5G – Cool Optics

Mobile traffic is increasing exponentially and power consumption should be adapted to the traffic load;

In the EU, broadband equipment accounts for ~15% of the ICT sector’s overall energy consumption; at least 50 TWh in 2015! (NB: this equals roughly to an annual power output of 2 nuclear power reactors)

EU “Importance of EE” 2017

The golden triangle of 5G technology requirements are Latency, Connection Density andThroughput. Reaching the required latency levels will challenge the laws of physics of the components and network layout topologies. Low latency is a fundamental requirement for business use cases that require communication which are instantaneous and ultra-reliable, such as remote surgical procedures and self-automated driving

Energy consumption of the future 5G networks will be a major issue

In existing cellular networks, turning off the under-utilized Base Stations is an efficient approach to conserve energy while preserving the quality of service (QoS) of mobile users. This however never has been in the design specs of 5G. Because where there is a high performance demand like in 5G, it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the performance requirements especially with regard to Latency.

FTTA is a broadband network architecture in which the high frequency and power electronics are taken away from the based station and are located in a remote radio-head (RRH). A fiber optic system that converts digital signals into analog, close to the antenna That means the signal stays digital /Optical/Digital untill the Antenna.

Source: Byond Tech

In that case the Cool Optics technology could be applied in the whole chain from Data center top Antenna. That could also improve latency in the whole chain.

Although according to a EU study currently 57 % of the energy is consumed by the Base station. With the use of FTT-A that will be different as the Base station remains digital and most of the energy will be consumed in the RRH (Antenna)

Ref: EU Future communication systems 2017

In the same document, the EC (European Commission) makes a number of suggestions.

1. “Focus on low energy consumption when there is no data.
That’s exactly what Cool Optics technology does.

2. ” keeping information optical as long as possible.
This is the core of the Cool Optics optical switching concept.

Both concepts combined can meet these suggestions made by the EC