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To: Junkyardawg who wrote (2247)	10/24/1998 7:29:00 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Bell Labs working on new fixed wireless solution Researchers Look to BLAST Wireless Posted September 25, 1998 08:00 AM PDT A new technology that boosts fixed wireless transmission speeds by 10 to 20 times has been developed by Bell Labs researchers. The Murray Hill, N.J.-based research and development arm of Lucent Technologies claims that its achievement may someday enable wireless networks to rival the speed of their wired counterparts while also allowing faster and cheaper deployment. Potential applications include improved local area networks (LANs) and, for local telephone service providers, the ability to more cost effectively connect rural customers to public phone networks. On the other hand, the Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST) technology isn't well suited for mobile wireless uses because multiple antennas are required at both the sending and receiving sites. "We feel that we have made a genuine breakthrough in radio communications technology, something could have profound implications in the next century," says Glenn Golden, a principal investigator on Bell Labs' technical staff. "BLAST, with its high-speed capability, has the potential to revolutionize future wireless systems." BLAST is based on a concept that was previously thought impractical--having several signals occupy the same frequency. The technology uses a phenomenon known as multipathing, in which transmitted signals bounce off of objects like hills and buildings and arrive at the receiver via different paths. Multipathing is a nuisance in ordinary wireless systems, since the signals arrive at the receiver at slightly different times and cause destructive interference. But Bell Labs' researchers have found a way to harness the phenomenon. By using several differently aligned antennas to intentionally generate multipathing signals, and by treating the individual signal paths as separate parallel subchannels, BLAST enhances transmission accuracy and accelerates throughput. Special signal processing algorithms, located at the receiver, allow BLAST to transform interference into useful information. The signal processors examine all of the incoming signals simultaneously, first removing the strongest substreams from the mix and then moving on to the weaker signals, which are easier to extract once the stronger signals have been removed from the mix. The BLAST prototype uses arrays of 8 transmitting and 12 receiving antennas. Bell Labs claims that initial tests show that the system is able to handle at least 10 times the capacity of conventional fixed wireless loop systems. Its researchers are currently working on new transmitting and receiving techniques that use fewer antennas. The goal is to reduce the technology's complexity and lower its cost, which would increase the number of potential uses and ultimately lead to--Bell Labs hopes--mobile communications applications. "Technologies that provide a 10-fold improvement in wireless capacity come along once a decade," observes Bell Labs President Dan Stanzione. "This is a very significant scientific development with long term impact on our wireless business." But Bell Labs isn't yet predicting when BLAST might begin to find commercial applications. "It's still very much at the proof of concept stage," says Golden. "It's far from being a product at this point." _________________________________ By John Edwards. Mr. Edwards is a freelance technology writer based in Mount Laurel, N.J. He can be reached via email at EdWords@prodigy.net.