Surrey, England--Fiber-optic specialists company Phoenix Photonics is taking part in a European Union (EU) collaborative R&D project to investigate the fiber-optic technologies needed to achieve a 100-fold increase on current optical telecommunications capacity limits. Phoenix will be focused on the critical fiber-optic components part of the project as the EU looks to create a new platform to keep pace with world telecommunications demand as the physical capacity limitations of single-mode fiber transmission are reached.
"Components providing the functionality of a network are the fundamental building blocks of any system," said Phoenix Photonics CEO Ian Giles. "The new fibers proposed within the project—known as MODE-GAP—to facilitate spatial division multiplexing, demand a whole new range of components. Our role is to address the challenge to provide these advanced fiber components, which will be based on our proven in-house technologies."
The MODE-GAP project is funded under the EU 7th Framework Programme and seeks to provide Europe with a lead in the development of next-generation internet infrastructure. Combining the expertise of eight photonics partners, MODE-GAP will develop transmission technologies based on specialist long-haul transmission fibers, and associated enabling technologies such as novel rare-earth doped optical amplifiers, transmitter, and receiver components and data-processing techniques to increase the capacity of broadband networks.
Other organizations involved in the program alongside Phoenix are the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre, ESPCI ParisTech, OFS Fitel Denmark APS, the COBRA Institute at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eblana Photonics, Nokia Siemens Networks GMBH & Co. KG and the Tyndall National Institute of University College Cork.
SOURCE: Phoenix Photonics; www.phoenixphotonics.com/website/news/index.html
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