NTT Technical Review Highlights ITU-T Work on Standards for Higher-Capacity Fiber

International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 15 is working on revising standards (Recommendations) for single-mode optical fiber (SMF). There are also discussions toward standardizing space division multiplexing technologies, which are promising for overcoming the capacity limit of SMF. All these are captured in an NTT Technical Review article titled, "Recent Standardization Activities in ITU-T on Single-mode Optical Fiber and Space Division Multiplexing Technologies"

Here is an extract from the article:

The Recommendations shown in red in Table 1 are those being actively discussed. The G.652 fiber is used worldwide and recognized as “standard SMF.” The G.657 fiber has optical characteristics compatible with those of G.652 fiber but has improved bending loss. These two fibers support transmission over the O–L band* (1260–1625 nm) and used for various applications such as access, metro, and core networks. Recommendation G.654 is for a fiber supporting C–L-band* transmission and mainly used for submarine long-haul transmission systems. The revision of these Recommendations are active topics in ITU-T due to the capacity growth in terrestrial and submarine optical fiber networks. In the next section, recent activities for revising these SMF Recommendations are introduced.

...

Network capacity has been increasing at a rate of a few tens of percent, and the capacity crunch with SMF networks will become a serious issue in the 2020s. To overcome the capacity limit of SMF, fibers for space division multiplexing (SDM) transmission have been intensely investigated. Figure 4(a) shows the conceptual images of SDM fibers. SDM fibers can be basically categorized into two: multi-core fiber or multi-mode fiber. Multi-core fiber has multiple cores within a cladding, and multi-mode fiber has multiple propagation modes within a core. In SDM transmission, multiple signals can be simultaneously transmitted through multiple cores or modes, achieving much higher capacity compared with that in SMF. Before SDM fibers can be used in telecom networks worldwide, it is necessary to establish an SDM fiber Recommendation in the same manner as the SMF Recommendations. 

It was proposed and agreed at ITU-T 2020’s January meeting to start discussion on a new technical report for SDM optical fiber and cable. Although the content of this technical report is under discussion, it was agreed to include the related topics on cable, splice/connectors, and installing technologies. The main discussion pointes are: target application and benefits of SDM technology and categorization of SDM fiber. Regarding the target application for SDM technologies, it is important to compare technologies that use SMF to improve spatial density, such as high-fiber-count cable or reduced coating-diameter fiber technologies, as shown in Fig. 4(b). Although various SDM fibers have been proposed, current multi-core fiber- or few-mode fiber-based SDM fiber is being discussed as a potential candidate of SDM fiber. It is expected that the fiber parameters and test methods for such fibers will be discussed and incorporated into this technical report. The tentative publishing year for this technical report is 2022. The discussion on SDM fiber standardization has been initiated in advance in Japan, and the current technical level or challenges for SDM standardization has/have been summarized as technical report-1077 entitled “Technical Report on Space Division Multiplexing Technologies” (in Japanese) published by the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC).

You can read the article here and download the PDF after free registration from here.

Related Posts:

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Facebook's Fiber Deploying Robot
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: IOWN - Innovative Optical and Wireless Network 

SPL Looking to Beam 4G/5G from an Aircraft

While we talk about satellite connectivity, drones, HAPS, UAVs, etc., we don't necessarily think about connectivity through an aircraft. Last year, we looked at the announcement from Deutsche Telekom and Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL) where they talked about the world's first successful demonstration of LTE/4G voice and data connectivity over a platform flying at the edge of the stratosphere and fully integrated into a commercial mobile network.

The main advantage of aircraft is that you do not have to worry about designing a new system and can carry higher loads. The disadvantage I can see is that you won't be able to charge using solar cells. That is why the SPL system is using "environmentally-friendly hydrogen fuel cell power system". The SPL website says:

• The platform is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell system
• Hydrogen is stored in liquid form, using our breakthrough technology, to deliver the highest energy density source of any aviation platform in the world
• Not reliant on solar energy and its associated limitations
• Low environmental impact – water vapour exhaust, no NOx emissions and low noise

They have also developed the world's largest commercial airborne communications antenna. You can see the specific details for the DT deployment that I covered in the earlier post here. Regarding the antenna, the website says:

The Fastest 5G airborne antenna in the world

• The antenna works with all current and future standards (including 3G, LTE/4G, 5G)
• Compatible with all consumer smartphones without any hardware or software changes
• Beam coverage can be formed to match specific shapes, e.g. motorways, canals or shipping lanes

Cambridge Consultants, who are working closely with SPL for the antenna design, have more details on this here.

This Reuters video below provides a lot of technical information.

Let us know if you think we will see more of these going forward in the future.

Related Posts: 

• Connectivity Technology Blog: Deutsche Telekom and Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL) show Cellular communications service from the Stratosphere
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Loon's Journey is Coming to an End but its Legacy Will Live On!
• Connectivity Technology Blog: HAPSMobile and Loon Deliver 4G from Stratosphere
• Connectivity Technology Blog: 5G Ready' OneWeb Megaconstellation is Getting Ready for Commercial Launch
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Why Starlink is Already a Gamechanger
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Altaeros’ Autonomous Tethered Aerial Cell Tower, SuperTower ST200 

Transition to Infrastructure 2.0

Infrastructure can mean different things to different people in different industries. We tried to explain what it means in the telecoms industry in one of our tutorials here.

When it comes to Infrastructure 2.0, there are articles dating back years. Couple of examples here and here. Back in those days we were talking more about virtualization while today we are talking about containerization and cloudification. We have some introductory presentations on Cloud Native here.

Source

I have heard Qualcomm speakers talk about Infrastructure 2.0 but what does it mean from their point of view? Here is what Cristiano R. Amon, President & CEO-Elect of Qualcomm meant according to RCR Wireless: 

Infrastructure 2.0 seeks to address the fact that existing core network infrastructure is limited in its ability to handle the highly virtualized network models that the industry is moving toward.

For instance, there has been some concern for awhile now around how data center virtualization will impact existing enterprise networking models.

At the CTIA event, Amon explained that 5G will be revolutionary, creating new industries, use cases, services and network models. However, a network capable of doing all that 5G promises requires “infrastructure like we’ve never seen.”

“It needs to be dense, high-performance, cost-effective and power-efficient for both indoors and outdoors, and support public and private networks with a scalable and flexible networking equipment for diverse deployments across multiple industries and use cases,” he continued. “This modern 5G network is driving a shift towards virtualized radio access solutions or vRAN.”

For further context, in a previous conversation with RCR Wireless News, Amon discussed how this push towards virtualization and openness is a potential vector of disruption to traditional network equipment providers, and this disruption is what will lead to Infrastructure 2.0.

“I believe that vRAN and Open RAN creates a huge opportunity for some of the network equipment providers that will lead the transition in what Infrastructure 2.0 is,” he said, adding that incumbents could “take a leading role in the software that will run in those networks and will provide feature parity between the existing systems and the new systems.”

With the announcement of Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms, we will probably seem them talking a lot more about Infrastructure 2.0

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: What is meant by Infrastructure in a Telecoms Network?
• The 3G4G Blog: What is Cloud Native and How is it Transforming the Networks?
• The 3G4G Blog: The Status of 5G Standalone (5G SA) Networks - March 2021
• The 3G4G Blog: Open RAN Explanation, Videos, White papers and Other Resources
• The 3G4G Blog: Positioning Techniques for 5G NR in 3GPP Release-16
• The 3G4G Blog: Reducing 5G Device Power Consumption Using Connected-mode Discontinuous Reception (C-DRX)