The Falcon Live Wire

Lately we are hearing a lot about the mobile backhaul.  But what exactly is it, and what does it mean for the future of the data communication industry?

The word backhaul first came into common use to describe the process of transmitting a telephone call or other data transfer past its geographical delivery point and then back again to its final destination.  At first that doesn’t seem to make any sense; however, it can be a very economical way to balance demand across a network by best utilizing available personnel and equipment – in other words, it spreads the system load out across resources.  Backhaul has since gained a much more broad meaning and nowadays is often used to refer to transmitting from any remote site to a central site.

The mobile (cellular) backhaul segment of the data communications industry is poised for tremendous growth due to consumers’ dependence on mobile connectivity and the ever-increasing demand for services that support both 3G and the emerging 4G technologies.  Globally, networks are experiencing unprecedented growth in data traffic.  It is estimated that there are nearly 5 billion mobile subscribers around the world today, while the number of devices, including PDAs, laptop cards and smartphones, etc., is much greater.  SMS text messages sent in 2010 alone are estimated to have reached more than 6.1 trillion; that’s 200,000 messages sent every second of last year.

Another impetus for growth is the expansion of wireless mesh networks (WMN), which are communication networks consisting of dozens to hundreds of wireless (radio) nodes that “talk” to each other in order to share a network connection in a large area.  WMNs are replacing traditional networks that rely on a limited number of wired access points or hotspots to connect users.  WMNs have the ability to connect entire cities wirelessly using inexpensive and existing technology.

Eventually all that wireless node traffic needs to be returned to a wired access point to reach the wider Internet.  Routing that traffic to a wired location is known as the backhaul in a mobile network.  In cities, and even large companies, certain nodes need to be dedicated as backhaul nodes.  The other nodes in the system are configured to send all outgoing transmissions directly to a backhaul node, which will then send the transmission to a wired access point without additional, unnecessary hops.  The end result is the need to aggregate all the traffic on the WMN over high-speed lines for transmission to a private network or to the Internet.

Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research, a premier international market research and consulting firm specializing in data networking and telecom, recently had this to say about the mobile backhaul market, “We have seen a wholesale shift in backhaul strategies as operators try to reduce the costs associated with skyrocketing mobile data traffic… [in an earlier survey of operators around the world], most were taking a dual/hybrid backhaul approach (TDM plus IP/Ethernet)… [recently when we repeated the survey] most operators told us they plan to use a single IP/Ethernet backhaul, whether over microwave, fiber, or copper… we see no slowdown in the mobile backhaul equipment market.”

These are both exciting times and challenging times for the data communication industry.  At Falcon Tech, we can help you meet the backhaul service demands of your business by providing you the best products and the best services available in the industry.

Cell phones.  How did we ever live without them?  Somehow we managed, LOL!  But now that they are here, it seems they are here to stay.  One of the most interesting things about cell phones is that they really aren’t phones at all.  That’s right, they aren’t phones, they are actually radios – very sophisticated radios!

In the beginning, cell phones merely provided mobile voice communications.  Today, these ‘can’t live without them’ devices do just about everything but the dishes!  It can be difficult for consumers to keep up with the rapid advances in technology and for the mobile service providers to keep up with usage demand. 

Newer, faster, better has given rise to “generations” of cell phone technology.  And while 3G is still just a mere child in human years, she’s already being pushed out by her baby brother, 4G!  Let’s take a look back at how we got here.

The invention of the cell phone in its earliest version is now known as 0G and dates back as early as 1946.  These mobile phones were typically mounted in a vehicle with the transceiver in the trunk and the dial, display and handset mounted near the driver seat.  At that time there were no mobile telephone networks.  Callers connected to a base station, which then connected them to an operator, which then connected them to the receiver of the call.  That was it for years.

In the early 1980s, along came 1G (not so named until after it was replaced by the next generation).  This technology connected to limited networks of stations and used analog telecommunication standards with voice as the main traffic.  The phones were large and were sometimes referred to as cellular radios.  1G offered little to no security as transmissions could be intercepted by third parties.

This technology was outdated much more quickly than its predecessor.  By the late 1990s 2G was here.  2G ushered in the widespread use of cell phone technology by the general public.  This new technology began with analog systems and evolved to digital systems.  Data, such as SMS text messaging, was now possible, and the data transmissions could be encrypted, thus providing and enhancing security.  These phones were also the first to bring additional features such as cameras to the market.  Networks were still fairly limited, and users were subject to roaming charges if they wandered outside of the service provider’s geographical area.  2G networks are still used in many parts of the world today.

As the capabilities of this technology continued to advance, consumers’ desire for more and better services advanced as well.  This gave rise to 3G and marked the beginning of the transformation of the technology as phones in this generation could directly connect to the Internet.  Cell phone users could do much more than just talk, send text messages, or snap pictures.  3G brought functions that previously were performed only by computers including email, instant messaging, and much more.  Another major advancement brought about by 3G was the ability to utilize cell phones as a wireless internet connection for laptop computers.

Barely a decade old, the future has arrived, again, and soon everyone will need to have a 4G device or risk being a social outcast!  The public’s desire to transmit large amounts of data, video and audio files wirelessly, and instantly, is driving the technology forward by leaps and bounds.  4G brings with it faster connections capable of transferring large amounts of data.  Users can download full-length feature films in under 5 minutes.  These devices stream HDTV and radio and provide uninterrupted reception as people remain in motion, moving out of one network and into another. 

What does all this mean for the data communication industry?  It means opportunity.  While the devices themselves are wireless, behind the scenes is the backbone of the system and a tremendous need for cabling and data communication equipment to keep up with usage demand. 

Is 5G within our sights?

Good question.  And the answer is: Wireless Home Digital Interface.  Doesn’t help?  Let us bring you up to speed.  In essence, it’s the ability to watch what you want, where you want, without having to relocate any equipment.

WHDI allows consumers to connect any of the A/V equipment in their home to any display in their home.  Imagine pulling up a recipe, or even a how-to cooking video, on your PC and being able to see it on the TV in your kitchen.  Maybe the kids want to play their latest and greatest game on the big home theater screen, but the gaming console is set up in another room.  No problem.  And on those nights when you start a movie on the only Blu-Ray player in the den, but want to watch the end as you fall asleep, just change the display to your bedroom TV.  The range spans the whole home and any output source.  Sweet!

The system works much like a WiFi network, which enables computers and other electronic devices to be connected to one another without cables but then takes it one step further by transmitting high-definition video signals.  For folks who have hesitated hanging a flat screen TV on the wall because they haven’t wanted to battle disguising the wires, or worse, running them behind the walls, worry no more.  That flat screen TV can receive a wireless signal from a router or modem. 

The effective range of signals is currently more than 100 feet (30 meters).  The signals are able to be transmitted through walls with latency less than one millisecond.  The link routes the video and the audio separately, but with essentially no latency, the two streams will remain closely aligned, thus avoiding the lip-sync issues one would encounter when watching an old dubbed-over Godzilla movie, for instance.

WHDI is based on a revolutionary video-modem technology invented by AMIMON, a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Israel.  The video coding and modulation of this emerging technology are jointly optimized, enabling capabilities far beyond those of traditional wireless data modems.  WHDI is the first standard to enable wireless transmission in the 5GHz, unlicensed band of uncompressed HD video streams with equivalent video data rates of up to 3 Gbps (including 1080p) using 40 MHz of bandwidth in compliance with FCC regulations.  Video data rates of up to 1.5 Gbps (including 1080i and 720p) can be delivered using 20 MHz of bandwidth, conforming to worldwide 5GHz spectrum regulations.

Why is uncompressed video so important?  The answer is really two-fold.  First, it is a legacy issue as most devices output uncompressed video.  Consumers aren’t likely to want to take one step backwards to take two forward.  If WHDI were to transmit compressed video, not only would the quality of the video images suffer, but most of the devices consumers already own simply would not be compatible.  Second, it is a content protection issue.  The truth of the matter is that compressed output would allow anyone who gains access to the content to generate perfect replicas, or stated more plainly, pirate the videos. 

Uncompressed video requires a very high data rate and cannot be distributed over the Internet or even fit on a DVD.  The data would have to be recompressed to be shared, which would significantly decrease the quality.  Therefore, uncompressed output, especially if it is encrypted, is the most secure interface for content protection as no one would be able to profit from piracy.

While the problem is simple, the solution has not been.  Many attempts have been made to provide wireless delivery of high quality, uncompressed video output.  One example was to apply real-time compression; however, the quality suffered, the latency was evident, and the technology was expensive to boot. 

Another solution was to approach video transmission as a special case of data delivery using a traditional data modem.  Wireless data modems treat all bits equally and provide the same level of channel impairment to each bit, which works just fine for data.  However, video bits have different levels of importance and need different levels of protection depending on how strong or weak the bits are compared to the whole; so this didn’t work either.

WHDI gives bits with more visual importance a greater share of the channel resources and transmits them more robustly, while bits with less visual importance receive fewer channel resources thus lessening their impact.  The human eye is unaffected by the errors in the less important bits, and the result is the delivery of very high video rates with very high quality.  Look out George Jetson, soon we will see an image on the screen, push a button, and the item will miraculously appear!