Wide-Band Interactive Services Experiment (WISE): A First Test of Future Video Services

An experiment of wide-band switched interactive services (video services) is presented. The experiment, named WISE (Wide-Band Interactive Services Experiment) is limited to a small number of subscribers but is representative of a future domestic environment. After a brief presentation of the scope of the activity, the video services that have been implemented, both unidirectional and bidirectional, are described. The system organization, based on a wide-band switching matrix and on the transmission of video signals on a single optical fiber by wavelength-division multiplexing, is then discussed, and the solutions adopted for the transmission equipment are examined. The structure of the service center is afterwards described, together with the subscriber procedures required to access the different services. Finally, some improvements and future possible developments of wide-band interactire systems are briefly highlighted.