Martin Franke

Optical wireless communications for broadband access in home area networks

As a part of the EU-FP7 R&D programme, the OMEGA project (hOME Gigabit Access) aims at bridging the gap between mobile broadband terminals and the wired backbone network in homes. To provide Gb/s connectivity a combination of various technologies is considered. Beside radio frequencies, the wireless links will use infrared and visible light. Combined with power-line communications this enables a home area network (HAN) that meets the vision of broadband home networking dasiawithout new wirespsila. A technology-independent MAC layer is foreseen to control such network and to provide services as well as connectivity to any device the user wishes to connect. Moreover, this MAC layer should allow the service to follow the user from device to device in any room of a building /apartment. The contribution presents ideas and approaches for broadband optical wireless (OW) communications using infrared Gb/s hotspots and 100 Mb/s information broadcasting by means of interior lighting based on white-light LEDs. Important issues concerning the physical layer are discussed.

Hybrid wireless optics (HWO): Building the next-generation home network

Gigabit home access networks (HANs) are a pivotal technology to be developed if the European Union (EU) Vision of the Future Internet is to be realised. Consumers will require such HANs to be simple to install, without any new wires, and easy enough to use so that information services running on the HAN will be ldquojust another utility,rdquo as, for instance, electricity, water and gas are today. The hOME Gigabit Access (OMEGA) HAN project [1] aims at bridging the gap between home and access network, providing Gbit/s connectivity to users. The project considers a combination of various technologies such as radio frequency (RF) and free-space or wireless optical links (FSO - operating at infrared and visible wavelengths) in order to meet user demands and provide wireless connectivity within and the home and its surroundings. When combined with power-line communications this enables a home backbone that meets the ldquowithout new wiresrdquo vision. A technology-independent MAC layer will control this network and provide services as well as connectivity to any number of devices the user wishes to connect to it in any room in a house/apartment, and further, this MAC layer will allow the service to follow the user from device to device. In order to make this vision come true, substantial progress is required in the fields of optical-wireless physical layers, in protocol design, and in system architecture.

Home access networks using optical wireless transmission

Fibre to the home and other dasialast-milepsila transmission technologies provide end-user data rates of at least 100 of Mbit/s. These technologies are currently deployed around the world, and in the short term gigabit-class home access networks will be required if this capacity is to be fully used, and new services are to be developed. In order to meet this goal, the Home Gigabit Access Project (OMEGA, EU FP 7-1) aims at a range of transmission techniques and intelligent control. A significant part of this effort is devoted to two areas of optical wireless communications.

Waveguide and packaging technology for optical backplanes and hybrid electrical-optical circuit boards

Due to ever-faster processor clock speeds, there is a rising need for increased bandwidth to transfer large amounts of data, noise-free, within computer and telecommunications systems. A related requirement is the demand for high bit-rate, short-haul links. Here, optical transmission paths are a viable alternative to high-frequency electrical interconnections, whereby layers with integrated waveguides are particularly suitable. The reasons for this include that a higher connection density can be achieved and the power dissipation, as well as interference from electromagnetic radiation, are significantly lower. The article presents general considerations and the results of research conducted by the German BMBF Project NeGIT, into the manufacture of circuit boards with embedded polymer optical waveguides. The electrical-optical boards were fabricated using precise photolithographic processes and standard lamination methods. They possess the thermal stability necessary for manufacturing processes and operational conditions, in terms of both bond strength and the stability of the optical properties. As part of this project, a design of an optical coupling in the daughter card and board backplane interfaces was developed and is presented as the centerpiece of this study.

Thin glass based electrical-optical circuit boards (EOCB) using ion-exchange technology for graded-index multimode waveguides

The concept and experimental results to manufacture electrical-optical circuit boards (EOCB) with buried optical waveguides using thin-glass sheets (display glass) are presented. An ion-exchange process was developed to manufacture the graded index waveguides in thin-glass sheets. Besides of their excellent optical properties no mechanical structuring is necessary for the waveguides. Their properties were simulated and experimentally validated. The circuit board assembly is presented, as well as the concept developed for the optical coupling in the module-to-board and board-to- backplane coupling, and the assembly of the pluggable electrical-optical module itself is described.

New-generation interconnect

A new-generation interconnect for optical backplane systems based on printed circuits board is presented for transmitting data via integrated multimode polymer optical waveguides both on electro-optical transmitter/receiver processing boards and on optical backplane board. Different developments concerning this system such as optical waveguide technology, transmitter/receiver module activities, and optical interconnect/coupling concepts are discussed.

Electro-optical circuit boards using thin-glass sheets with integrated optical waveguides

The following paper presents research on the manufacture of circuit boards with buried optical waveguides using thin-glass sheets (display glass), which represents a further development of earlier research on buried optical waveguide substrates using polymer. An ion-exchange process was developed to manufacture the waveguides in thin-glass sheets, thereby eliminating the necessity of mechanically structuring the layers. The waveguide properties were simulated and experimentally validated. The circuit board assembly and the concept for the optical coupling from the module to the board and from the board to the backplane are presented. The design and assembly of pluggable electro-optical transmitter and receiver modules is described.

Accident Analysis to Avoid PPM Peaks on Purchased Semiconductors Components

Accidents are sudden but random, economically severe quality problems during product development or delivery with failure rates higher than 100ppm. Several recent cases were studied to derive common features which allow a classification of the events. Focused on semiconductor front end technology the interface between design and process technology and the currently strong process-oriented quality approach were found to be sources for accidents. As an alternative a product function oriented view is proposed which entails e.g. new statistical process control methods. The measures will have to be identified and set up together with the semiconductor industry