Wireless Internet and multimedia services support through two-layer LMDS system

The growth of Internet and related multimedia applications has been exponential. Previously most of the multimedia applications have been stand-alone or delivered through wired Internet using fast connections. The multimedia support through wireless local loops or cellular networks has been very limited. In the future growing need for multimedia services will also lead towards wireless multimedia systems. Local multipoint distribution systems (LMDS) are finally getting some momentum also in Europe. This is driven by the need to provide broadband digital services, especially data-services such as the Internet, to homes and small offices, LMDS together with 3G and 4G mobile communication standards will provide the possibility to distribute fast multimedia (over 2 Mbps per user) through a wireless connection. We report the early development and tests done with two layer wireless LMDS systems operating at 40 GHz frequency. The demanding R&D task is to develop cost-effective architectures and devices, because services are not only broadcast oriented, but also interactive. The architecture situation has been studied in several projects, and in this we show our early results especially from the EU/ACTS-project CABSINET. The main driver in future broadband networks will undoubtedly be Internet and multimedia services, instead of video on demand.