Wireless broadband communications: some research activities in Singapore

Almost a decade ago, Singapore started crafting and implementing its IT2000 master plan to transform the city-state into an information-technology-based intelligent island. Since 1997, the main infrastructure of a high-speed ATM-based backbone network, called SingaporeONE, has been in place along with a host of commercial and governmental application service sites providing a plethora of online services. Because of its small size and extensive wired infrastructure, broadband access to homes and offices is currently provided via ADSL and cable modems. There is, however, interest in the use of wireless broadband communication technologies to access SingaporeONE, motivated primarily by its lower cost and faster deployment. In this article we describe some of our R&D activities motivated by the above interest to provide wireless broadband access to SingaporeONE. Specifically, we describe our study of LMDS, and the design and development of a wireless ATM LAN.