To many high tech gurus Broadband is more important than the bread. The logic holds well if the hunger for Broadband ultimately helps in earning the bread. However ironically the broadband networking concept has remained confined to optical fiber, Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) or Digital Radio Transmissions. Are we ever going to get out of the entangled mesh of wires cropping up all the time?. Fortunately yes, the wireless radio communications is beginning to capture the market from narrowband transmissions to broadband access.

In today's fast expanding telecom business, high speed networking is a must to successful corporate business. It is a common scenario worldwide for businesses to operate from different locations and buildings thus requiring a very dynamic interconnection and integration of systems and devices located at different sites. Recent developments in the devices and the communication equipment has made it possible
to use Infrared Communications for various applications that includes Local Area Network connections, Metropolitan Area Fiber Rings, branch exchanges and cellular traffic backhauls. With no license requirements, no right of way permits, highly secure, compatible with copper or fiber interfaces, no recurring line costs, excellent availability, portability, zero latency over all distances, very little maintenance, and being transparent to networks or protocols has made them the obvious choice for the next generation networks.

The utilization of Infrared System for Telecommunications/Data Networking has unfortunately not been realized so far. Although the technology is not new but it has in recent years become a very desirable wireless solution due to it's ability to deliver extremely high data rates and reliability factors. Free space optical systems do not require any wires and the transmission is through the atmosphere by light waves. Infrared works basically in a same fashion as fiber optic cable with the only difference that the beam is transmitted through open space instead of the glass fiber. The infrared beam generated by either high powered light emitting diodes or the laser diodes acts as a carrier for transmitting the signals from one point to another.

These systems can operate at speeds of T-1 (1.544Mbps, DS-1), 622 Mb/s or 1.25 Gigabit Ethernet and are faster and more cost effective than other solutions. The users benefit from this high-bandwidth capacity thus enabling the transmission of Tera Bytes
of data between locations without delay. These connections have

Proved to be robust and reliable. They only need a clear line of sight between buildings and operate within the infrared light band (Infrared region of the light spectrum i.e. the laser light is transmitted at a wavelength of say 780nm to 980nm) thus transmitting a beam through open space rather than glass. The spectrum used is perfectly safe for humans and other living beings.

To put it in simple words, the systems operate by taking data or telecommunications signal, converting it into digital format and then transmitting it through free space. The installation of the equipment generally takes few hours because of the lighter weight, the only caution to be taken into account is the minimum movement of the structure and the rigidity. Laser links are best for rapid deployment, moving as you relocate, providing service when faced with cable installation delays, disaster recovery for cable cuts or for occasional use. If properly installed, the infrared laser transmission links achieve an operational availability of 99.9% plus.

The transceiver involves a Laser modulator which converts the incoming data into a signal that modulates the laser at the data rate set by the interfacing card/cards. The interface card is connected with the external network using standard interfaces. The Laser then transmits an infrared beam at a set wavelength. The outputs are then merged during transmission through the atmosphere as the beams diverge. All systems use high-reliability semiconductor laser diodes. At the receiving end the incoming modulated beam is demodulated and the original data is recovered. Thus with computers at both the sending and receiving ends connected via the Infrared link enables the high speed data transmission without involving the hassle of wire line complications.

Security of communications is one crucial factor taken into account by all the businesses in a world where the best business advantage lies in secure communications and business intelligence. Laser transmission is very secure because of several reasons. Laser transmission has a narrow optical beam path which is not accessible unless viewing directly into the transmitter path. Any hacking/eavesdropping will result in an interruption of the data transmission, which immediately alerts the user. Laser beams cannot also be detected with spectrum analyzers or radio frequency meters. In addition to these above various proprietary transmission protocols, encryption techniques and algorithms can be used which provide additional security.

As the need and demand for easy to install high speed and high bandwidth networking solutions is increasing, new approaches to the selection and deployment of emerging technologies has become more and more complex and complicated. The good news is though the availability of diverse technologies like Infrared Communications which are changing the way we perceive our future world.

The writer is a Social Activist and can be reached at
Irfanzafar@msn.com