Imagine the internet's main switching stations as giant post offices where mail is sorted by hand, slowing everything down. This project replaces those slow manual processes with a light-speed sorting system using special materials that act like instant switches. It makes the connection between your home and the internet provider much faster and uses far less electricity.
Current Central Office switches cannot exceed 51.2Tbps and rely on power-hungry electrical backplanes. This creates a bottleneck for 5G and industrial IoT applications that require ultra-low latency and massive bandwidth.
An optically-switched backplane using antimony-based Phase Change Materials and a portfolio of InP-based 50G O-band transceivers.
If you are an ISP dealing with skyrocketing bandwidth demands for 5G and video streaming — this project developed an optical backplane that upgrades capacity to 51.2Tb/s and beyond. This allows for more efficient service rollout and lower latency for subscribers.
If you are a factory operator dealing with strict latency requirements for Industry 4.0 and URLLC applications — this project developed a time-sensitive network architecture. It ensures deterministic latency guarantees for critical machine-to-machine communications.
If you are a hardware manufacturer dealing with high production costs of EML solutions — this project developed InP-based O-band transceivers. This monolithic fabrication approach reaches up to 37.5% cost improvement.
The project utilizes a monolithic fabrication approach for InP-based O-band components, which can lead to a cost improvement of up to 37.5% compared to conventional EML solutions.
Yes, the architecture is designed to upgrade Central Office capacity to 51.2Tb/s and beyond using an optically-switched backplane.
Based on available project data, specific licensing terms are not mentioned, but the project involves 11 partners including 7 industry players who are developing the PIC technology toolkit.
The project focuses on consolidating software controllers with the physical optical layer interfaces to enable automatic service provisioning in Next Generation Central Offices.
The project period runs from September 1, 2022, to July 31, 2026, suggesting that the technology is currently in the development and validation phase.
The consortium is heavily industry-weighted with 64% industry participation (7 companies), including 4 SMEs. This strong commercial presence, spanning 9 countries, suggests a high focus on commercial viability and a direct path to market for the optical components and architectures developed.
Contact ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS for technical inquiries.
Contact us to connect with the OCTAPUS industrial partners for licensing opportunities.
