The
GreenTouch™ Consortium,
a global research initiative dedicated to dramatically improving the
energy efficiency of information and communications technology (ICT)
networks by a factor of 1,000, today detailed the accomplishments of its
first eight months of operation and demonstrated a Large-Scale Antenna
System proof of concept ‒ the first of many technologies it is working
to deliver. This antenna system offers the potential for tremendous
energy savings thanks to its novel wireless transmission techniques.
Presented at a GreenTouch event held here, the Large-Scale Antenna
System proof of concept demonstrated that radiated power consumption
could be significantly reduced as the number of antenna elements is
increased. For example, an antenna array comprising 100 elements would
transmit only one percent of the energy transmitted by a single antenna,
for the same quality of service.
In addition to this
technology demonstration, the event included a series of presentations
from industry experts who detailed significant milestones GreenTouch has
reached since its launch last year and highlighted some of the more
than two dozen research projects that are either already in progress or
under consideration. These milestones included: doubling membership and
attracting the participation of leading scientists from across the
industry and around the world; establishing ongoing working groups
focused on several key technology areas; and earning awards from Global
Telecoms Business and the World Economic Forum.
The
research projects featured today were drawn from the consortium’s key
areas of technology focus ‒ wireline access; core switching and routing;
mobile communications; core optical networking and transmission; and
services, applications, and energy trends ‒ and will be introduced in
greater detail in upcoming months.
“The areas of the network
where GreenTouch is focusing its research efforts are those that have
clear potential for achieving significant energy efficiencies, and
evidence that the consortium has made some impressive strides in a short
period of time,” said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President of
Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer, Network, Telecom and Sustainability
research groups, at IDC. “What makes this demonstration of initial
technology such a promising step forward is that it credibly addresses
the sweet spot where the amount of data transmitted is maximized as the
energy required for that transmission is reduced.”
“When
we launched the GreenTouch Consortium last year, we set ambitious goals
for ourselves,” said Gee Rittenhouse, GreenTouch Consortium chairman
and vice president of research at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs. “This
initial technology demonstration and the research projects we’ve
undertaken show that GreenTouch is on track to meet its objectives and
position us squarely on the cutting edge of sustainable technology
development.”
Besides Rittenhouse, other GreenTouch technology visionaries who spoke at today’s event included Executive Board Member Claude Monney, Senior Consultant, Swisscom,who reviewed the group’s research strategy; and Executive Board Member and Network Committee Chair Rod Tucker, Laureate
Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of
Melbourne, who provided an update on the consortium’s research pipeline
and its key Network Committee projects.
Representative projects include:
-
Utilizing energy-efficient electronic integration of packet router
functions combined with silicon photonic technologies to minimize losses
in electronic interconnections and in the optical and electronic
interfaces used in high-speed optical transport networks
-
Generating energy efficiencies in delivery of high-bandwidth services
through a dynamic wavelength capability that can more closely align the
energy requirements of a given service with the energy needed to support
it
- Reducing energy consumption in wireless access networks
without compromising coverage by using separate data and signaling
networks to facilitate “on-demand” rather than “always on” device
functionality
Special guest speaker Luis Neves,
Chairman of the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSi) and Vice
President of Corporate Responsibility at Deutsche Telekom, provided
commentary in the area of ICT networks energy efficiencies and how
ICT-driven sustainability is of benefit to everyone.
Large-Scale Antenna System Demonstration Details
What distinguishes the GreenTouch Large-Scale Antenna System from other
antenna systems and enables it to achieve such a significant reduction
in power is the way in which it transmits signals. Instead of
broadcasting signals throughout the entire coverage area as other
antenna systems typically do, the Large-Scale Antenna System utilizes
knowledge of the propagation channels to transmit concentrated beams of
information selectively to many users at once. The greater the number of
antenna elements deployed, the higher the concentration of the beams
and, therefore, the lower the power that any antenna needs to send a
given amount of information. Importantly, along with the large reduction
in radiated power, signal strength and quality of service are
maintained. In practical application together with advances in other
wireless technologies, the potential benefits this technology could
yield are immense.
