OMEGA Project to Develop User-Friendly Gigabit Home Networks

A home access network capable of delivering high bandwidth services and content at transmission speeds of one gigabit per second could soon become a reality thanks to a newly launched European research project. The EU-funded OMEGA project brings together 20 European partners from industry and academia with the common goal of developing a new global standard for ultra broadband home networks reaching one gigabit per second without the need to install new wires in homes.

Currently home networks suffer from the fact that many devices are limited to wireless transmission rates of 54 megabits per second, or require troublesome wiring to achieve higher rates. Thus, these widespread home networks are at risk of becoming a bottleneck: when they are fed by high-speed optical access networks, they only offer transmission speeds of 100 megabits per second or more, both down- and up stream.

The newly launched OMEGA project will seek to overcome these limitations by increasing the speed to one gigabit per second and by connecting home devices to the Internet and to each other through power line communications and wireless connections. This will put an end to the coverage limitations, as well as the wiring clutter, with the goal of giving users access to advanced information and communication services anywhere in their homes.

The targeted services could include novel, new generation entertainment services such as telepresence, 3D gaming, enhanced interactivity, virtual reality, high-definition video as well as eHealth applications and services for the exchange of user-generated business or multimedia content.

In fact, OMEGA's vision is to make access to these bandwidth-hungry services as normal and convenient as obtaining water from a tap.

"Getting information, business, and entertainment services through the home network will become a self-evident utility, like, for instance, electricity, water, or gas," says Jean-Philippe Javaudin, the OMEGA project coordinator from Orange Labs, France Telecom.

In order to get there, OMEGA would like to not only increase transmission speeds, but also make the new generation of home networks easy to install and operate for ordinary users. For wireless connectivity within a user's house, OMEGA's home network solution will combine gigabit radio frequency and free-space optical links with power line communications, thus creating a communication backbone without any new wires.

"Users will not need any new wires in their facilities to update towards the gigabit home network," explains Martial Bellec, OMEGA's technical manager from Orange Labs, France Telecom.

At the heart of the new system is a technology-independent media access control (MAC) layer. This layer controls the multiple technology gigabit network and provides services as well as connectivity to any number of devices in any room of the house or flat. Furthermore, this MAC layer will allow the service to follow the user from device to device.

In order to make its vision come true, the OMEGA project will have to work on substantial technological challenges in the fields of optical wireless and wireless radio technologies, in protocol design, and in system architectures.

OMEGA is an Integrated Project co-funded by the EU under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). It will run for three years from January 2008 to December 2010.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.ict-omega.eu

Copyright ©European Communities, 2008
Neither the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, nor any person acting on its behalf, is responsible for the use, which might be made of the attached information. The attached information is drawn from the Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS). The CORDIS services are carried on the CORDIS Host in Luxembourg - http://cordis.europa.eu. Access to CORDIS is currently available free-of-charge.

Most Popular Now

AI-Powered CRISPR could Lead to Faster G…

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. The technology, CRISPR-GPT, acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help...

Groundbreaking AI Aims to Speed Lifesavi…

To solve a problem, we have to see it clearly. Whether it’s an infection by a novel virus or memory-stealing plaques forming in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, visualizing disease processes...

AI Spots Hidden Signs of Depression in S…

Depression is one of the most common mental health challenges, but its early signs are often overlooked. It is often linked to reduced facial expressivity. However, whether mild depression or...

ChatGPT 4o Therapeutic Chatbot 'Ama…

One of the first randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of a large language model (LLM) chatbot 'Amanda' for relationship support shows that a single session of chatbot therapy...

AI Tools Help Predict Severe Asthma Risk…

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help identify which children with asthma face the highest risk of serious asthma exacerbation and acute respiratory infections. The study...

AI Model Forecasts Disease Risk Decades …

Imagine a future where your medical history could help predict what health conditions you might face in the next two decades. Researchers have developed a generative AI model that uses...

AI Distinguishes Glioblastoma from Look-…

A Harvard Medical School–led research team has developed an AI tool that can reliably tell apart two look-alike cancers found in the brain but with different origins, behaviors, and treatments. The...

Smart Device Uses AI and Bioelectronics …

As a wound heals, it goes through several stages: clotting to stop bleeding, immune system response, scabbing, and scarring. A wearable device called "a-Heal," designed by engineers at the University...

AI Model Indicates Four out of Ten Breas…

A project at Lund University in Sweden has trained an AI model to identify breast cancer patients who could be spared from axillary surgery. The model analyses previously unutilised information...

Overcoming the AI Applicability Crisis a…

Opinion Article by Harry Lykostratis, Chief Executive, Open Medical. The government’s 10 Year Health Plan makes a lot of the potential of AI-software to support clinical decision making, improve productivity, and...

Dartford and Gravesham Implements Clinis…

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has taken a significant step towards a more digital future by rolling out electronic test ordering using Clinisys ICE. The trust deployed the order communications...