Faster optical communications coming down the line

Monash University researchers have won the $100,000 Peter Doherty Prize for Innovation, at the Commercialisation Expo 2006, for their work in faster optical communications.

Professor Arthur and Associate Professor Jean Armstrong, from the Faculty of Engineering at Monash, have developed the Optical OFDM, the optical equivalent of ADSL.

ADSL allows faster communication along telephone lines. Optical OFDM uses similar technology to speed up communications along optical fibres and infrared wireless systems.

The technology enables existing fibres to carry four times the data over longer distances without the need for modification or new infrastructure.

The expo was held in Melbourne from 18-20 June. Additionally, Lowery and Armstrong were awarded the sectoral $20,000 ICT prize and the $US4000 ANZA Technology Network Award.

The OFDM technology was one of 11 short-listed projects reviewed by an independent panel chaired by Mike Hirshorn, CEO, Nayang Ventures.

The OFDM technology automatically configures itself to the bandwidth of existing optical fibres. While conventional systems transmit on a single frequency, it can transmit many parallel frequencies more slowly, but all at the same time.

It is suitable for both optical fibre and infrared wireless systems.

Armstrong said the technology would allow people quicker and better access to the internet and eventually could be used as a basis for a "world without wires' where, for example, home entertainment systems would communicate using infrared light, and the tangle of cables behind television sets would be eliminated.

She said the technology could also allow wireless technology in laptops to be replaced with infrared technology.

"This has many advantages " because the signals don't go through walls, they don't interfere with a neighbour's system. It also reduces security problems," she said.