OBTAIN

Acronym/Short Name: OBTAIN
Proposal Full Name: Highly Efficient Optical Backhauling Technologies and Architectures for LTE Advanced Networks
Project Coordinator: Dr. Thomas Pfeiffer
Email: Thomas.Pfeiffer@alcatel-lucent.com
Organisation: Alcatel-Lucent Germany
Partners per country: 2 x DE, 2 x UK
Duration (months): 24

Project abstract

OBTAIN addresses the needs of future broadband wireless networks with a highly efficient optical backhauling network design. Provision of a more efficient route to utilising local bandwidth will increase the data transfer rate possible within the radio access network. High capacity direct optical links between wireless base-stations, neighbouring sites and the core network are employed making use of and coexistent with available and emerging optical access technologies, like GPON. These local optical links offer virtually unlimited bandwidth at lowest possible latency for supporting Cooperative Multipoint Processing algorithms to enhance the capacity of the radio network. Although motivated by and initially designed for LTE Advanced backhauling the approach is generic and can be applied equally well to other optical access services or LANs.

A focal point of the project consists of developing optical modules that make the network architecture possible. After initial system definition a highly integrated transceiver and separate optical path management splitter box will be developed. The transceiver module will consist of a filtered receiver array, tuneable laser integrated with additional GPON capability. Low cost is essential and a compact solution will be designed to minimise real estate used at each node. The splitter box provides node interconnection which will initially include splitters and wavelength selective couplers. Investigation of planar light waveguide technology aims to provide a highly integrated splitter unit on one or several optical chips. In a second phase optical switching based on micro-optical and micromechanical elements will be implemented. This functionality will enable reconfigurable interconnectivity patterns thus reducing cost and installation space. Feasibility and usefulness of the proposed network approach will be proved experimentally. In a final system demonstrator the technical capability of the prototypes will be tested in an optical backhauling network configuration.