BLP vs. Photons
This morning the FCC announced approval of Internet access over power lines, BPL. Any added competition bodes well. It sounds a little like a rich man trying to get into heaven through the eye of a needle, pardon the metaphor. There are technical problems. Ham operators fear radio interference. However, the simplicity of the plug in to any outlet with just the one connection seems appealing. The added competition may force open the road blocks holding back fiber optics. Michael J. Copps, one of the commissioners commented that we, the US are now 11th in broader band access. I cannot bring myself to calling it broadband because it is not. Digital over powerlines still deals with electrons with radio frequency E-M (electro-magnetic emmissions) as the undesirable byproduct when E-M can do the job better.
On the course of true broadband deployment, SBC Communications just announced that they would light up more fiber optic cable using technologies from JDS Uniphase and Avanex. (E-M in the light frequency range=photons of light) These two, bubble time companies have floundered in the depression as incumbent phone companies refused to keep pace with the digital economy. Theirs are the quantum technologies that carry bandwidth for information beyond the gigabyte range.
While I was recently in the South Pacific, I interviewed a man who spoke at a regional communications seminar. Hendricks I recall, I have no Idea of his credentials but judging a man by his laptop, he was upper management. In our discussion of broadband deployment and the interface of electronics with photonics, he said, “you can’t do anything with a photon. It is either there or it is not.” Now I am not a space age physicist, but a photon can be oriented 360° (polarized) and formed in an almost limitless number of wavelengths (colors). The point is that herein lays the greatest obstruction to Moor’s Law in evolving bandwidth --- the comprehension of management and analog minded engineers. All of the digital, spread spectrum and multiplexing options of radio and microwave are available in fiber! It warms the sole to see two of the photon folks, as mentioned above, get the nod.
On the course of true broadband deployment, SBC Communications just announced that they would light up more fiber optic cable using technologies from JDS Uniphase and Avanex. (E-M in the light frequency range=photons of light) These two, bubble time companies have floundered in the depression as incumbent phone companies refused to keep pace with the digital economy. Theirs are the quantum technologies that carry bandwidth for information beyond the gigabyte range.
While I was recently in the South Pacific, I interviewed a man who spoke at a regional communications seminar. Hendricks I recall, I have no Idea of his credentials but judging a man by his laptop, he was upper management. In our discussion of broadband deployment and the interface of electronics with photonics, he said, “you can’t do anything with a photon. It is either there or it is not.” Now I am not a space age physicist, but a photon can be oriented 360° (polarized) and formed in an almost limitless number of wavelengths (colors). The point is that herein lays the greatest obstruction to Moor’s Law in evolving bandwidth --- the comprehension of management and analog minded engineers. All of the digital, spread spectrum and multiplexing options of radio and microwave are available in fiber! It warms the sole to see two of the photon folks, as mentioned above, get the nod.
posted by Clancy Hughes | 10/15/2004 09:48:00 AM
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