The demonstrator will show, how the Inter-MAC layer enables different use-case scenarios for home networking at gigabit speed.

These scenarios include, among others, handover using the best available link, e.g. in case of accidentally broken links, as well as an increase of network capacity while reducing congestion. Furthermore, OMEGA will demonstrate access to home content from outside, using the Inter-MAC layer, UPnP-based session mobility, and seamless connection of legacy devices.

The combination of Ethernet links with 802.11n, PLC and 60 GHz turns the demonstrator not only into a complex meshed network, but also into a multi-link home network. In this way, the demonstrator enhances Inter-MAC capacity to detect network topology, identify link capacities, and provide high-level quality of service (QoS) with a seamless quality of experience (QoE).

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OMEGA has developed optical-wireless solutions for home applications. OMEGA’s demonstrators operate in the near-infrared and in the visible spectral region. The project’s approach was to achieve performances and services suitable for the networked home of the future, while using as much as possible commercially available components.

In OrangeLab’s demonstration room in Rennes, the visitors will be familiarised with two demonstrators. The infrared demonstrator enables full-duplex communication at 256 Mbit/s in the entire living room, while the visible-light demonstrator enables a 100 Mbit/s broadcast via the ceiling lights in part of the living room.

Important aspects, such as non-interference between the infrared, the visible-light, as well as the radio-based demonstrators can be experienced, and the fidelity of both technologies will be demonstrated for home-centred use cases, broadcasting HD videos in parallel via the ceiling lighting and the infrared demonstrator.

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The PLC demonstration aims to show high-rate communication up to one Gbps in a PLC environment.

The demonstrator emulates the PLC channel model as it was defined in OMEGA, including PLC channel transfer function and several additive noises (stationary and impulsive) in the 0-100 MHz band.
The demonstrator is composed of a configurable FPGA board for real-time channel emulation processing, digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters working at 200 MHz frequency, and PLC couplers.

These two prototypes will be plugged together: the PLC transmitter will be plugged to the PLC channel emulator input, and the channel emulator output will be plugged to the PLC receiver, allowing to perform a complete set of tests for all representative PLC cases.