is to initially execute production through the SME partners and subcontractors, who constitute a supply chain of industrial partners, representing a relevant portfolio of experience and skills to manufacture and deliver the ConnectTOO technology. Initial launch will be in Europe; subsequently the USA, and possibly later also outside Europe and the USA. Whilst fully committed to satisfying a significant portion of the market by 2018, the prediction is that the practical ability to grow (i.e. to borrow enough to finance new production equipment and working capital) will be outstripped by the huge market potential. The testing done at a US customer in Overland Park , Kansas, USA, demonstrates the product and its feasibility at a major international customer. Feedback from customer is very satisfactory and shows that future work toward the market is very promising. It is of great value to the project that these results have been achieved together with a customer at their test site.
The units will be delivered from product holder Polewall in pairs at a price of € 500. Dependent on the market situation the price may be regulated. In some way the end-users are going to pay for the broadband installation. Either directly based on installation cost, or based on the subscription cost. The availability of this new wireless alternative, will make high capacity broadband available to more end-users, and reduce their installation cost. Increasing the amount of subscribers will often also cause reduction in the subscriber cost. Adding more high capacity to the suburban and rural areas is an important task. Getting the same opportunities by broadband as most users do in urban areas is significant to their way of living. As an example, in our modern digital world, being able to do your work from your home is often an advantage. It increases your possibility to do work outside your office, both outside office hours and as an alternative to actually travelling to the office. Full broadband access increases these possibilities, and opens up for modern use of the internet.
Polewall has performed a long list of bilateral dissemination activities towards customers, investors and other relevant parties. The total list of activities shows 27 events, press contacts, meetings and demos. The main focus has been on partners in USA way, 12 events/meetings in the USA, many international and 8 in Norway. The US and Norwegian companies are all major international players in the telecom industry the number of companies in the telecom sector visited are at least 14. The dissemination activities have promoted the project efficiently and have given valuable input to customer needs. It has also been very valuable in diversifying the base technology into different product applications and possible business opportunities. The products are described on the Polewall homepage: http://www.polewall.com/
List of Websites:
https://connecttoo.wordpress.com/
Carl-Fredrik Lehland
Project Coordinator
Company: Polewall
Email: Info@polewall.com.
Webstite: www.Polewall.com
The objective of the ConnectTOO project, initiated by Polewall AS, was to develop a Free Space Optics solution for distribution of data at a quality similar to fiber broadband. The development in the project has been based on Polewalls’ patented solution for free-space optics. A new Free Space Optics system has been developed with GigE (1Gbit/second) data throughput and 4 individual links with a theoretical bandwidth of 4 Gbit/s. Each link is aligned using a web interface and an image from the integrated camera and motors to rotate and tilt the laser beam carrying the data signal. All electronics and optical systems are integrated in a weather protection housing with pole mount installation clamps for outdoor installation. The performances has been tested and verified with error free transmission capacity of 1 Gbit/second which was the requirements for the product and a range of 165m has been achieved which is 65m better than the requirements. Demonstration has been performed for customers and new markets as the flight industry has shown interest in the products and it’s ability to make a fast and license free connection without the need for manual operation.
A top level design of the optical solution was made for an error-free long-distance FSO system. The top level design of the optical module has been refined in order to integrate the selected optical components into the system. Moderate cost adaptive spherical glass lenses with optimal performance suitable for the ConnectTOO system have been identified and tested.
The ConnectTOO system implementation have been identified and tested with laser transmitters and receivers. Successful dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle in SFP transceivers is demonstrated.
A complete opto-mechanical solution, the first prototype of ConnectTOO system based on FSO transceivers in the form of integrated opto-electro-mechanical units operated by using software interface has been successfully demonstrated.
Technical risk regarding high speed signal integrity has been minimized by finding appropriate parts and using balanced signaling in high speed harness. A controller board and a link board with optical camera interface have been implemented.
The electronics integrating the motor control into the link board and the FPGA on the controller board has been devloped. The complete electronics board has been tested to verify functionality of the CPU and Ethernet connection as part of the SW integration. The mechanical design concept was prepared with respect to all aspects of the product, from design to market, installation, material selection, assembly, production, weather and environment. A new housing prepared for pan/tilt (TI) was developed. Parts have been designed in Solid Works design studio and printed out by 3D print for testing .
The control system has been implemented and includes an embedded Linux running in the CPU on the system on a FPGA chip. A web server with a hardware interface provides information of the link status and an image of the optical link. Performance tests with of a complete FSO integrated unit has been performed by Acreo.
Dissemination activities by Polewall: There have been extensive demonstrations of the developed technology to targeted customers and possible partners. In particular the testing and demonstration of the product and its feasibility done at to a US customer in Overland Park , Kansas, USA, is worth mentioning. The test is in a realistic setting and the test results are fully satisfactory with respect to system performance.
Project Context and Objectives:
ConnectTOO project, initiated by Polewall AS, has develop Polewalls’ patented solution for free-space, low cost distribution of fibre-quality broadband to homes. The ConnectTOO solution will enable significantly increased access to high speed broadband, a fundamental requirement for fulfilment of the European Commission Digital Agenda: 50% of European homes connected to 100 Mbit/sec by 2020. The project makes the SMEs more competitive through providing them with a new high capacity low cost product, opening new market possibilities to the partners, increasing their technological competence and building new and valuable business networks.
In modern society, virtually every home and enterprise is dependent on an internet connection, and the required capacity is constantly increasing. In the early days of internet use, bit rates at ISDN level 64k-128kbit/sec were often used for connection to the global network. At the time, the internet was mainly used for data communication. More recently, multimedia applications have become an important part of internet use. Combined voice and video communication demand specific requirements for capacity, constant data streaming and short delays.
High definition video streaming requires approximately 25 Mbit/sec. If 2 persons in a household are to watch two different movies concurrently, the bandwidth required for this activity alone will be 50 Mbit/sec. One single film in MPEG-2 format will typically have a total size of 20 Giga Byte. A download of 20 Giga Byte will take almost 30 minutes if supported by one available 100 Mbit/sec data channel. The use of 3D TV will further increase data capacity required by streaming films and TV signals. However more efficient signal coding is also available, and new and better methods are constantly developed, compensating for some of the requirements for higher bitrates required is moving towards the high end.
All over the world, the task of supporting homes with broadband connections is on the public agenda. Supporting high capacity internet connection to end users requires first of all a solid backbone. This is either a public responsibility or taken care of by dedicated large enterprises. High capacity fibre backbone is constantly built. The high speed data carrying capacity of optical fibres is superior to any other known physical communication media and makes it the preferred option.
Several terms are used to describe how the fibre infrastructure is connected to th homes. Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) is used where the fibre is terminated in a street cabinet up to several kilometres away from the customer premises. Fibre To The Curb (FTTC) is very similar to FTTN, but the street cabinet is closer to the user's premises; typically within 300m. To take full advantage of the speed fibre has to offer, Fibre To The Home (FTTH) or Fibre To The Building (FTTB) is required.
Despite the fact that high capacity fibre access networks are constantly being extended, many subscribers turn down the offer for a fiber based broadband plan due to cost and inconvenience from re-trenching and re-landscaping the garden. Homes passed is the potential number of premises to which an operator has capability to connect in a service area, but the premises may or may not be connected to the network. On the one hand, a solid 26% increase in the number of FTTH/B homes passed was reported in the first half of 2011 in Europe (EU-35), proving a solid development of fibre access networks. On the other hand, when it comes to actual subscribers accepting a fibre-based plan the growth has been only 14% in the same period. This proves that expanding coverage is still the top priority for players, and that there are certain challenges in actually connecting new subscribers to the fibre net. There were nearly 4.6 million FTTH/B subscribers in the EU-35 by mid-year, and more than 25 million homes passed, leaving a total of more than 20 million non connected potential FTTH/B subscribers in areas already fully covered by the fibre access.
As can be concluded from the published status by IDATE describing the relationship between FTTH/B homes connected and FTTH/B homes passed, actual residential fibre quality data connection uptake is lagging far behind the potential stemming from massive investment in FTTN/FTTC. Based on figures provided by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe5 we can note that by the end of 2010 only 7 EU countries have higher than 7% of FTTH/B penetration. A provided forecast of connected households estimates a solid growth in FTTH/B subscribers, reaching a total of 32 million FTTH connections in 2015. However, the FTTH Council calculates this to be no more than about 11% of all the homes in the region.
The main objective of the project have been:
• Product design specification. Develop and agree on a complete product design specification based on thorough background work on market requirements and design possibilities
• Customized adaptive optical system. Based on existing patent. A compact electro-mechanical unit for mounting of laser transmitter and receiver, optical splitter of transmitted and received signal. Fine adjustment of the optics by electrical control of focus and direction of the beam. The complete new optics wil be prepared for 2,5 Gbit/sec, with adaptivity of 1 º
• Achieve an Electronics main board supporting speed of 1 Gbit/sec, and prepared for 2,5 Gbit/sec including electronics for power supply and pan/tilt.
• Deliver FPGA code for 1 Gbit/sec communication speed. Possibly incorporating a soft core processor.
• A fully functional mechanical unit. Integrating the adaptive optics system, main lens, the main electronics board and additional electronics. Prepared for motor controlled pan/tilt both for manual adjustment and for potential smart alignment.
• Embedded software code with OS prepared for the unit, and system software developed that handle monitoring and control of the communication link. Errors and warnings displayed in remote supervisory terminal when FSO units or communication links are not operating as expected.
• Smart alignment code. A support functionality that can assist alignment of the two units of a link, by controlling direction of each unit. Controlling implemented motors for pan/tilt.
• Pilot product delivered. Complete new low cost FSO design, tailored to be the preferred cable free FTTH/B alternative. Solution prepared for large scale production.
Project Results:
WP1: The consortium agreed on a specification with the following key features: An enclosure containing four independent 1Gb/s transceivers with a link length of up to 100m. The links will have automatic alignment and tracking. The links will interface standard telecom industry management systems with a list of manageable parameters. The full set of requirements is published as an appendix to deliverable D1.1 Product Design Specification. Both esthetical and functional aspects have been evaluated in task 1.2. An important but not objective requirement was that the unit should not look like a surveillance camera and have an appealing look to the customer. The most appealing design was to make a unit look like an outdoor lamp, and adding white LED lamps could enhance the effect of this. Different concepts were suggested regarding exterior look, methods to attach to poles or walls and how to implement the alignment mechanics of the internal laser modules. Size and material is another critical issue and the first material selected for the exterior window that the laser light should pass through distorted the beam in such order that it would drastically reduce the communication distance. The final concept to be implemented consists of 4 laser links split in to two sections and connected to the wall mount bracket. Each section has an electronic board connected to the motherboard in the wall mount bracket. The mechanics include means of heating and cooling the electronics and to avoid moisture inside the glass and remove excessive heat in case the unit is exposed in direct sunshine. The alignment is a difficult task as the resolution and required stability is very high in order to direct a 4cm beam to a 2cm spot at 100m. Engineering tests has been performed to test the different solutions and the results looks promising as the prototype is able to adjust the beam inside a 1cm spot at 70m while the laser requires 2 cm at 100m. There are improvements regarding the stability by using thicker material and plastic bearings, thus one of the critical issues regarding alignment looks less critical after the engineering tests. Task 1.2 is successfully accomplished. The low-cost nature of the end product dictates the re-use of already industrialized and mass-produced optical components in task 1.3. It was determined that the optical transceivers for optical Local Area Networks (LAN) could be reused in this project. They are available for our 1Gb/s data rate at a cost of around €10 each. The choice of optical wavelength was deferred. The overall dimensions of the optical unit are set to be 5x5x10 centimeters, with the diameter of the exit lens at 4,5cm. A camera module similar to the one used in mobile telephones will be used for alignment and tracking of the beam. The electronics is split into two separate boards, a main controller board including the switch matrix and most of the control intelligence, and a smaller link board for each transceiver for laser and detector management. The main controller board will be FPGA-based. The key results for the mechanical system are described separately in section 1.2. A high level product design specification was produced based on the requirements of the functional specification. The specification is published as deliverable D1.1.
WP2: Low-cost commercially available Gigabit SFP transceivers for multimode optical fiber links and optical lenses suitable for application in ConnectTOO system have been identified and experimentally tested in task 2.1. SFP transceivers have been successfully modified by dismounting the optical fiber receptacle in order to suit application in FSO system. The output optical power has been increased by about 6dB due to dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle, which is very beneficial for the FSO system performance. The optical power budget of modified SFP transceivers has been estimated to be at least 30dB in back-to-back configuration. We successfully performed an error-free long-distance FSO system experiments (over the distance of 80m) by using the modified SFP transceiver modules and identified two types of lenses to be used in ConnectTOO system: sphericalglass lenses (priority 1) and achromatic glass lenses (priority 2: increased cost but better performance).
High pointing accuracy of mechanical system for the laser beam steering has been demonstrated (see WP4 Mechanical design). Deviation: The deviation from DoW
(Annex 1), i.e. the decision not to use any adaptive lenses, does not lead to any critical issues because the required performance of the optical beam steering is achieved by employing a fine mechanical solution.
Section 2.2 of the DOW details the development of an adaptive lens system for beam tracking. Early research revealed this to be too complex and could possibly jeopardize the entire project. A decision was made to limit tracking to mechanical movement by traditional stepper motors and initialize side efforts to address the adaptive optics. This way all remaining parts of the project could proceed and all the other desired result could be obtained.
Polewall applied for separate funding from the Norwegian Research Council and was awarded the project “Optosteer”, grant 225844 with the purpose of researching possible beam steering technologies. This study revealed that many promising technologies existed, but very few were developed to a commercially available stage. A few micromechanical technologies were available, but they were too expensive for the low-cost ConnectTOO product, and required high-voltage drive electronics as a further cost-driver. The project report is provided in the attachments.
During this research Polewall was made aware of a novel MEMS mirror under development in the ENAIC project “Lab4MEMS” (http://www.lab4mems.upb.ro/). This is a very robust mirror specifically designed for inexpensive mass production. Prototypes of this mirror was made available to, and tested by Polewall, but not in time to impact the ConnectTOO results. Polewall is now a partner in the follow-up Lab4MEMS II project which just had project kick-off on Dec. 11th 2014. A key goal of this project is to develp the production methods to enable high volume, low cost manufacturing. Further development of the mirror performance is also included. However, the current state of the mirror is already verified by Polewall to be adequate for the use in the ConnectTOO product. The remaining hurdle to exploitation is stable production, which the Lab4MEMS II project will address.
It should be noted that the complete system is functional and has been tested in the field without the beam tracking capabilities of the MEMS-mirror. Basic tracking is provided by stepper motors. The mirror will enable higher speed tracking for installation environments subject to high frequency vibrations, and also reduce wear on the stepper motors. However, for most installations the system will perform well without the added benefit of the mirror.
Successful dismounting of the optical fiber receptacle in SFP transceivers was demonstrated in task 2.3. Optical power budget of more than 30dB is achieved. Error-free (very low bit error rate) optical signal transmission is demonstrated in the office corridor over the distance of 80m. It is demonstrated that SFPEX SFP transceivers that are specified for signal transmission at 1Gb/s and 1.25Gb/s can be operated up to 2Gb/s. However, when SFP transceivers are operated at 2Gb/s, the optical power budget is reduced by 5dB in comparison with the performance at 1.25Gbps. The main results on the development of the optical system achieved are summarized in the following:
- a suitable low-cost image sensor that is based on CMOS technology has been identified and successfully tested in the system for performing the laser beam tracking and automatic alignment of the Gigabit optical wireless link by using a software interface;
- a suitable dichroic long-pass beam splitter having the function of tapping of the light that is projected onto the CMOS image sensor has been selected by considering several options;
- beacon LEDs characteristics have been specified and suitable LED samples have been selected and successfully tested;
- a suitable IR filter to be placed in front of the image sensor for increasing the visibility of beacon LEDs has been selected;
- it has been verified that the sub-system that consists of beacon LEDs operating at 850nm, exit lens, dichroic beam splitter and CMOS image sensor with IR filter provides the image of a very high quality enabling reliable alignment of the optical free-space link (up to and beyond 100m) with a large budget of the image sensor sensitivity;
- it has been verified that ConnectTOO FSO transceivers can be accurately pre-aligned in a dark laboratory environment in such a way that the Gigabit signal laserbeam is projected onto the geometrical centre of the remote exit/input lens, which is same as the geometrical centre of beacon LEDs, whose angle position is visualizedby employing the CMOS image sensor in the system;
WP3: A final architecture of the electronics has been decided upon and all main components for Task 3.1 have been identified. Technical risk regarding high speed signal integrity has been minimized by finding appropriate parts and using balanced signaling in high speed harness. Motors for the tilt and horizontal movement has been tested, both electrically and physical in a rapid prototype and is considered as a low complexity design. A FPGA solution has been selected and the main functionality at block level is described. An upside regarding performance is likely due to better performance of the optics and the use of a FPGA with multi gigabit transceivers. The design has been performed by TI within the planned time. Description of the functionality is described in D3.1 Electronics Design Document. All main details regarding architecture and detailed design have been defined in this document.
A controller board with optical camera interface has been implemented in task 3.3. The electronics includes elements from task 3.2 integrating the motor control into the link board. The power input to the card is 12V delivered from the Controller board. The on-board DCDC converters based on MP1469 make voltages of 3.3V and 5V. The 5V is used for driving the stepper motors, where as the 3.3V is used for everything else. The stepper motors are controlled by the microcontroller and uses an H-bridge MP6507GQ stepper motor driver with current limit control set at 0.5A. The motors contain gears of ratio 1:100, and the mechanics also contains worm gear, so for practical purposes there does not seem to be a need for micro stepping, and thus the motors may be run in half-step mode. The electronics also includes peripherals for the final product as specified in the requirements.
FPGA code development was done in cooperation with the board and SW developers. The hi-level of dependency between the different design components required constant communication between the development teams.
All requirements stated in PDS were met. Additional FPGA code elements such as the HW Board tests were developed by the FPGA designers. Current code is verified on module and subsystems level and ready for integration with PS CPU SW and Link Boards. There are sufficient amounts of internal resources such as RAMs and logic blocks to accommodate these modules as well as the tweaks on the existing throughput parameters.
The modular design of the FPGA code allows the development team to quickly respond to any changing requirements. Changing the characteristics of one particular design feature will not affect the rest of the design.
The physical electronics is hosted inside the mechanics and consists of two different types of boards. One board is referred to as the controller board, and the other board is referred to as the link board. The connection between the controller board and the link boards are by means of micro-coaxial cables capable of carrying high-speed signals with good signal integrity between the boards. Basic tests of the controller board have been performed in task 3.5. Though the controller board is not tested 100%, the major parts of the board has been tested such as the Xilinx processing and FPGA system. This also includes DDR3 memory, QSPI and SD card. A test program for the link board has been written in order to test and verify basic functionality of the hardware. The tests included step motor control and driving, IR Beacon LED, UART communication and temperature and compass readings.
WP4: In WP1 we began a design process where we started to analyze the needs of users, from those who will buy it till those who will install the product. We also looked at different types of products that hang on the walls and slowly approached the design of the product by analyzing different technical solutions. This process ended with a design concept that was agreed upon in the consortium. This process can be read about in D1.1 and a summery in D4.2. During first project period, we have focused on developing a practical housing solution that encapsulates the movable mechanical parts inside the product. In this stage of the process we looked at the chosen design concept with respect to all aspects of the product, from design to market, installation, material selection, assembly, production, weather and environment. This is detailed further in the D4.2 chapter 3 product design description. To ensure that we remember all parameters of the product we have worked from the inside and out too. All the moveable components must fit together with the housing, therefore it is important to see how the components should be placed inside the camera module to achieve the required function. After several concept drawings were completed we entered a phase where we wanted to do some practical test to verify the concept. During the second project period a new functional prototype has been build with special focus on each component and its role in the product. Prototype could transfer data and then verify the main function of the product and is ready for complete integration with electronic boards and laser/ camera components. TI has worked with the design and construction of the housing, interior and exterior design including integration of electronics and optical modules. The exterior mechanical parts provides the environmental protection of the optics and electronics, while the internal parts includes a turret with pan and tilt function that has a very fine adjustment for alignment of the laser beam.
WP5: The control SW includes an embedded Linux running in the CPU on the system on chip FPGA. A web server with a hardware interface provides information of the link status and an image of the optical link. Task 5.1 included integration of drivers for the Ethernet interface.
As stated by DoW, the support for alignment demonstration is a major target for the development of the embedded software. The system provides a web based user interface to enable the operator to manually adjust the beam till it points directly to the other-end device. The interface provides both “instant” movement buttons, “click-in-image” movement, and dialogs to enter angle directly. Unit alignment code control SW sends pan and tilt motor commands using a web interface with an image from the link board that shows the optical view of the laser, and provides a user interface to move the direction of the laser link. The control and alignment software has been developed as an application with a low lever interface to the electronics and a GUI web system.
WP6: The final integration and verification took place at the Acreo facilities in Kista on June 17th and 18th 2014. Prior to this, separate testing had been conducted on both the electronics including software, the optics and the mechanical housing. This was the first time all components were assembled in the final version of the mechanical housing and tested as a complete system. The general concept of the optical design has remained unchanged throughout this project. Separate testing has induced some minor changes incorporated in this final version. The most visible are the beam splitter and the position of the camera. In the early version the camera was on the side. The beam splitter has since been re-positioned 90 degrees and the camera moved to the top of the module. This is because the beam splitter causes some ellipticity to the beam. With the camera mounted to the side, the beam profile would be stretched in the horizontal direction. By flipping the splitter 90 degrees and relocating the camera to the top, the ellipticity is now in the vertical direction. The cylindrical outer window will introduce some ellipticity in the horizontal direction. The two effects will then cancel out rather than add up, giving a more rounded beam profile.
The finished units were brought to the corridor for testing. One unit was placed at the end of the corridor and the other unit was placed near the exit door. The units were aligned using the image sensors and the artificial cross. A signal was received immediately. Fine tuning using read-out of the power intensity gave more than 100uW (-10dBm) received optical power. Going from 40m to 100m the geometrical losses would typically add another 7dB to the losses giving an expected -17dBm. The sensitivity limit is -28dBm, so we are within the specified 10dB margin even before any optimalization has been done. We therefore consider the design of the optical module a success, and are confident the field demonstrations will give the desired results. The PDS written in WP1 as D1.1 is the basis for the entire development. What is in there has been evaluated, modified and implemented continuously by the RTD partners in good cooperation as conditions change and/or new knowledge surfaces. The overall objective for the project remains unchanged, and minor changes along the
way are nothing that jeopardizes the end result or the quality hereof.
WP7: The finished product will come with active tracking and FEC. This is already part of the 100Mbps product that Polewall has previously tested on the same location. The active tracking is handled by two separate mechanisms. Firstly, the individual optical modules come with a set of stepper motors which steer the modules both in the pan and tilt direction. These motors can perform initial alignment and coarse adjustments. However, they are too slow for the high speed vibrations that a street pole might en counter due to wind or the passing of a heavy vehicle. Also, electrical motors are prone to failure if used extensively. The stepper motors are included on the ConnectTOO prototype.
A high speed beam steering mechanism is therefore needed which is outside the scope of the ConnectTOO project. The high-speed mirrors available on the market today are too expensive and bulky for our product. However, a high speed beam steering mirror has been developed in the ENIAC project “Lab4MEMS”. This is a very versatile mirror with many uses. For example, it can be used to steer the lasers in a laser based projector system. Polewall realized the potential of this mirror at an early stage and has already secured participation in the Lab4MEMS-II follow-up project starting in November 2014.
The mirror is the missing part that will take this product from a technology verification prototype to a fully deployable product for several mass markets. In addition to the Fiber to the Home and Small-Cell backhaul, Polewall has realized the potential this technology has for the transport sector. There is not much difference between tracking a moving street pole and a moving vehicle. Polewall has delivered a sample of the early 100Mbps solution to Airbus, a leading manufacturer of commercial aircrwaft. The system is used to test the feasibility of uploading content to the in-flight entertainment.
Polewall performed final testing of the ConnectTOO prototype in Overland Park, Kansas, August 11-14, 2014. The testing demonstrates the product and its feasibility at a major international customer. The test is in a realistic setting and the test results are fully satisfactory. Throughput is very good as well as latency results. Feedback from customer is very satisfactory and shows that future work toward the market is very promising. It is of great value to the project that these results have been achieved together with a customer at their test site.
WP8: The SMEs performed internet and market searches confirming the uniqueness of the ConnetTOO system that is developed in the project. Several parts of the ConnectTOO system were identified to be potential patentable. Ownership and rights was targeted at the management board meetings. The strategy for use and dissemination of the foreground was prepared on the beginning of RP2. In short these plans are referred to as DUP (Dissemination and Use Plan). The dissemination plan has a dynamic nature and is adjusted and revised in the course of the project. Through the plan for use and dissemination of the knowledge the project will provide for dissemination of results within and outside the consortium, facilitating the take-up of results by the SMEs and facilitating the protection, use and exploitation of results.
The dissemination activities during the project period are implemented as part of the draft plan for use and dissemination of the knowledge.
WP9: Project Management
Potential Impact:
As the prime market segment, the SME partners have agreed to target homes in established urban and suburban environments where trenching is undesired and costly. Providing a non-intrusive and rapidly deployable alternative to fiber, the introduction of this new wireless alternative will have a massive positive impact on the “homes connected”/”homes passed” ratio and facilitate faster return on investment for the infrastructure providers. The basic size of the ConnectTOO market is defined by those homes passed by fibre, but not connected. The partners assume a time to market of about 6 months to 1 year. They aim at product launch within 6 months, to get sufficient experience with installations ahead of full scale introduction to the market. The first year will be spent obtaining CE marking of the product, and signing the first contracts and start-up of manufacturing. The partners are aware that this is ambitious, as it leaves little time for further technological development to cover the period after the termination of the ConnecTOO project. And the first product deliveries can if necessary be with some reduced functionality.
The ConnectTOO partners aim at capturing an annual market share of 1% within 2020, measured against their defined potential in the residential market. The FTTH council Europe and FTTH council North America are providing market data and forecasts on the potential subscribers of fibre (FTTH homes passed) and the number of actual FTTH subscribers.
The accumulated net sales revenue of the ConnectTOO product is estimated to reach € 77 million by 2020, and this is of course quite ambitious. The plan is to initially execute production through the SME partners and subcontractors, who constitute a supply chain of industrial partners, representing a relevant portfolio of experience and skills to manufacture and deliver the ConnectTOO technology. Initial launch will be in Europe; subsequently the USA, and possibly later also outside Europe and the USA. Whilst fully committed to satisfying a significant portion of the market by 2018, the prediction is that the practical ability to grow (i.e. to borrow enough to finance new production equipment and working capital) will be outstripped by the huge market potential. The testing done at a US customer in Overland Park , Kansas, USA, demonstrates the product and its feasibility at a major international customer. Feedback from customer is very satisfactory and shows that future work toward the market is very promising. It is of great value to the project that these results have been achieved together with a customer at their test site.
The units will be delivered from product holder Polewall in pairs at a price of € 500. Dependent on the market situation the price may be regulated. In some way the end-users are going to pay for the broadband installation. Either directly based on installation cost, or based on the subscription cost. The availability of this new wireless alternative, will make high capacity broadband available to more end-users, and reduce their installation cost. Increasing the amount of subscribers will often also cause reduction in the subscriber cost. Adding more high capacity to the suburban and rural areas is an important task. Getting the same opportunities by broadband as most users do in urban areas is significant to their way of living. As an example, in our modern digital world, being able to do your work from your home is often an advantage. It increases your possibility to do work outside your office, both outside office hours and as an alternative to actually travelling to the office. Full broadband access increases these possibilities, and opens up for modern use of the internet.
Polewall has performed a long list of bilateral dissemination activities towards customers, investors and other relevant parties. The total list of activities shows 27 events, press contacts, meetings and demos. The main focus has been on partners in USA way, 12 events/meetings in the USA, many international and 8 in Norway. The US and Norwegian companies are all major international players in the telecom industry the number of companies in the telecom sector visited are at least 14. The dissemination activities have promoted the project efficiently and have given valuable input to customer needs. It has also been very valuable in diversifying the base technology into different product applications and possible business opportunities. The products are described on the Polewall homepage: http://www.polewall.com/
List of Websites:
https://connecttoo.wordpress.com/
Carl-Fredrik Lehland
Project Coordinator
Company: Polewall
Email: Info@polewall.com.
Webstite: www.Polewall.com