Customer access connections projects in RACE: an evolutionary approach to fibre to the home and the business premise

Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies in Europe is a major pan-Western European collaborative initiative aimed at timely introduction of broadband telecommunications systems and services. The authors describe customer-access-connection projects ranging from relatively conventional direct detection to coherent detection and very high bit rates. The following projects are considered: (1) ACCESS (Advanced Customer Connections: An Evolutionary Systems Study), which addresses the short-to-medium time scales because direct detection is used; (2) BLNT (Broadband Local Network Technology), which also uses the direct-detection technique but has a different approach, with an emphasis on integrated optical components; (3) the `Multigigabit Transmission in the IBCN Subscriber Loop Project´, which pushes direct detection to its limits and is therefore medium- to long-term oriented; and (4) CMC (Subscriber Coherent Multichannel System), which is more long-term oriented since it investigates coherent-detection techniques in the customer access connection