Bb Access Technology

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OVERVIEW OF BROADBAND ACCESS

TECHNOLOGY


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Overview of Broadband Technology

CTTC MEERUT 2

OVERVIEW OF BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this chapter is to build up the following

i) To understand what is Broadbandii) To understand the need of broadbandiii) To familiarize with the various broadband technologiesiv) To familiarize with Broadband Network

INTRODUCTION

With the evolution of computer networking and packet switching concept a new era

of integrated communication has emerged in the telecom world. Rapid growth of data

communication market and popularity of Internet, reflect the needs of enhanced

infrastructure to optimize the demand of traffic. Integration of telecom and computer

networking technology trend has further amplified the importance of

telecommunications in the field of information communication. It becomes a tool for

the conveyance of information, and thus can be critical to the development process.

Telecommunications has become one of the most important infrastructures that are

very essential to the socio-economic well being of any nation. As the Internet market

continues to explode, demand for greater bandwidth and faster connection speeds

have led to several technological approaches developed to provide broadband access

to all consumers. The demand for high-speed bandwidth is growing at a fast pace,

driven mostly by growth in data volumes as the Internet and related networks become

more central to business operations. The rapid growth of distributed businessapplications, e-commerce, and bandwidth-intensive applications (such as multimedia,

videoconferencing, and video on demand) generate the demand for bandwidth and

access network.

A concept of broadband services and the means of access technologies to bridge the

customer and service provider is emerged out through out the world. "Broadband"

refers to high-speed Internet access. Broadband Solutions represent the convergence

of multiple independent networks including voice, video and data into a single,

unified, broadband network.


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DEFINITION OF BROADBAND

Broadband is the nonspecific term for high-speed digital Internet access. To state the

obvious, broadband indicates a means of connectivity at a high or broad

bandwidth. There are the various ways to define the broadband: -

Term for evolving digital technologies that provide customers a high-speeddata network connection

Provides signal switched facility offering integrated access to voice, data,video, and interactive delivery services

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines broadband as anadvanced telecommunications capability

Delivers services & facilities with an upstream and downstream speed of 200Kbps or more. Range varies from 128 Kbps to 100 Mbps.

In fact there is no specific International Definition for BroadbandIn India, Department of Telecommunications has issued a Broadband policy in 2004.

Keeping in view the present status, Broadband connectivity is defined at present as: -

An always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including

Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits

per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point Of Presence (POP) of the

service provider intending to provide Broadband service where multiple such

individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access

these interactive services including the Internet through this POP. The interactive

services will exclude any services for which a separate license is specifically required,

for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently

permitted under ISP license with Internet Telephony.

It reflects that: -

One of the latest trends in enhancing communication systems involvesbroadband technology

Broadband refers to greater bandwidth-or transmission capacity of a medium Broadband technology will allow for high-speed transmission of voice, video,

and data over networks like the Internet

IMPLEMENTATION OF BROADBAND

To Strengthen Broadband Penetration, the Government of India has formulated a

Broadband Policy whose main objectives are to:-

Establish a regulatory framework for the carriage and the content ofinformation in the scenario of convergence.

Facilitate development of national infrastructure for an information basedsociety.

Make available broadband interactive multimedia services to users in thepublic network.

Provide high speed data and multimedia capability using new technologies toall towns with a population greater than 2 lakhs.

Make available Internet services at panchayat (village) level for access toinformation to provide product consultancy and marketing advice.


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Deploy state of art and proven technologies to facilitate introduction of newservices.

Strengthen research and development efforts in the telecom technologies.NEED OF BROADBAND

The concept of socio economy has an important role in the field ofcommunication of data, audio, video, speech or any other kind of application. It is

an era of CAPEX and OPEX. Service providers and customers both are interested

in economy with fastest tool of communication with more throughput. Traditional

circuit switching network are not supporting the effective fast communication for

new applications. This has emerged out with the evolution of packet switching

network. Communication of data for various applications is feasible to carry with

different throughput.

The service provider converged voice and data network promises to be

implemented as nodes in a neighborhood or remote switches in regional locations.

The Internet, e-mail, web sites, software downloads, file transfers: they are all

now part of the fabric of doing business. But until now, it has not been possible

for businesses to fully take advantage of the benefits that technology can truly

deliver. The reason for this is a simple one - a lack of bandwidth. Even for small

businesses, narrowband dial-up access is no longer sufficient. It simply takes too

long to do basic tasks, like downloading a large file, and is increasingly being

recognized as insufficient and inconvenient.

Kim Maxwell in his book-"Residential Broadband: An Insider's Guide to the

Battle for the Last Mile" has grouped potential residential broadband applications

into three general categories: "professional activities " (activities related to users'

employment), "entertainment activities " (from game playing to movie watching),

and "consumer activities " (all other non-employment and non-entertainment

activities). as follows:

Professional Activities:

Telecommuting (access to corporate networks and systems to support workingat home on a regular basis)

Video conferencing (one-to-one or multi-person video telephone calls) Home-based business (including web serving, e-commerce with customers,

and other financial functions)

Home office (access to corporate networks and e-mail to supplement work at aprimary office location)

Entertainment Activities:

Web surfing (as today, but at higher speeds with more video content) Video-on-demand (movies and rerun or delayed television shows) Video games (interactive multi-player games)

Consumer Activities:

Shopping (as today, but at higher speeds with more video content) Telemedicine (including remote doctor visits and remote medical analyses by

medical specialists)


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Distance learning (including live and pre-recorded educational presentations) Public services (including voting and electronic town hall meetings) Information gathering (using the Web for non-entertainment purposes) Photography (editing, distributing, and displaying of digital photographs) Video conferencing among friends and family

These applications have different bandwidth requirements, and some of them are still

out of reach today. For example, all of the "professional" activities will likely be

supported with less than 1.0 Mbps of bandwidth. Similarly, web surfing and home

shopping will be supported with less than 1.0 Mbps of bandwidth.

Movies and video, however, demand more bandwidth. Feature length movies can

probably be delivered with 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth, but broadcast quality video will

probably require more perhaps as much as 6.0 Mbps. Moreover, if high definition

television ("HDTV") is widely accepted as a new broadcast standard, that quality of

video would require almost 20.0 Mbps of bandwidth much higher than the current

broadband technologies will support. Thus, although the technology is moving toward

flexible, high-quality video-on-demand, the necessary speed is probably still morethan a few years away from becoming a reality.

The Internet is poised to spin off thousands of specialized broadband services. The

access network needs to provide the platform for delivery of these services. Following

are the various applications or services, which are very popular in society and needs

broadband connectivity: -

Virtual Networks

The private virtual networks (LAN/WAN) can be used in an ample variety of

multimedia services, like bank accounts and central offices.

Education by distance

Education will not have any limits to reach from source to destination. Along with thetraditional school a concept of remote leaning center is emerged out and popular for

various courses. There is no limit of distance, area or location in such distance

learning. The student situated in the remote station can intervene directly to his class

with a double system via videoconference, whilst this happens, simultaneously, the

file ex change

Telework

Organization firm workers that incorporate communication systems via satellite, can

work remotely connecting directly to their head offices Internet by a high speed

connection that permits users to work efficiently and comfortable.

Telemedicine

Doctors situated in different clinics can stay in contact and consult themselves directly

to other regional medical centers, using videoconference and the exchange of high

quality images, giving out test results and any type of information. Also rural zone

can have the opinion of specialists situated in remote hospitals quickly and efficiently.

Electronic commerce

Electronic commerce is a system that permits users to pay goods and services by

Internet. Thanks to this service, any person connected to the network can ad quire


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such services with independence from the place that he is situated and during the 24

hours, simply using a portable computer.

TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS FOR BROADBAND SERVICES

Communication of data with different throughput is feasible by following

technologies: -

Narrow Band2.4 kbps 128kbps

Broadband256kbps 8000kbps

LAN1000kbps 100Mbps / Giga Ethernet Various Access Technologies are

used for the delivery of broadband services. Broadband communications

technology can be divided broadly in to following categories: -

Wireline Technology Wireless Technologies

Service providers according to available technology and access provide the broadband

services to customers. The access technologies that are adopted by the services

providers are mainly Optical Fiber Technologies, DSL on copper loop, Cable TV

Network, Satellite Media, cellular and fixed wireless, Terrestrial Wireless etc.

Technology options for broadband services may be classified according to the mode

of access.

Wire line Technologies include

Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) on copper loop Optical Fiber Technologies Cable TV Network PLC (Power Line Communication

Wireless Technologies include

Satellite Media Terrestrial Wireless 3G Mobile Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) WiMax LMDS and MMDS FSO (Free Space Optics)

BROADBAND NETWORK

The broadband services reached to customer from the three providers. Basically these

are Service Provider, Network Provider and Access Provider. The role of Network

Provider is to provide the services offered to customer through the access extended by


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Access Provider. There are various types of networks which are capable of

transmitting and managing the broadband traffic to desired nodes or locations.

Wireline access technology through DSL, Fiber, Cable etc are generally adopts:

IP based Network ATM Network

Wireless access technology through Wi-Fi, Wi-Max. 3G mobile etc provides wirelessaccess to ingress point of any core network any migrates to Internet world.

BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES USED IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

Broadband technologies go through two stages of development in Asian countries. In

the early stage, sharp technological divisions exist among players due to regulatory

constraints. There are various mode of access used by service providers in this field.

Following was the beginning scenario in various countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia,

Indonesia, India and Singapore: -

Basic Telecom service providers adopted the use of ISDN/DSL CATV operators use cable modems Competitive players use wireless technologies.

In the later stage of development, technological divisions are shaped by geography

and infrastructure. The broadband started establishing and due to a progressive

regulatory framework it has matured in the market. In the countries like Korea and

Philippines service providers employ several technologies for the broadband in their

networks.

DSL and cable modems are used where the PSTN and CATV are in place. Where rainfall is light, an LMDS is used to serve densely populated areas with

little infrastructure and unwired business districts.

Satellite is used to service rural areas where population densities are lowOnce newer technologies are available in the market, ISDN becomes relatively less

important. Established telephone companies are calculating the economics of

converting the Last Mile of existing networks to all-digital systems. Hong Kong and

Singapore citizens already have broadband access, such as movies on demand,

through their local telecom network. Cable-TV operators, too, are venturing into high-

speed Internet access through modified networks and end-user "cable modems."

Advances in wireless communications means that people starts surfing the net with

cell phones at speeds comparable to or greater than current home access.

SUMMARY

There are tremendous changes in the telecommunication technologies. With theevolution of Internet telecom world has merged rapidly in computer network.

Broadband Internet connections allow users to download web pages and data many

times faster than conventional 'narrowband' Internet access. Broadband services are

'always-on' - the computer is connected to the Internet continuously. Users pay a flat

rate independent of how long they spend on the Internet or the amount of data

downloaded. Broadband users typically spend four times as long online as

narrowband customers and broadband take-up has been faster than many comparable


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technologies, competitiveness. Broadband is needed in the present scenario due to

new technologies and emerging out various types of Data communication

applications.

It is around the Professional activities, Entertainment activities, and Consumer

Activities. These applications have different bandwidth requirements and most of

them need more bandwidth.

Various technologies are available to service providers by which they can extend theBroadband services to customers. These technologies are mainly classified under two

categories i.e. Wire line and Wireless technologies. Existing infrastructure used to

access telecom services is exploits for broadband as an economical aspects and faster

development. DSL on copper loops, Optical fiber, cable TV are the popular

technologies for Broadband. World has also entered in the field of wireless to provide

the broadband through GSM, CDMA, LMDS, MMDS, WiMax and Wi-Fi.

The public sector will be one of the key drivers of broadband demand. Pooling

requirements from hospitals, schools etc. could permit more cost effective

procurement and stimulate broadband rollout.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What do you understand with the term broadband?2. What are the factors which are responsible for the evolution of broadband3. What are the main technologies for providing the broadband4. What is the technology adopted in your country

REFERENCES

1. The National Academies Press Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits2. Dutta-Roy, Amitava, "Cable: It's Not Just for TV," IEEE Spectrum, May 19993. FCC Resource Guide: Broadband Internet Access

http://www.fcc.gov/broadband/

4. http://www.ncseonline.org

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