High-speed Internet for rural areas

SLOW dial-up Internet connection can be infuriating. Unfortunately, for many people living in rural areas, only dialup Internet has been made available for Internet access. Whether you live in the city, suburb or in a rural area, you should not have to endure slow Internet service.

A team of researchers at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, led by Dr Amin Malek Mohammadi, has developed a simple, high speed and cost-effective transmission system for the Radio over Fiber (RoF) transmission system to bridge the digital divide.

RoF refers to a technology where light is modulated by a radio signal and transmitted over an optical fibre link to facilitate wireless access such as 3G and Wi-Fi simultaneously from the same antenna.

Recently, RoF has been receiving considerable attention because it requires fewer infrastructures compared to wireline alternatives such as Unifi, xDSL and cable mode networks, resulting in a cost-effective solution to Internet access especially for rural areas.

Funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation Malaysia along with a collaboration with Photonic Research Centre, University Malaya, this project focuses on the two main areas of RoF:

Design and development of new multiplexing technique

In the RoF system, the RF (radio frequency) signal is a carrier of information. As the RF signal modulates a light wave, the light wave becomes a carrier and consequently, the RF signal becomes a subcarrier.

In the proposed multiplexing technique based on the novel mapping algorithm, bits from different users will be converted to unique symbols and unique symbols will be converted to RF carriers at different frequencies to provide the sharing of bandwidth between operators and users.

These signals at different RF carrier frequencies can be combined to form a subcarrier multiplex in RoF system.

Design and development of novel embroidery antenna

The antenna is essential in a transmission system. To improve its conformity and durability, a novel class of embroidery patch antenna on polymer composite – polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) – has been proposed. The antenna performance will be enhanced with different embroidery structures and conductive layers dyed with various nanomaterial.

In short, the new design of the RoF technique that aims to benefit people living in rural areas has huge potential and needs to be developed and researched further.

People in rural areas can have access to high speed and constantly available Internet, no matter how far they are from town.

For more information on courses offered by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, e-mail enquiries@nottingham.edu. my or visit www.nottingham.edu.my