Perspective in next-generation home networks: Toward optical solutions?

Design of QoS-Aware Energy-Efficient Fiber–Wireless Access Networks

“…Although FTTx technologies are capable of offering veryhigh-performance access network connection to end users, these are still cost-prohibitive in many cases [8]. This fact has leveraged the emergence of hybrid wireless-optical technologies, where high-capacity optical back-end and wireless front-end are combined.…”

Numerical Investigation on Performance of In-Building Plastic Optical Fiber Transmission Systems and Role of Digital Television Broadcasting

“…Compared to glass fibers, POFs have a much simpler installation thanks to a much larger core (1 mm) and the use of visible light rather than infrared, resulting in greater eye safety and a simpler visual check of the integrity of the connection. Furthermore, higher mechanical robustness and tolerance to bending are relevant factors; since simple skilled technicians are used for their installation, very simple training can be used for the installers, and a do-ityourself approach for the final user can even be envisioned [1]. In addition, simpler and less expensive components can be adopted, and, typical of optical communications, the immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) makes this choice important with respect to a broadband solution based on copper cables (twisted pair, coaxial, and also power Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 09:00 21 November 2014 line).…”

“…This scenario indicates that in the next months, each room could require dimes of Mb/s. For home networks, several proposals are currently available to connect IP devices in each room, both with wired solutions (for instance, based on UTP copper cables) and with wireless solutions (i.e., Wi-Fi) [1]. Power line communications (PLC) could also be adopted.…”

“…Power line communications (PLC) could also be adopted. However, it must be pointed out that both Wi-Fi and PLC are important broadband solutions, even though they are not able to guarantee the quality of service necessary for long HD streaming [1]. On the other hand, UTP cables have wide diameters that make their installation difficult.…”

A fully-integrated 125-Gb/s 850-nm CMOS optical receiver based on a spatially-modulated avalanche photodetector

“…There are many efforts to realize optical interconnects for various applications. As one of these, low-cost 850-nm optical interconnects based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and multimode fibers are finding increasing ranges of applications such as home networks [6], communications in vehicles and airplanes [7], rack-to-rack interconnects within data centers and computer clusters [8], [9], and onboard interconnects [8][9][10][11][12][13]. 850-nm optical receivers that include monolithically integrated silicon photodetectors (PDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics are particularly attractive since they have great cost benefits provided by CMOS technology as well as improved performance due to elimination of parasitic pad capacitances and bonding wire inductances that are unavoidable in hybrid approaches [14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”