ECOC 2024 | Nubis, Ericsson Highlight Path to 6G RAN Power Savings

Nubis Communications, Inc., a provider of advanced linear high-density optical inter-connect, has announced a joint technology demonstration with Ericsson of high capacity data transmission with low power consumption and reduced deployment complexity for hardware-dense radio units in future RANs such as 6G RAN.

The demonstration will be held at the Exhibition of ECOC (European Conference on Optical Communication), the largest optical communications exhibition in Europe, being held in Frankfurt, Germany from September 23- 25.

The demonstration features Nubis’ award-winning XT1600™ optical engine in the demanding context of a 6G remote radio head use-case. While the XT1600s unique combination of ultra high density and very low power make it well suited for the mobile RAN use case, the demonstration shows the added features necessary to make high density optics for advanced mobile infrastructure a reality.

The radio unit at the top of a cell tower or mast needs terabits per second of data yet provides such limited space and power that—in distinct contrast to datacenters-- there is no equipment cooling, not even fans. This demonstration features a environmentally robust and compact 1.6 Tbps optical engine suitable for the harsh conditions and compact size of the remote radio head. The demonstrated architecture places only the high-speed silicon photonics and associated analog electronics in the radio unit, where it can be integrated as a CPO (co-packaged optics).

The innovative architecture locates the laser off the radio head mast, not only moving its footprint and power to less constrained real estate, but allowing the radio to remain uncooled. In order to move the remote laser much further away than in datacenter use-cases, the demonstration uses patented schemes to connect the remote laser and transmitter with standard single-mode telecom fiber and implements eye-safety shut-off in case of a fiber cut.

Dan Harding, CEO of Nubis Communications commented, “Wherever you need so much bandwidth, you also have lot of powerful electronics taking up space and power and generating heat. This is why XT1600’s very small size and low power works very well for both AI datacenters and next-gen mobile RAN networks.”

An Ericsson Technology Review article “New features make co-packaged optics suitable for future radio networks” states the demonstration “will showcase the ability to operate at high temperatures commonly found within radio units, compatibility with standard optical fibers, and implementation of automated eye-safety mechanisms. This can be very beneficial in the networks of the future, including 6G.”

In addition to this demonstration, Nubis Communications looks forward to meeting with customers and partners. Nubis Communications industry experts will be participating in the ECOC conference and tradeshow.